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A review by kpeeps111
Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale by Herman Melville
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Take everything you think you know about Moby Dick and throw it in the trash. This book is 25% whaling buddy comedy, 25% futile quest for vengeance (the most boring part), and 50% GLORIOUS WHALE FACTS. This book is fantastically unhinged. Ishmael is incredible. Three quarters of the way through its casually revealed our dreamy sailor scholar king is covered in tattoos of whale dimensions. He didn’t have a pen and paper. My favorite part is probably where he ranks whales and insists they are definitely fish and not mammals just because it feels right to him. Incredible, hilarious, magnificent, beautifully written. There is so much to mine, and this isn’t even touching the societal themes. Brilliant.
“So ignorant are most landsmen of some of the plainest and most palpable wonders of the world, that without some hints touching the plain facts, historical and otherwise, of the fishery, they might scout at Moby Dick as a monstrous fable, or still worse and more detestable, a hideous and intolerable allegory.”
“So ignorant are most landsmen of some of the plainest and most palpable wonders of the world, that without some hints touching the plain facts, historical and otherwise, of the fishery, they might scout at Moby Dick as a monstrous fable, or still worse and more detestable, a hideous and intolerable allegory.”