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2.85 AVERAGE
2.85 AVERAGE
The first half of the book was so slow but the second half was amazing.
[Review written by my younger self]
Reading Herman Melville's book for the second time, I found that it made an interesting perspective on the law and human judgment, and how they sometimes come into conflict.
Throughout life and history, laws have been around to define the boundaries between right and wrong, and providing appropriate punishment for those who overstep these boundaries. Most would say that the definitions for these boundaries are reasonable and easy to abide to.
Sometimes, though, these definitions come into question. In Billy Budd the law defining the firm criteria of what constituted mutiny--the martial law--was contested by one of the ship's officers, the virtuous and seemingly flawless Billy Budd. The punishment facing him was death by hanging.
Billy Budd was well-loved by all his workmates (except Master-at-Arms Claggart) and was called the "Handsome Sailor". On the ship, the Bellipotent Billy finds himself in an interesting situation as an envious Claggar is intent on framing Billy for treason.
What makes Billy's breaking of the law different is the unique circumstances surrounding it. One of the characters, Captain Vere, makes no apology for this and instead justifies the punishment by saying that law can sometimes contradict human nature, and one must always show allegiance to the king and their duties as crew members.
Though he mentions human nature, established law takes precedence in conflicts. Still, because humans make these laws, there is the possibly of human error and judgment. The law in this novel shows how the leaders keep order in society. Crew members made half-hearted attempts to refute him, but none could deny the existence of that law, so plain in existence and so straightforward in content.
As with all of Melville's work, this was not an easy reading. There are the author's distinctive character descriptions and his digressions, but that does not mean that the book is entirely inaccessible. Some editions of this book have other stories included, as well as readers' supplements and bibliographies. There are a couple of movie editions of this book, including one with Terence Stamp and Peter Ustinov, as well as an opera.
Reading Herman Melville's book for the second time, I found that it made an interesting perspective on the law and human judgment, and how they sometimes come into conflict.
Throughout life and history, laws have been around to define the boundaries between right and wrong, and providing appropriate punishment for those who overstep these boundaries. Most would say that the definitions for these boundaries are reasonable and easy to abide to.
Sometimes, though, these definitions come into question. In Billy Budd the law defining the firm criteria of what constituted mutiny--the martial law--was contested by one of the ship's officers, the virtuous and seemingly flawless Billy Budd. The punishment facing him was death by hanging.
Billy Budd was well-loved by all his workmates (except Master-at-Arms Claggart) and was called the "Handsome Sailor". On the ship, the Bellipotent Billy finds himself in an interesting situation as an envious Claggar is intent on framing Billy for treason.
What makes Billy's breaking of the law different is the unique circumstances surrounding it. One of the characters, Captain Vere, makes no apology for this and instead justifies the punishment by saying that law can sometimes contradict human nature, and one must always show allegiance to the king and their duties as crew members.
Though he mentions human nature, established law takes precedence in conflicts. Still, because humans make these laws, there is the possibly of human error and judgment. The law in this novel shows how the leaders keep order in society. Crew members made half-hearted attempts to refute him, but none could deny the existence of that law, so plain in existence and so straightforward in content.
As with all of Melville's work, this was not an easy reading. There are the author's distinctive character descriptions and his digressions, but that does not mean that the book is entirely inaccessible. Some editions of this book have other stories included, as well as readers' supplements and bibliographies. There are a couple of movie editions of this book, including one with Terence Stamp and Peter Ustinov, as well as an opera.
After reading the introduction of this book, I was under the impression that it was about a mutiny. Therefore, my perspective was a bit skewed going in. So as a warning to future readers, this is not about a mutiny. It does not detail a mutiny. In fact, a mutiny does not happen at all. There is a rumor of a mutiny. That is it.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way- This book was okay. It was written in an interesting way in that the narrator is not completely omniscient and some of the narration is just speculation. Plot-wise, I don't think much really happened. It was very slow-paced and more about morality than telling an actual story.
While the character of Billy Budd appeared likeable, he didn't really do or say very much, therefore it was hard to really see him as a character. This goes for most of the people in the book. They didn't feel very fleshed out and their stories were not told in a very active way, which made the book a little dull.
This book is really focused on philosophy and morality. With that in mind, it presents an interesting dilemma, but not a very interesting story. I think it is a good commentary on society and various moral issues, but is not a very interesting read.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way- This book was okay. It was written in an interesting way in that the narrator is not completely omniscient and some of the narration is just speculation. Plot-wise, I don't think much really happened. It was very slow-paced and more about morality than telling an actual story.
