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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
I have not read this book. I have, however, read a 200,000-word fanfic in the span of 4 days, and I'm not NOT going to count it in my yearly reading goal. So I'm using this book as a placeholder since the fic isn't in Goodread's database.
Oh my god I finished. Ummm there were some cool parts but on the whole this book is too long and I hated it and I'm gonna fail English this year.
I really didn't care for the extended, and inaccurate, descriptions of types of whales. I think it was an interesting allegory, but long passages of how whales are slaughtered and rendered were sickening.
Pesante, sarà anche bello, molto allegorico e pieno di riferimenti etc.etc., ma leggerlo tutto, sforzandosi di non saltare nemmeno le descrizioni dei vari tipi di balene, si è rivelato un'impresa!
La storia della discesa nell'ossessione del capitano Ahab, ossessione nella quale trascinerà poi anche tutto il suo equipaggio, è ben resa e attraverso gli occhi di Ishmael non ci perdiamo nessuno di quei sintomi che da psicologa mi sento di temere e parecchio pure; quando nelle ultime dieci pagine si conclude il tutto non ci si può dimenticare l'affermazione di Starbuck, che più di tutti aveva cercato di impedire ad Ahab la caccia della balena bianca: "Oh Ahab, not too late is it, even now...See! Moby Dick seeks thee not. It is Thou, that madly seeks him!" E invece era già troppo tardi.
La storia della discesa nell'ossessione del capitano Ahab, ossessione nella quale trascinerà poi anche tutto il suo equipaggio, è ben resa e attraverso gli occhi di Ishmael non ci perdiamo nessuno di quei sintomi che da psicologa mi sento di temere e parecchio pure; quando nelle ultime dieci pagine si conclude il tutto non ci si può dimenticare l'affermazione di Starbuck, che più di tutti aveva cercato di impedire ad Ahab la caccia della balena bianca: "Oh Ahab, not too late is it, even now...See! Moby Dick seeks thee not. It is Thou, that madly seeks him!" E invece era già troppo tardi.
adventurous
challenging
informative
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:
Yes
“The great shroud of the sea rolled on as it had rolled on five thousand years ago”
In his tome of a novel, or myth of morality, Melville claims that “The whale have no famous author and whaling have no famous chronicler.” In writing ‘Moby Dick’ he certainly succeeded in fulfilling such absence. ‘Moby Dick’ is the story of Ishmael, who boards the ship of Captain Ahab, a one legged sailor in search of vengeance against the creature that tore off his leg, the white whale Moby Dick. Though sprawling in length, it is an incredibly written book. Melville’s levels of detail and descriptions are sublime and the conclusion was breathtaking. The small details scattered through and built up throughout the novel all cumulated and it honestly had the emotional impact of the final pages of a murder mystery.
The protagonist, Ishmael, was the most lacklustre part of the novel. Despite being in his head for over 700 pages he really doesn’t get much development and is quite flat, if the opening line “Call me Ishmael” wasn’t so iconic you would honestly start to forget he existed. However, the flamboyant cast of characters around him on the ship, the mysterious and menacing Ahab, loveable Queequeg and even the phantom-like presence of the cabin-boy Pip make up for this absence in Ishmael.
Most authors do extensive research for their novels, whereas very few decide to include all this research within its pages. If Melville didn’t constantly break the plot up with information on the jurisdiction of whaling laws or the average inches of a male sperm whales jaw bone this book would’ve had so much rhythm to it, and as much as I enjoyed the plot the sheer amount of this filler information (Melville being paid by the word likely being the cause of this) means I can’t let myself give it five stars despite how well Melville’s prose was written. The book does however focus on the hunting and murder of whales which is pretty uncomfortable and the image of the Pequod with a severed whale head hanging from each side was harrowing and will forever haunt me. Though the man did truly have a talent to spin words and never did I think I would learn so much about the whaling industry of the 1800s or whale species in my life, but that is just the consequence of reading ‘Moby Dick’.
For the most part ‘Moby Dick’ was absolutely brilliant and certainly worth the read, though the two overarching flaws of Ishmael and information overload cap it at 4.5 unfortunately.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
informative
medium-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:
Complicated
Jag visste inte riktigt vad jag skulle förvänta mig av denna omfattande bok. Mycket kände jag till innan genom populärkulturella referenser som till stor del färgats av Gregory Pecks klassiska porträtt av kapten Ahab. Det visade sig dock att den kampen med Moby Dick endast utgjorde den sista fjärdedelan av boken. Eftersom berättaren, Ismael, sysslar med leviatanforskning, vilket i praktiken innebär valar, innehåller boken väldigt mycket information om just valar. Boken inleds med en väldigt stor mängd historiska citat om valar. Jag antar att valen utgjord ett mystiskt och intressant djur/fisk för 1850-talets läsare. Idag är det inte heller helt ointressant att läsa dåtidens biologiska förklaringar av valarnas konstitution och perceptionsförmåga. Eftersom man trodde att kaskelottens olja var dess sperma (följdaktligen Sperm Whale) framstår fascinationen och lovsångerna till sperma något komiska, t.ex. ser Ismael i ett drömrus änglar med händerna nedsänkta i mängder av sperma och han beskriver hur han själv badar i denna gudabenådade säd. Boken innehåller också inslag av riktig komik, bland annat i beskrivningen av den kuststad där det enkom serveras chowder till frukost, lunch och middag (man kan dock välja mellan torsk och musslor) samt beskrivningen av de fartygsbesättningar av olika nationalitet man möter ute till havs. Den här boken är analyserad på korsen och på tvärsen och många av de insprängda citaten från Shakespeare flyger över mitt huvud men det gör inget, boken är läsvärd så som den framstår i sig.
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
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:
Yes