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2.85 AVERAGE
2.85 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
3.5 stars, but so annoying long-winded and allegorical in a way I didn't care for to round up to 4 stars. The moral hammer also comes down incredibly heavy in this one, so be warned for moral concussions.
The most interesting part of this book to me was the conflict between doing “real” justice, one the one hand, and doing what is required of us or what is instrumental to our goals on the other(s?).
Negatives: didn’t love the voice of the narrator, kind of dry (in the text I mean, not just the audiobook reader). I was not compelled by this book and probably would have gotten sleepy if I’d read a physical copy of it. That is a big plus of audiobooks, though.
AB
Negatives: didn’t love the voice of the narrator, kind of dry (in the text I mean, not just the audiobook reader). I was not compelled by this book and probably would have gotten sleepy if I’d read a physical copy of it. That is a big plus of audiobooks, though.
AB
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I respect how Melville always goes straight for THE BIG QUESTIONS, armed with his convoluted, allusive prose. This story is so different from modern fiction that its hardly the same art form, but I found it at least as refreshing as it was frustrating.
But the thing which in eminent instances signalizes so exceptional a nature is this: Though the man's even temper and discreet bearing would seem to intimate a mind peculiarly subject to the law of reason, not the less in heart he would seem to riot in complete exemption from that law, having apparently little to do with reason further than to employ it as an ambidexter implement for effecting the irrational. That is to say: Toward the accomplishment of an aim which in wan-tonness of atrocity would seem to partake of the insane, he will direct a cool judgment sagacious and sound. These men are madmen, and of the most dangerous sort, for their lunacy is not continuous, but occasional, evoked by some special object; it is protectively secretive, which is as much as to say it is self-contained, so that when, moreover, most active it is to the average mind not distinguishable from sanity, and for the reason above suggested: that whatever its aims may be-and the aim is never declared-the method and the outward proceeding are always perfectly rational.
medium-paced
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A great short story... has some great correlations to biblical stories, if you like that kind of story, and has some great allusions and dialogue.
Very interesting commentary about the ineptitude of man-made law or governance and why there are no perfect judges among mortal humanity.
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
suing my professor for intentional infliction of emotional distress and for the fact that i couldn’t dnf this book since it was an assigned reading. i have never yearned to finish a book as much as i did this one. it nearly put me into a reading slump and depressed me a bit.
i was determined to give this a one star but i couldn’t by the end because there were a lot of things in this that resonated strongly with me, so that was a plus. just happy to be done that’s all.
52 Book Club Challenge: Published Posthumously.
i was determined to give this a one star but i couldn’t by the end because there were a lot of things in this that resonated strongly with me, so that was a plus. just happy to be done that’s all.
52 Book Club Challenge: Published Posthumously.