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I read this book for the bragging rights, but I ended up really loving it and a month later I can’t stop thinking about it.
It has a bad reputation for being a slog, but honestly it was funny, though it requires a lot of context in order to get the jokes. If i had read it in high school most of it would have escaped me, and I’m sure there are still tons of things I missed out on because I’m not living in New England in 1851. But for instance, the quakers who preach pacifism and yet send out these whaling vessels to commit acts of violence that are retold in excruciating detail? Melville plays up the irony very well.
What struck me though was how the first chapters were sort of light hearted and farcical, but through the course of the novel the situation begins to deteriorate into chaos.
I fully understand why people hate this book, but if you can get over the 19th century prose, and if you don’t mind that half of the book is just cool-whale-facts-with-Ishmael, this makes for an excellent read.
It has a bad reputation for being a slog, but honestly it was funny, though it requires a lot of context in order to get the jokes. If i had read it in high school most of it would have escaped me, and I’m sure there are still tons of things I missed out on because I’m not living in New England in 1851. But for instance, the quakers who preach pacifism and yet send out these whaling vessels to commit acts of violence that are retold in excruciating detail? Melville plays up the irony very well.
What struck me though was how the first chapters were sort of light hearted and farcical, but through the course of the novel the situation begins to deteriorate into chaos.
I fully understand why people hate this book, but if you can get over the 19th century prose, and if you don’t mind that half of the book is just cool-whale-facts-with-Ishmael, this makes for an excellent read.