Take a photo of a barcode or cover
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Let me preface this by saying that I like whales. I have read 'In the Heart of the Sea', which partly inspired Melville to write 'Moby Dick.' I absolutely enjoyed 'In the Heart of the Sea,' and I absolutely loathed 'Moby Dick.'
This felt like I was being told 25% a story and 75% the long-winded and unnecessary tangents from someone who can't take the hint that NO ONE CARES.
I can slightly understand the literary merit this book holds but it's not enough to make it interesting or redeemable.
This felt like I was being told 25% a story and 75% the long-winded and unnecessary tangents from someone who can't take the hint that NO ONE CARES.
I can slightly understand the literary merit this book holds but it's not enough to make it interesting or redeemable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Racial slurs
adventurous
challenging
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
This book can be challenging but, boy, is it worth it. I recommend listening to an audiobook to help you get through. (Librivox has a great free recording done by Stewart Wills.) The style is very experimental and not a straight-forward adventure story. But even though it is dense, there is a lot of humor, wit, reflections on humanity, and lovable characters within. Herman Melville raises great philosophical questions about man, nature, and God. There is a reason this is considered the great American novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Moderate: Death, Racism
dark
funny
informative
slow-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
I love this book. Obsession with an unknowable thing and the desire to understand what can’t be understood!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racism, Blood
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
challenging
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:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
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
The sole survivor of a shipwreck immortalizes its ill-fated final voyage: its crew, its prey and its captain’s monomaniacal obsession with the titular white whale. Verbose and glorious, and if Melville is not quite the American Shakespeare he is something deeper altogether.
“Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure. Consider also the devilish brilliance and beauty of many of its most remorseless tribes, as the dainty embellished shape of many species of sharks. Consider, once more, the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began. Consider all this; and then turn to this green, gentle and most docile earth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a strange analogy to something in yourself?” (283)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore
Moderate: Death, Grief
Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, Antisemitism, Cannibalism
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood
Moderate: Racial slurs, Medical trauma
Minor: Antisemitism, Cannibalism
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism