Review by cajonist - Moby Dick; or, the White Whale

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cajonist 's review for:

Moby Dick; or, the White Whale by Herman Melville

2.5

challenging dark 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

Finally it’s done… Three months of reading but it’s over and I can’t say it was exactly worth it.

There’s very little story for the amount of text here. I feel like Brendan Frazer’s teenage daughter when I complain that the whale is only present for 10% of the book but I stand by my grievance. The book would be less than half the size only for the fact that, any time a character picks up a rope, Melville will wax lyrical for 20 pages about how ropes are made, the various uses for ropes, the history of rope, and his favourite type of knot.

At times, the prose is quite impressive. At times, it’s leaden and overwrought. Sometimes, Melville styles the writing like a Shakespearean play. Sometimes, it’s written like a bad science assignment that’s trying to ramble over its lack of content to make the word count.

With an editor, this could be a peerless work of classic literature. That it still makes that grade for all its flaws is a remarkable achievement but the book itself is 60% authorial hubris, 40% magic.

Content Warnings