mimyo 's review for:

Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale by Herman Melville

3.0

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Not gonna lie, I would recommend skipping at least several chapters of this and thought at least a big chunk was dragged out needlessly. Especially the story-unrelated bits of whale-knowledge are hard to read, for more than one reason. On one hand the language is often hard to follow and demands either close attention or rereading. On the other, however, most of these facts are long outdated, seem irrevelant or simply ridiculous to the modern reader. These chapters just haven't aged well. And much that I am sure was once remarkable and educational and full of information about a species so removed from the average person is now little more than torture to read. It is not entirely without its charms, but I truly dragged myself through much of it without much joy.
For the main plot, the story of vengeance and morals and life-on-sea is just as gripping today as I am sure it was when the book was released. Where the factual intermissions have lost most of their charm, the plot is in every way that of a true and deserved classic.