A review by piccoline
Redburn by Herman Melville

4.0

4 stars only on the "Melville Scale". For almost anyone else it would be a 5. It's a wonderful book. Funny, warm, insightful. The narrator here is nicely complex, seeing the world from the perspective of a boy on his first voyage from home, yet filtered through the more worldly wise voice of a much older man looking back at his youth.

This novel also features some of Melville's most emotionally moving scenes, including Chapter 37's heartbreaking lament for those ground up in the gears of Capital and the final chapter's mournful revelation that will be left here unsaid.