Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale

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Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale by Herman Melville

79 reviews

lizzie24601's review

2.5

challenging informative slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

What I wouldn't give for someone to make an intense, emotional Moby Dick HBO drama that takes this premise and characters and pulls more out of it. Melville creates a diverse, fascinating crew of whalers - and does very little with them. I wanted much more out of this book to match its reputation, and instead understood why abridged versions exist.

Melville's writing - I can only assume he was paid by the word - is at times quite difficult to get through, and the filler chapters on whale art and terminology don't help. Other than the first several chapters (of Ishmael and Queequeg in Massachusetts) and the last few chapters (where the book's reputation actually comes to fruition), there's really not much of a plot and the book is very episodic. If you're looking for a "masterpiece of American literature" that is going to open your mind and blow you away, I don't think this is it.

However - I was surprised to see the amount of diversity in the crew, and there were several scenes with beautiful descriptions of ocean and whaling life. The themes Melville introduces here (of obsession, of mass mania, of race relations and the destructiveness of "whiteness") are tantalizing and I would LOVE to see an adaptation dive deeper into these, with the participation of voices of color and modern, more accessible language.

Content Warnings

happysami's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

jamelchior's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

Content Warnings

hjb_128's review against another edition

2.25

adventurous challenging informative reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

freddie_mond's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

jthyme's review

4.0

adventurous sad tense 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: Complicated

Honestly, I feel like this book could've been condensed to around 300 pages if it weren't for the MC jerking himself off over whales and whaling. The interludes can be quite a drag to get through. Although the main plot was entertaining enough at least.

AHAB, YOU STOOPID FUCK!! also Queequeeg my love💔 I did not expect another gay tragedy😭 I was really rooting for them to get a happy ending but I guess not. Damn you Melville😭

Content Warnings

abomine's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

byejohn's review

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

“…to the last gasp of my earthquake life…”

Content Warnings

ro_lux's review against another edition

4.5

challenging 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

Content Warnings

gingervandorsten's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark informative reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

A weirdly captivating book for how much of it is just straight up whale facts. Herman Melville's writing has something in it, something in the way he contructs sentences that's genuinely great. Some absolutely brilliant lines and really interesting characters (though there's a lot of the very unfortunate period-typical use of language to describe POC characters, which I think is good to be aware of before you start) and I just really love nautical fiction. And boy is this book homoerotic in some parts. Jesus. But it's really just 70% whale facts and not always (barely ever) interesting ones and I don't think I need to have any more whale information thrown at me for another decade. I'm also very interested to see what a modern cetologist would think of some of the biology in this book.
Overall though, I see why this is a classic! I just do not think it needed to be this long! And also maybe Herman Melville needs to have a think about his feelings towards men. Just saying.

Content Warnings

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