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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
This is my first introduction to Herman Melville. I don’t believe I’ve read any bits of Moby Dick, even though I know (as most people do) the opening line, “Call me Ishmael. Some years ago…” This is a novella so I wasn’t sure whether to count it in my total, but decided to as it was an interesting read, and probably a fascinating case study for Mellville’s mindset during the time, or the character Bartleby.
Melville wrote this, among a series of short-stories after publishing Moby Dick. Many believe he wrote this in response to his inability to follow-up with the success of the novel, and that it shows clinical depression through the character Bartleby.
At the heart of the story is Bartleby, who does not speak unless spoken to and even then only complied to requests of help/work during the first few weeks of his employment by the narrator. The way Melville told the story convinced me Bartleby didn’t speak English and only parroted the sentences which sounded like questions back to the narrator.
Continue reading on my book blog at geoffwhaley.com.
Melville wrote this, among a series of short-stories after publishing Moby Dick. Many believe he wrote this in response to his inability to follow-up with the success of the novel, and that it shows clinical depression through the character Bartleby.
At the heart of the story is Bartleby, who does not speak unless spoken to and even then only complied to requests of help/work during the first few weeks of his employment by the narrator. The way Melville told the story convinced me Bartleby didn’t speak English and only parroted the sentences which sounded like questions back to the narrator.
Continue reading on my book blog at geoffwhaley.com.
many people have enemies of a sort. people they strongly dislike. people who strongly dislike them in return. people they are going to slowly fall in love with over the course of 300 or so pages in a way that will prove very satisfying to me.
so it is normal to have enemies.
what is less normal is that my enemy is a 64-page classic novella that was published nearly 150 years before i was born.
but if i had professors who were a little more creative, it wouldn't have to be this way.
i hate this book so much. i hate it even more than james joyce's the dead and about as much as the turn of the screw, the only other books i've had to read for school that i truly couldn't stand. (and coincidentally, all short. weird.)
i hate bartleby, i hate the narrator, i hate the phrase "i would prefer not to." i hate how easy it would be to quirkily joke about how i relate to both the former and his motto (the latter). this book was "published to critical disdain" in the 19th century, and it meets my criticism AND disdain here in the 21st.
to anyone who has read moby-dick, i tip my hat to you. i could barely make it through this teeny little thing twice. imagining hundreds of pages of it is enough to fill me with despair.
part of my review-books-i-read-ages-ago-and-get-worked-up-about-them series
so it is normal to have enemies.
what is less normal is that my enemy is a 64-page classic novella that was published nearly 150 years before i was born.
but if i had professors who were a little more creative, it wouldn't have to be this way.
i hate this book so much. i hate it even more than james joyce's the dead and about as much as the turn of the screw, the only other books i've had to read for school that i truly couldn't stand. (and coincidentally, all short. weird.)
i hate bartleby, i hate the narrator, i hate the phrase "i would prefer not to." i hate how easy it would be to quirkily joke about how i relate to both the former and his motto (the latter). this book was "published to critical disdain" in the 19th century, and it meets my criticism AND disdain here in the 21st.
to anyone who has read moby-dick, i tip my hat to you. i could barely make it through this teeny little thing twice. imagining hundreds of pages of it is enough to fill me with despair.
part of my review-books-i-read-ages-ago-and-get-worked-up-about-them series
*read for my novella class*
this was such a strange little book but so enjoyable.
this was such a strange little book but so enjoyable.
As famous as this piece is, I thought it would be a better story. I found myself annoyed by Bartleby the entire time.
Read for uni, I don’t think I got out of this story what was intended, I’m hoping I’ll get a better insight when we go over it in class.
"Capitalism did this to meeeeee" *shakes fist* - Bartleby's Ghost
The kind of story that leaves you asking yourself if you loved it or you hated it. I prefer keeping this question for myself, as i prefer not to answer.
Anyway, it gave me the chills.
Anyway, it gave me the chills.