A review by khornstein1
Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale by Herman Melville

4.0

I have returned from a five months' journey on the Pequod. At times, things were exciting, especially when the venture was new! I explored all things Moby-Dick: movies, essays, and the new Dave Myers musical at ART. Then, reality set in: long, long periods of sailing to...where were we going exactly? Oh, to get the white whale and claim the doubloon for ourselves! But it seems to be taking so long...and so we distract ourselves with long descriptions of scrimshaw, and carpentry and the classification of whales (quarantine, anyone?) Where's Ahab? Still below deck...maybe I will learn something about Melville's take on Quakers. I pressed on...a couple of pages at a time, audio version at night (zzz) or while cleaning. I watched people at the New Bedford museum reading chapters during their annual marathon. And then: The Chase (3 action-packed chapters!) Like Ishmael, I survived but just barely. Do we think Melville kind of rushed this manuscript without editing?? Taking off a star for that, but overall, it's an uncanny book for its time that retains its modernity, and asks so many questions that I'm willing to take the journey again...maybe with help from Philbrick...maybe in two years when I've recovered.