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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
I had to read this book for school, and I wasn’t very keen on the idea, seeing as it has an enormous reputation for being very boring.
However, it wasn’t as horrible as I thought it was going to be, and I have another favorite character (the first mate, Starbuck) now, so that’s … good. except *SPOILER* *cries*
The whole revenge aspect and sinister prophecies kept me interested until the end. There are some strange spiritual elements, in regards to different characters’ beliefs, so just be warned.
Some of Melville’s chapters remind me of Victor Hugo’s writing style, where he goes of on a tangent and talks about something that doesn’t have a huge bearing on the story. Melville tends to keep them short, though, so that’s nice. All of the chapters are short, actually, some less than a page long.
One more critique, and that’s the dialogue. Some of the characters talk quite formally and others talk more like sailors, and both are about equally hard to understand. And sometimes it’s hard to tell of someone is talking to themselves or to someone else nearby.
Overall, I enjoyed Moby Dick more than I thought I would. It teaches important lessons about revenge and what kinds of decisions you make. and I love Starbuck.
However, it wasn’t as horrible as I thought it was going to be, and I have another favorite character (the first mate, Starbuck) now, so that’s … good. except *SPOILER* *cries*
The whole revenge aspect and sinister prophecies kept me interested until the end. There are some strange spiritual elements, in regards to different characters’ beliefs, so just be warned.
Some of Melville’s chapters remind me of Victor Hugo’s writing style, where he goes of on a tangent and talks about something that doesn’t have a huge bearing on the story. Melville tends to keep them short, though, so that’s nice. All of the chapters are short, actually, some less than a page long.
One more critique, and that’s the dialogue. Some of the characters talk quite formally and others talk more like sailors, and both are about equally hard to understand. And sometimes it’s hard to tell of someone is talking to themselves or to someone else nearby.
Overall, I enjoyed Moby Dick more than I thought I would. It teaches important lessons about revenge and what kinds of decisions you make. and I love Starbuck.
Let me start off by saying something I never thought I'd say: it is OK to skip most of this book.
It sounds shocking, I know, but I promise you it's fine. When I started reading I did some research about the book as one does and I've stumbled upon a lot of people saying things like ''Read the abridged version'' or ''You can skip most of the book'' but I didn't really think much about it because why would I do that? It didn't make any sense to skip so much of the book.
However.
I started reading. And don't get me wrong, I was enjoying it a lot. But at some point I started understanding what all those people were saying. So I did some more research and I am here to tell you once again that it is absolutely fine to skip a lot of the chapters in this book. What Melville wanted to do was to realistically show the life of a whaling crew across some months. He wanted to tell his readers all about whaling in the 19th century and all about the anatomy of whales. And he was very successful in that part. But that part ended up taking up most of his book and it is very very repetitive and tedious and not at all relevant to the story. If you want to read that, no one's stopping you; I'll probably read it in its entirety some day but this time I just wanted to read the story.
With that out of the way, I can tell you that the story is amazing and I loved it very much. The prose is beautiful and every scene is so skilfully described I could see it so clearly in my mind's eye. I'm not surprised exactly because I know it's a well loved book but it was slightly unexpected to like it this much. I also didn't expect LGBTQ+ representation in a book from 19th century but here we are!
If anyone's interested, I have a list of chapters to read as well as a link to a very high quality audiobook so feel free to ask :)
It sounds shocking, I know, but I promise you it's fine. When I started reading I did some research about the book as one does and I've stumbled upon a lot of people saying things like ''Read the abridged version'' or ''You can skip most of the book'' but I didn't really think much about it because why would I do that? It didn't make any sense to skip so much of the book.
However.
I started reading. And don't get me wrong, I was enjoying it a lot. But at some point I started understanding what all those people were saying. So I did some more research and I am here to tell you once again that it is absolutely fine to skip a lot of the chapters in this book. What Melville wanted to do was to realistically show the life of a whaling crew across some months. He wanted to tell his readers all about whaling in the 19th century and all about the anatomy of whales. And he was very successful in that part. But that part ended up taking up most of his book and it is very very repetitive and tedious and not at all relevant to the story. If you want to read that, no one's stopping you; I'll probably read it in its entirety some day but this time I just wanted to read the story.
With that out of the way, I can tell you that the story is amazing and I loved it very much. The prose is beautiful and every scene is so skilfully described I could see it so clearly in my mind's eye. I'm not surprised exactly because I know it's a well loved book but it was slightly unexpected to like it this much. I also didn't expect LGBTQ+ representation in a book from 19th century but here we are!
If anyone's interested, I have a list of chapters to read as well as a link to a very high quality audiobook so feel free to ask :)
adventurous
challenging
informative
slow-paced
I have no words. I will have to reread it. Probably watch a few lectures on it. My god.
Jesus.
To say this book is a chore is an understatement. I could only make it about a third through this fight before throwing in the towel. For an adventure novel, the writing was superfluous and excessive beyond belief. This book may have been published 170 years ago, but that doesn't change the fact that Melville chose the wrong literary style for this tale.
To say this book is a chore is an understatement. I could only make it about a third through this fight before throwing in the towel. For an adventure novel, the writing was superfluous and excessive beyond belief. This book may have been published 170 years ago, but that doesn't change the fact that Melville chose the wrong literary style for this tale.
adventurous
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've never read a book that put me through so many emotions. At various times you will be laughing hysterically, weeping inwardly, fuming mad, desperately bored, painfully frustrated, mistily contemplative, completely horrified, perfectly content, and utterly devastated. Can I give any better review? Others have written tomes. If anyone told me this is the best book ever written, I wouldn't argue.
I just hated this. I've been listening to it for 8 months and I can only conclude that I do not value my own time because I didn't enjoy any of it. There were a couple hours of plot at the beginning, then 25 hours of the history of whales and whaling, then a couple hours of plot at the end - or at least that's how it felt. I listened to it too rarely also, to keep it going. But! It's done and I'm FREE!
La verdad no me gustó, entiendo que es un tema de época y generación, pero entre todos los clásicos que leí este año, este no me gustó nada.
Sé que leí una versión resumida también, pero si esa versión en audiolibro me pareció incómoda creo que sería torturarme leer el completo. Y no lo digo por destruir al libro ni al autor, como digo, es un tema de época, no puedo evitar sentirme MAL por la caza de ballenas. No puedo ver a Moby Dick como un monstruo, no puedo no ponerme mal cuando cuentan sobre la caza de la ballena con su cria aun unida del cordon umbilical.
No desmerezco el libro, pero fue demasiado para mí, ellos eran los monstruos. Lento, pesado, descriptivo y violento, no es para mí.
Sé que leí una versión resumida también, pero si esa versión en audiolibro me pareció incómoda creo que sería torturarme leer el completo. Y no lo digo por destruir al libro ni al autor, como digo, es un tema de época, no puedo evitar sentirme MAL por la caza de ballenas. No puedo ver a Moby Dick como un monstruo, no puedo no ponerme mal cuando cuentan sobre la caza de la ballena con su cria aun unida del cordon umbilical.
No desmerezco el libro, pero fue demasiado para mí, ellos eran los monstruos. Lento, pesado, descriptivo y violento, no es para mí.
slow-paced
Well I read it. For school but I did it.