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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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 will be reading this again
PG-- nothing naughty, just intense.
Get it unabridged. Don't miss some of the awesom essays that Melville inserts.
It's harder to get through, but it is worth it. The writing and the story is awesome. It sparks discussion. It is so much better than I can explain. I sat there for over ten minutes just feeling awed at the ending of the book.
Get it unabridged. Don't miss some of the awesom essays that Melville inserts.
It's harder to get through, but it is worth it. The writing and the story is awesome. It sparks discussion. It is so much better than I can explain. I sat there for over ten minutes just feeling awed at the ending of the book.
4.25/5⭐
honestly, this is very very good.
I get why people don't like it, yes, it does have a lot of whale information that some people find "useless" and annoying, but isn't a big reason people read books is to acquire knowledge? so why do they find this specifically annoying? I personally enjoyed them, I'm obviously not going to be a cetologist, but a little information about the world that I would otherwise never find out is something I don't mind, it's just something you have to be ready for. when I started reading this book I expected purely narrative, but this book has quite an amount of whale facts that are not related to the story at all, as I said previously, this is just something you have to be ready for, not something that completely ruins a book.
and honestly, the story is pretty basic, but that doesn't mean it's bad.
this book has some deep themes like madness and free will vs fate so there is definitely a philosophical side to the book. however, what I really enjoyed is the basic premise of living on a whaleship at sea.
On the second day, a sail drew near, nearer, and picked me up at last. It was the devious-cruising Rachel, that in her retracing search after her missing children, only found another orphan.
I think that perfectly demonstrated Ahab's madness, because of his emotional revenge-seeking voyage, people with families, dreams and feelings perished into the abbyss.
honestly, this is very very good.
I get why people don't like it, yes, it does have a lot of whale information that some people find "useless" and annoying, but isn't a big reason people read books is to acquire knowledge? so why do they find this specifically annoying? I personally enjoyed them, I'm obviously not going to be a cetologist, but a little information about the world that I would otherwise never find out is something I don't mind, it's just something you have to be ready for. when I started reading this book I expected purely narrative, but this book has quite an amount of whale facts that are not related to the story at all, as I said previously, this is just something you have to be ready for, not something that completely ruins a book.
and honestly, the story is pretty basic, but that doesn't mean it's bad.
this book has some deep themes like madness and free will vs fate so there is definitely a philosophical side to the book. however, what I really enjoyed is the basic premise of living on a whaleship at sea.
Spoiler
And WOW the ending is brutal, I kinda expected them to kill the whale, and even if they didn't, I expected that they would escape, but the actual ending left me broken, especially the last line of the epilogue.On the second day, a sail drew near, nearer, and picked me up at last. It was the devious-cruising Rachel, that in her retracing search after her missing children, only found another orphan.
I think that perfectly demonstrated Ahab's madness, because of his emotional revenge-seeking voyage, people with families, dreams and feelings perished into the abbyss.
We tend to remember this magnificent novel as the story of Ahab's obsession with a white whale but like 90% of it is the nerdy Ishmael's obsession with recounting every obscure bit of trivia about the whaling industry (plus many completely made-up details concerning various whale species) and it is fucking GLORIOUS.
challenging
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
embarrassed that it took me so long to finish it... fukn rocks, though.
really breaks down like this:
- first 200-250 pages or so are some of, if not the, best pages of literature ever written.
- 100 or so pages after that is when the whale taxonomy stuff begins, and it is actually a blast! the funniest pages of this very (intentionally!) funny novel are here
- the next 200 or so get really, really, really in the the book feels like work weeds of whale taxonomy and biology. that's when
- the final remaining pages are when Ahab shines, the chase begins, and it all feels like even more of a revelation after you've finished 300 pages of whale taxonomy and biology
really breaks down like this:
- first 200-250 pages or so are some of, if not the, best pages of literature ever written.
- 100 or so pages after that is when the whale taxonomy stuff begins, and it is actually a blast! the funniest pages of this very (intentionally!) funny novel are here
- the next 200 or so get really, really, really in the the book feels like work weeds of whale taxonomy and biology. that's when
- the final remaining pages are when Ahab shines, the chase begins, and it all feels like even more of a revelation after you've finished 300 pages of whale taxonomy and biology
the annoying thing about this book is that the racist attitudes and language pepper such a great story and narrative. I liked it, but the cringing was a lot.
I first bought a copy of Moby Dick while on a short break in Hong Kong over 20 years ago. Numerous false starts, aborted read throughs, replacement copies, 2 kids and 2 dogs later, and I’ve finally restarted AND finished this leviathan of a book. Despite the occasional slog (chapter upon chapter of whale biology; or a 10 page word salad chapter about the evilness of the colour white) this is a fascinating and remarkable book; packed with evocative, other-worldly language and a climatic three chapter showdown that absolutely rocked me.