You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale by Herman Melville

81 reviews

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Long winded prose. Wish I'd read the start and skipped to the end. Like Jules Verne in the endless categorization and description. Needless description of violence to the animals. Needless racial judgments. No women. A product of its time. I didn't find anything redeeming to make the effort of slogging through worthwhile. I suppose the depiction of physical disability was decent. And there's a lot of neat info about boats and whaling. Historical context. Idk. Some might enjoy, but not me. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
hollystopreading's profile picture

hollystopreading's review

4.25
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.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
cryptidarchivist's profile picture

cryptidarchivist's review

3.75
adventurous challenging informative reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It was a good book and I'm very glad to have actually taken on reading it in full, despite very polarized opinions of this classic. I found it enjoyable, but the pacing and certain chapters didn't seem to fit in fully with the rest of the book. I will admit, it was a bit tedious at points. But I still really enjoyed reading it and I know it changed me. It's almost a 4-star read for me, and I understand why it is so loved by so many (and disliked by others,) but it falls short in just a few too many ways for me to rate it full 4-stars.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kubs's review

4.5
adventurous dark funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Ishmael really really really likes whales.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A story of obsession, madness, the history of whaling and American sailors attitudes in the 1850s, and so many wrong facts about the science of whales. 

A strange blend of history or science lessons, almost ethnography-like entries of life aboard the Pequod, with the mad ramblings of various characters obsessed with either leaving life behind, chasing their white whale, or staunchly pursuing their place in the world and blindly following their leader. 

A bit too long, and realistically should have been edited down a great deal, nevertheless had me really enjoying reading about whales and this motley cast of crew. 

See content warnings re: racism in the book, but was not unexpected from the fact it’s wrote by a white American man in the 1850s with outdated language available to him. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous informative tense

[T]here is no folly of the beast of the beast of the earth, which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.

Despite the fame of this novel, I was surprised by the style that Melville writes in. About 3/4 of the book is comprised of a typical whaling voyage, told in a series of informative vignettes and whale details. While I anticipated the chapter on whiteness and the classification of every species of whale, what I didn’t expect was a format that lends itself to movement between topics both scientific and fictitious.

Indeed, after Ishmael has met Queequeg and the two have joined the crew of the ship named Pequod, the emotional weight of the narrative is generally kept light, with observations about the harpooners, Ahab’s enigmatic nature, ship hierarchies, duties, Stubb’s humour, and passing ships calmly unfolding alongside ocean poetry and description of the whale’s blowhole in full detail. It took me half the book and many pseudo-scientific facts to recognize a satirical tone as great as the titular character himself. I liked the talk of fast and loose fish and of the whale’s genius the best, but the clever foolishness of Ishmael’s expounding did not save the  novel from often boring me.

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.

In the last 1/4, Ahab, the crew, the ocean, and Melville all rally tremendously. There are monologues on fate and revenge! There are storms and difficult decisions! There is danger and ferocity! It’s fun and exciting, what we’ve been waiting for.

I now know thee, thou clear spirit, and I now know that thy right worship is defiance. To neither love nor reverence wilt thou be kind, and e’en for hate, thou canst but kill… Oh, thou clear spirit, of thy fire thou madest me, and like a true child of fire, I breathe it back to thee.

It remains debatable whether this payoff makes the whole adventure worth it. There is a great deal of racism and ableism. Many whales are maimed and/or killed. It’s also (if you skip and skim) a confession to men’s hubris, to the horrors of capitalism, to the multifaceted tragedy of modernity and its ideology of domination at any cost. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark funny informative sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Unbelievably educated and witty narrator perfectly combines comedy and exploration with a heartbreaking drama. The book explores the strenuous lives of the sailors of a whaling ship and the inner challenges of human nature. 
A story of obsession, doubt, trauma, friendship, partnership of extremely diverse individuals that are all stuck in each other's company and a tragic reality of the whaling industry.

Everyone will find something to like in this book, but only a few will love this book in its entirety.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings