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Seriously - maybe I really am not meant for the classics. At least I can say I tried
Call me baffled...
Our narrator (call him Ishmael) signs up for a voyage aboard the whaling ship Pequod, only to find that the Captain, Ahab, is pursuing a personal vendetta against the whale which caused him to lose his leg – Moby-Dick.
See, I still find that blurb quite appealing, even knowing what I now know – that that whole story is crammed into a few pages near the beginning and the last few pages at the end, and all the rest is filled with digressions, varying in degree of interest from quite exciting to cure for insomnia status. I should declare a pre-existing grudge against Melville – it was primarily being forced to pretend that his Billy Budd was in some way worth reading that led to my final breach with the Eng-Lit department at Uni. But surely a book that is touted as a Great American Novel contender couldn't be as bad as that one, could it? Hmm! Well, after the last few books I've read or abandoned in the GAN Quest, I have realised that perhaps America and I have very different definitions of greatness...
My first complaint is that Melville clearly couldn't decide whether he was trying to write a novel or an encyclopedia of whales. I would suggest that the bullet point list really plays no part in fiction, and that any time an author feels the need to use it, then he should step back and wonder if he's on the right track. Pages of descriptions of all the different types of whales might be interesting if you happen to be interested in that kind of thing, but a novel isn't the place for it.
Secondly, what's with the cod-Shakespearian? The thing is, it makes perfect sense for Shakespeare's characters to have spoken in poetic Elizabethan English, for obvious reasons – i.e., Shakespeare was an English Elizabethan poet. Ahab, on the other hand, was a 19th century whaling captain from Nantucket. One would therefore have expected him to speak like a 19th century Nantuckian. I'm guessing poor old Melville mistakenly thought that if he managed to sound like Shakespeare, people might be fooled into thinking that he was as good a writer as Shakespeare. Ah, well, the best laid plans...
Thirdly, and I grant you Melville is by no means the only writer guilty of this one, if you're going to use a first-person narrative then you can't suddenly tell the reader all kinds of things the narrator couldn't possibly know – like what other people are thinking! Or verbatim reports of conversations when the narrator wasn't present! Not if you want to be taken seriously as a good writer, at least.
There are bits that are good, when Melville stops trying to be stylistically clever and just tells a plain yarn: for instance, the story of the mutiny aboard another ship, or when Stubbs tricks the crew of the Rosebud into giving him the whale containing ambergris. I also enjoyed some of his digressions (though there were far too many of them) – like when he philosophises at length on how the colour white is perceived as scary, ranging from polar bears to ghosts. This is well written, and although the argument is stretched and shaky, Melville shows that he knows it with some humorous asides. And the section where he shows each crew member's different reaction to the gold coin is, I admit, brilliantly done, with him showing how each brings his own nature, his optimism or pessimism, his cultural beliefs and superstitions to his reading of the symbols on the coin. (Though again – first person narrative issue here, obviously.)
The major problem, though, is the almost total lack of narrative drive. The book is nearly a quarter done before we even meet Ahab, the whole of that first section consisting of description after description, first of places, then of people. I was bored out of my head before the story even began. Then, having finally begun, it constantly stops again for vast swathes of time while Ishmael/Melville gives us all kinds of irrelevant information in what must be one of the earliest examples of info-dump; for example, when he gives us pages upon pages of him rubbishing all previous artists, writers and naturalists who have drawn or written about whales. The eponymous whale doesn't appear until the book is 93% done.
But even aside from the main narrative, his style manages to suck the drama out of any bit of story he tells. We hear about a whale hunt that goes wrong, and it's brilliantly told right up to the point where the crew are left in their damaged boat, with no oars, lighting their one small lamp against the huge darkness of the ocean... and then he stops and jumps to the biggest anticlimax of all time with a straightforward rescue several hours later. And finally, the great showdown with Moby-Dick arrives – great stuff (if you ignore Starbuck and Ahab repeating themselves in endless asides), some fabulously horrific imagery and then... the end. Abrupt seems to be the appropriate word.
So, to conclude, well written in parts, badly written in others. Lacks narrative drive – by my reckoning the actual story part probably only takes up about 10% of the whole book. The mock Shakespearian language and pastiching of his style is a strange and, in my opinion, unsuccessful stylistic choice. I understand the book was first rejected by publishers and then failed to sell for decades after it finally was published, both of which sound about right to me. The bit that baffles me is why later generations have declared it “great”. My verdict – shows potential in places but requires a severe edit to rid it of all the extraneous nonsense and to improve the narrative flow.
So, is it a Great American Novel? No.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Our narrator (call him Ishmael) signs up for a voyage aboard the whaling ship Pequod, only to find that the Captain, Ahab, is pursuing a personal vendetta against the whale which caused him to lose his leg – Moby-Dick.
See, I still find that blurb quite appealing, even knowing what I now know – that that whole story is crammed into a few pages near the beginning and the last few pages at the end, and all the rest is filled with digressions, varying in degree of interest from quite exciting to cure for insomnia status. I should declare a pre-existing grudge against Melville – it was primarily being forced to pretend that his Billy Budd was in some way worth reading that led to my final breach with the Eng-Lit department at Uni. But surely a book that is touted as a Great American Novel contender couldn't be as bad as that one, could it? Hmm! Well, after the last few books I've read or abandoned in the GAN Quest, I have realised that perhaps America and I have very different definitions of greatness...
My first complaint is that Melville clearly couldn't decide whether he was trying to write a novel or an encyclopedia of whales. I would suggest that the bullet point list really plays no part in fiction, and that any time an author feels the need to use it, then he should step back and wonder if he's on the right track. Pages of descriptions of all the different types of whales might be interesting if you happen to be interested in that kind of thing, but a novel isn't the place for it.
Secondly, what's with the cod-Shakespearian? The thing is, it makes perfect sense for Shakespeare's characters to have spoken in poetic Elizabethan English, for obvious reasons – i.e., Shakespeare was an English Elizabethan poet. Ahab, on the other hand, was a 19th century whaling captain from Nantucket. One would therefore have expected him to speak like a 19th century Nantuckian. I'm guessing poor old Melville mistakenly thought that if he managed to sound like Shakespeare, people might be fooled into thinking that he was as good a writer as Shakespeare. Ah, well, the best laid plans...
Thirdly, and I grant you Melville is by no means the only writer guilty of this one, if you're going to use a first-person narrative then you can't suddenly tell the reader all kinds of things the narrator couldn't possibly know – like what other people are thinking! Or verbatim reports of conversations when the narrator wasn't present! Not if you want to be taken seriously as a good writer, at least.
There are bits that are good, when Melville stops trying to be stylistically clever and just tells a plain yarn: for instance, the story of the mutiny aboard another ship, or when Stubbs tricks the crew of the Rosebud into giving him the whale containing ambergris. I also enjoyed some of his digressions (though there were far too many of them) – like when he philosophises at length on how the colour white is perceived as scary, ranging from polar bears to ghosts. This is well written, and although the argument is stretched and shaky, Melville shows that he knows it with some humorous asides. And the section where he shows each crew member's different reaction to the gold coin is, I admit, brilliantly done, with him showing how each brings his own nature, his optimism or pessimism, his cultural beliefs and superstitions to his reading of the symbols on the coin. (Though again – first person narrative issue here, obviously.)
The major problem, though, is the almost total lack of narrative drive. The book is nearly a quarter done before we even meet Ahab, the whole of that first section consisting of description after description, first of places, then of people. I was bored out of my head before the story even began. Then, having finally begun, it constantly stops again for vast swathes of time while Ishmael/Melville gives us all kinds of irrelevant information in what must be one of the earliest examples of info-dump; for example, when he gives us pages upon pages of him rubbishing all previous artists, writers and naturalists who have drawn or written about whales. The eponymous whale doesn't appear until the book is 93% done.
But even aside from the main narrative, his style manages to suck the drama out of any bit of story he tells. We hear about a whale hunt that goes wrong, and it's brilliantly told right up to the point where the crew are left in their damaged boat, with no oars, lighting their one small lamp against the huge darkness of the ocean... and then he stops and jumps to the biggest anticlimax of all time with a straightforward rescue several hours later. And finally, the great showdown with Moby-Dick arrives – great stuff (if you ignore Starbuck and Ahab repeating themselves in endless asides), some fabulously horrific imagery and then... the end. Abrupt seems to be the appropriate word.
So, to conclude, well written in parts, badly written in others. Lacks narrative drive – by my reckoning the actual story part probably only takes up about 10% of the whole book. The mock Shakespearian language and pastiching of his style is a strange and, in my opinion, unsuccessful stylistic choice. I understand the book was first rejected by publishers and then failed to sell for decades after it finally was published, both of which sound about right to me. The bit that baffles me is why later generations have declared it “great”. My verdict – shows potential in places but requires a severe edit to rid it of all the extraneous nonsense and to improve the narrative flow.
So, is it a Great American Novel? No.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I finally understand the hype
The first 20-30 pages are really good, establishing the friendship between Ishmael and Queequeg, and how they find themselves aboard the good ship Pequod. The last fifteen pages are pretty good, as they finally meet the whale and have their fateful confrontation.
In between, Melville weaves 300 pages of digressions - about the physiognomy of whales, about whaling, about sea life and boats, about the literary history of whales - many of which are completely fascinating, many of which are not even close to being so. I'll leave you and your unique tastes to determine which digressions are to your favor and which are not. Sometimes, he even offers you to some character scenes of life on the Pequod and gives you a peek into the madness of Captain Ahab. Those scenes are usually treats.
In between, Melville weaves 300 pages of digressions - about the physiognomy of whales, about whaling, about sea life and boats, about the literary history of whales - many of which are completely fascinating, many of which are not even close to being so. I'll leave you and your unique tastes to determine which digressions are to your favor and which are not. Sometimes, he even offers you to some character scenes of life on the Pequod and gives you a peek into the madness of Captain Ahab. Those scenes are usually treats.
Not a fan but I finished it because it was such a thing! It was just okay; did learn a LOT about whales and whaling.
This book was 75% encyclopedia. I️ wanted the story of Ahab and Ishmael. But instead, I️ got just a little of that and a whole lot of information on the classifications of whales.
Yes, the writing was masterful, and I️ enjoyed the biblical Jonas and the Whale stories, but man alive—it was a lot of wading through to get back to the narrative.
Yes, the writing was masterful, and I️ enjoyed the biblical Jonas and the Whale stories, but man alive—it was a lot of wading through to get back to the narrative.
Somehow I thought there would be more about the final encounter with Moby Dick.
Have been working on this one a while and only finished reading it today. So if you look up omen in the dictionary, I am pretty sure it says "... see Moby Dick." From the very first chapter this book it is portending its eventuality, and all the metaphorical angels (characters names Elijah and Gabriel, both quite insane in their own way) in the world can't stop what's about to happen. When Melville addresses his characters he does so with such acuity as to make the unmistakable and unforgettable. The wild Quequeg, the stoic, upright Starbuck, the unpredictable Mr. Stubbs, and the monomaniac Ahab. Never has a case of "romantic" obsession been so twisted. Never has the whale and whaling ever been so completely comprehended.