A review by grantclover
Benito Cereno by Herman Melville

3.0

Once again, I found myself drowning in Melville. His dense prose so suffocating and impossible that you flounder in the tsunamis of descriptions. This was better than Moby Dick though in storytelling. It manages to concoct a weighty Gothic atmosphere with infinite uses of the word “gray” and also shroud its narrative in oblivion and mystery. There are interesting and disputed themes about the racism of the tale that are told in an intriguing balance between historical and added metaphor. Which, regardless of your personal perspective on it, can be a bit useful to ponder and weigh, especially in terms of its original versus its modern acceptance. Despite everything, it’s not that “fun” a read and I would warn you to pack a decent number of life jackets for yourself before tackling this piece.