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Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racial slurs, Racism
adventurous
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Minor: Racism, Cannibalism
The whale hunting was described in all its brutality, which I found quite disturbing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood
adventurous
challenging
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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood
adventurous
informative
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism
adventurous
challenging
reflective
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence
Moderate: Death, Slavery, Medical content, Cannibalism, Alcohol
Minor: Antisemitism, Grief
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Racism
Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry
Minor: Antisemitism
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
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
Moderate: Animal death, Racism
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I did not like this book. Overall the story is a good story with a moral of not allowing vengeance to influence your decisions. There are only one or two likable characters. To be honest the only character with a reasonable amount of development is the cannibal Queequeg and he is not even a main character. You do begin to see bits and pieces of what drives Captain Ahab near the end, but not nearly enough to understand why he is so determined to kill Moby Dick. The so called main character/narrator, Ishmael, has very little personality at all. I guess I just had a hard time relating to the motivations of any of the characters.
Content and story-wise, the book starts out okay and you get prepped for an exciting journey on a whaling ship...but that is pretty much where an excitement stops until the last 100 pages of the book. Everything in between was dull shop talk and unnecessary history. (I mean, there were three chapters about art involving whales. Why?) It was interesting, but did not contribute to the story that much. I truly feel you could take the 1st 100-200 pages and the last 100 pages and skip everything else in between and get the same thing out the story. That being said, if you are into the history and symbolism of whales, and the process of Whaling, this book has a lot of it and you might enjoy this more than I did.
Content and story-wise, the book starts out okay and you get prepped for an exciting journey on a whaling ship...but that is pretty much where an excitement stops until the last 100 pages of the book. Everything in between was dull shop talk and unnecessary history. (I mean, there were three chapters about art involving whales. Why?) It was interesting, but did not contribute to the story that much. I truly feel you could take the 1st 100-200 pages and the last 100 pages and skip everything else in between and get the same thing out the story. That being said, if you are into the history and symbolism of whales, and the process of Whaling, this book has a lot of it and you might enjoy this more than I did.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Cursing, Gore, Racism, Sexual content
challenging
dark
funny
informative
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Jfc. This book took me a year and one month to read (possibly due to my poor attention span and the onslaught of whale/maritime data that I have to make sense of) I ended up finishing the book instead of abandoning it out of pure spite.
The first part (around ⅓) is interesting and Melville's humor is hilarious. The second part is dry and the plot moves slower than before, it's just pure whale facts– Melville basically bludgeons you into submission with an encyclopedia. The latter part of the book (thankfully), the action picks back up.
Also, the prose can sometimes cause a headache or two so you may need to list down (and search) some of the maritime terms used to avoid future confusions.
The first part (around ⅓) is interesting and Melville's humor is hilarious. The second part is dry and the plot moves slower than before, it's just pure whale facts– Melville basically bludgeons you into submission with an encyclopedia. The latter part of the book (thankfully), the action picks back up.
Also, the prose can sometimes cause a headache or two so you may need to list down (and search) some of the maritime terms used to avoid future confusions.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Racism, Classism
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Colonisation
Minor: Injury/Injury detail