While the character of Billy Budd appeared likeable, he didn't really do or say very much, therefore it was hard to really see him as a character. This goes for most of the people in the book. They didn't feel very fleshed out and their stories were not told in a very active way, which made the book a little dull.
This book is really focused on philosophy and morality. With that in mind, it presents an interesting dilemma, but not a very interesting story. I think it is a good commentary on society and various moral issues, but is not a very interesting read.
Melville loved his words. I had to look up words that I was pretty sure were made up, like "inly" (inwardly), ones I just didn't know ("quidnuncs", societal gossips), and of course the various sea-faring words.
There were some lovely sections, but much of the time I was just blown away by his love of unwieldy sentences: those with so may commas, dashes and semicolons - as if a punctuation shotgun was aimed at the page and the sentence crafted around its shot - that it becomes difficult to follow his train of thought, or to justify, even by the most verbose and generous critic, the labyrinthine grammar of his prose.
Billy Budd focuses on the tragedy of a young sailor - a beautiful and naive young man - who inexplicably inspires the envy of a ship's officer. This officer unjustly accuses Billy of fomenting mutiny, leading our foolish mariner Adonis to murder him with his bare hands in front of the captain. Despite this, the captain, narrator, and every member of the crew still view Billy as innocent, lamenting his (spoilers) execution for his crime.
Melville presents Budd as an angelic figure, which never quite connected for me. Neither he, the captain, nor the accuser really had much character, which made the book an extended rumination from Melville, with the basic frame of an unfortunate pair of seafaring deaths.
Billy Budd was unfinished at Melville's death and later cobbled together by various scholars, which I'd imagine makes it a bit more fragmented than it would have otherwise been. Even so, I'm not convinced there's enough content to make a novella out of the story. The story itself is about 90 pages, with 126 pages dedicated to various textual and critical notes. The editor's introduction was very dry, but the endnotes gave good context to the book.
Not one I picture going back to, and after also just finishing The Piazza Tales, I don't really see going back to Melville (aside from perhaps Moby Dick again at some point).
There were some lovely sections, but much of the time I was just blown away by his love of unwieldy sentences: those with so may commas, dashes and semicolons - as if a punctuation shotgun was aimed at the page and the sentence crafted around its shot - that it becomes difficult to follow his train of thought, or to justify, even by the most verbose and generous critic, the labyrinthine grammar of his prose.
Billy Budd focuses on the tragedy of a young sailor - a beautiful and naive young man - who inexplicably inspires the envy of a ship's officer. This officer unjustly accuses Billy of fomenting mutiny, leading our foolish mariner Adonis to murder him with his bare hands in front of the captain. Despite this, the captain, narrator, and every member of the crew still view Billy as innocent, lamenting his (spoilers) execution for his crime.
Melville presents Budd as an angelic figure, which never quite connected for me. Neither he, the captain, nor the accuser really had much character, which made the book an extended rumination from Melville, with the basic frame of an unfortunate pair of seafaring deaths.
Billy Budd was unfinished at Melville's death and later cobbled together by various scholars, which I'd imagine makes it a bit more fragmented than it would have otherwise been. Even so, I'm not convinced there's enough content to make a novella out of the story. The story itself is about 90 pages, with 126 pages dedicated to various textual and critical notes. The editor's introduction was very dry, but the endnotes gave good context to the book.
Not one I picture going back to, and after also just finishing The Piazza Tales, I don't really see going back to Melville (aside from perhaps Moby Dick again at some point).
Billy--the handsome, good natured, well-liked, young sailor who in turn finds himself in a predicament he couldn't contemplate at all. Charged with mutiny on a navy ship, his life is on the line.
Melville's use of archaic words, forms and structures are often elusive, serving to be decorative forming a bizzare demeanor which made the students who had to study it in their school years hate it but these formations can be dubbed as rewards, aptly so, where it befits. I, for one, was more eager to see how all of those aforementioned agents are placed within rather than the progression of the story.
It was mercilessly brutal, if I take my cognitive experience into account and I'd love to reinvest some more time into it, if my whimsical mind permits so.
Melville's use of archaic words, forms and structures are often elusive, serving to be decorative forming a bizzare demeanor which made the students who had to study it in their school years hate it but these formations can be dubbed as rewards, aptly so, where it befits. I, for one, was more eager to see how all of those aforementioned agents are placed within rather than the progression of the story.
It was mercilessly brutal, if I take my cognitive experience into account and I'd love to reinvest some more time into it, if my whimsical mind permits so.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes