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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
Some 30 years ago, Dr. Edward Gredja walked into his 19th Century American Literature class and announced, "I give up. You win. We're NOT going to read 'Moby Dick' this semester." We shouted for joy. Now that I am much older and presumably wiser, I have decided to listen to "Moby Dick" on my daily walks. Sorry, my dear, departed Dr. Gredja, I cannot force myself to sit down and actually read it.
I have to admit that it's damn fine writing and an interesting story to boot. Melville uses some beautiful alliteration and antiquated phrasing that is very easy on the ears. I particularly love this passage, "I think we have badly mistaken this matter of Life and Death. I think that what they call my shadow here on earth is really my true substance.I think my body is just the dregs of my soul.In fact,I say, ´Take my body, it is not me."
Despite that, Melville is definitely giving me a greater appreciation for authors like Hemingway. Hmm, now that would be an interesting discussion - compare and contrast "Moby Dick" and "The Old Man and the Sea". Well, let's see - they're both stories about fish, BUT it takes Melville fifty pages to say what Hemingway can say in one.
In that sense Melville is like my beloved James Michener - verbose. However, Michener's digressions really do have something to with the plot. Like in the best book ever written, "Centennial", where he describes the evolution of the universe in what seems to be unnecessary detail until you get to the part where Philip Wendell stows Soren Sorenson's body in an underwater cave. Aha, see that! He told you clear back in the first 100 or so pages how that cave came to be. On the other hand, what I'm finding with Melville's digressions is that there really are two separate books - one a complete, detailed history of whales; the other, the story of Moby Dick, Ahab, Ishmael, et. al.
Still and all, I'm glad I finally finished it. I feel as if I've accomplished something.
I have to admit that it's damn fine writing and an interesting story to boot. Melville uses some beautiful alliteration and antiquated phrasing that is very easy on the ears. I particularly love this passage, "I think we have badly mistaken this matter of Life and Death. I think that what they call my shadow here on earth is really my true substance.I think my body is just the dregs of my soul.In fact,I say, ´Take my body, it is not me."
Despite that, Melville is definitely giving me a greater appreciation for authors like Hemingway. Hmm, now that would be an interesting discussion - compare and contrast "Moby Dick" and "The Old Man and the Sea". Well, let's see - they're both stories about fish, BUT it takes Melville fifty pages to say what Hemingway can say in one.
In that sense Melville is like my beloved James Michener - verbose. However, Michener's digressions really do have something to with the plot. Like in the best book ever written, "Centennial", where he describes the evolution of the universe in what seems to be unnecessary detail until you get to the part where Philip Wendell stows Soren Sorenson's body in an underwater cave. Aha, see that! He told you clear back in the first 100 or so pages how that cave came to be. On the other hand, what I'm finding with Melville's digressions is that there really are two separate books - one a complete, detailed history of whales; the other, the story of Moby Dick, Ahab, Ishmael, et. al.
Still and all, I'm glad I finally finished it. I feel as if I've accomplished something.
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Es tremendo en todo sentido. Cada palabra de Ahab es de una profundidad, de una lucidez y una locura que conmocionan. A veces los capítulos mas técnicos hacen un poco densa la lectura, pero es lo de menos. El capítulo 132 es una maravilla completa, cada línea.
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Definitely something everyone should read. Took me 4 months though 🫡. The gay subtext really sold me aswell as the corruption of ahab as he descends into madness! Also despite the use of slurs this book actively pushed against racist rhetoric.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racial slurs, Xenophobia
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
This should have been really good. Ishmael rolls in and is immediately like "I am suicidal and broke, so to the sea I must go!" which is such a promising start to a story! And if it had stayed that way, actually focused on Ishmael/Ahab/Moby Dick's story, I think I would have loved it more. But Herman Melville was for some reason bound and determined to make us all whaling experts which I do in fact not need in the 21st century. And frankly, I doubt most people needed it back then either.
adventurous
challenging
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I Loved this. I don’t know what to say besides that. it was crazy. Worth the read and want to read it again. So much about not understanding the world around you and boredom and obsession as people talk abt etc etc etc… loved it.
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"But how? Genius in the Sperm Whale? Has the Sperm Whale ever written a book, spoken a speech? No, his great genius is declared in his doing nothing particular to prove it. It is moreover declared in his pyramidical silence."
With the smoke of literature and the sizzle of encyclopedic non-fiction, Moby-Dick is a book of whales, slime, mizzle and rope, tar and bilge, steel and ivory. Melville combines vast knowledge of whaling with high-literary sensibilities - and it is doubly fascinating for implying the existence of its creator, whose life (whatever it involved) equipped him to write so vast and strange a novel, but which is also characterful, charming, and clearly imagined.
With the smoke of literature and the sizzle of encyclopedic non-fiction, Moby-Dick is a book of whales, slime, mizzle and rope, tar and bilge, steel and ivory. Melville combines vast knowledge of whaling with high-literary sensibilities - and it is doubly fascinating for implying the existence of its creator, whose life (whatever it involved) equipped him to write so vast and strange a novel, but which is also characterful, charming, and clearly imagined.
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A