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A review by champsey13
Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale by Herman Melville
5.0
I cannot believe this book OPENS with a queer interracial couple hooking up in a hotel, getting absolutely wasted on clam chowder, and signing up to hunt whales on a ship DECORATED WITH THE BONES OF HER PAST TROPHIES, and American pop culture has the AUDACITY to act like this book is some grandpa shit.
Ishmael is an ADHD icon! The contrast of the highbrow and lowbrow! Random infodumps about whales with the funniest asides ever put in print! He compares kings getting anointed to dressing a salad! The cosmic horror! Ahab is like a character from a Shakespeare play dropped in the middle of a circus, and he turns the circus into a Greek tragedy by the sheer force of his charisma! Melville appears to be in a "write the most homoerotic sentence you can get away with in 1851" competition and he tops himself every three chapters! (hee hee) LIGHT THOUGH THOU BE, THOU LEAPEST OUT OF DARKNESS; BUT I AM DARKNESS LEAPING OUT OF LIGHT, LEAPING OUT OF THEE????
Unfortunately, despite what appear to be Melville's best efforts, the racism is pretty intense, which is the only thing keeping me from recommending this book without reservation.
Ishmael is an ADHD icon! The contrast of the highbrow and lowbrow! Random infodumps about whales with the funniest asides ever put in print! He compares kings getting anointed to dressing a salad! The cosmic horror! Ahab is like a character from a Shakespeare play dropped in the middle of a circus, and he turns the circus into a Greek tragedy by the sheer force of his charisma! Melville appears to be in a "write the most homoerotic sentence you can get away with in 1851" competition and he tops himself every three chapters! (hee hee) LIGHT THOUGH THOU BE, THOU LEAPEST OUT OF DARKNESS; BUT I AM DARKNESS LEAPING OUT OF LIGHT, LEAPING OUT OF THEE????
Unfortunately, despite what appear to be Melville's best efforts, the racism is pretty intense, which is the only thing keeping me from recommending this book without reservation.