"Command the murderous chalices! Drink ye harpooners! Drink and swear, ye men that man the deathful whaleboat's bow -- Death to Moby Dick!" So Captain Ahab binds his crew to fulfil his obsession -- the destruction of the great white whale. Under his lordly but maniacal command the Pequod's commercial mission is perverted to one of vengeance. To Ahab, the monster that destroyed his body is not a creature, but the symbol of "some unknown but still reasoning thing." Uncowed by natural disasters, ill omens, even death, Ahab urges his ship towards "the undeliverable, nameless perils of the whale." Key letters from Melville to Nathaniel Hawthorne are printed at the end of this volume. - Back cover.
So thoroughly about whales and whaling and the pre-fossil-oil industry that trying to write a book about any of that without reference to this now feels impossible. Thankfully, I'm not writing a book of whale facts; its been done.
"Blood for Oil!" (p291) This story echoes Don Quixote's wandering and precarity, but connects more immediately to the modern world's thirst for exploitation. Seriously relevant.
Technical knowledge's belief it has overcome passions and the most inevitable, which gives justification for the huge bulk of whale and whaling facts, while also constantly and purposefully undercutting the worth of reading all that.
Either I am confused or this book is confused, but there is no way around it, confusion is present. This is a great story with powerful themes and ideas written in a surprisingly interesting style. It is unfortunately undermined by pages upon pages of what could only be described as dry encyclopedic exposition about everything whale. I suppose Melville was also confused by the objective of his writing, considering that the book has two titles which carry two distinctly different emphases. Was he writing about Moby Dick, a symbol to be used to explore more complex themes, or was he writing about "the Whale", so we ought to also be educated on everything whale? Confusion aside, this book probes some ideas quite neatly, such as diversity, hierarchy, and obsession - choosing to focus on exploring the mind and consequences of one's fixation on things outside their own control.
I read this over the course of about 6 months as a group read. 5-10 of us would meet for an hour a week and take turns reading chapters. It's a very enjoyable experience that way, and at the same time I don't think I'd even have finished the book if I'd tried to read it alone.
Apart from being notoriously long, it's full of meandering digressions many of which would probably have lost me. And the tone of the writing is dominated by the pomposity of the narrator, which at times is used for great effect but at others just grates. It's also extremely wordily heavy. I realise that some of this is just the literary English of the time, but Melville was well capable of using that style to dramatic effect, like in Bartleby which I found a total page-turner, or some of my favourite individual chapters of …
I read this over the course of about 6 months as a group read. 5-10 of us would meet for an hour a week and take turns reading chapters. It's a very enjoyable experience that way, and at the same time I don't think I'd even have finished the book if I'd tried to read it alone.
Apart from being notoriously long, it's full of meandering digressions many of which would probably have lost me. And the tone of the writing is dominated by the pomposity of the narrator, which at times is used for great effect but at others just grates. It's also extremely wordily heavy. I realise that some of this is just the literary English of the time, but Melville was well capable of using that style to dramatic effect, like in Bartleby which I found a total page-turner, or some of my favourite individual chapters of Moby-Dick which would have been great stand-alone novellas. And while I suspect it was racially progressive for a novel written by a white USian back then, from any other perspective it's infuriatingly racist.
So why still a classic? Well, it does manage to conjure up a world, in which it tells a story that's simultaneously very small (one boat hunting one whale) and huge (an epic journey for that crew; a microcosm of whaling as a whole), with some very vividly rendered characters along the way, and much more comedy than I expected from the way people talk about this book.
An excellent, if meandering story which rewards the patient reader with fantastic descriptions of preparation, of chase, and of the unique philosophy bubbling up from these encounters on the sea into the psyches of the crew.
There's not much to say about this work from the American Renaissance that hasn't already been said, but Moby-Dick remains a surprisingly weird, funny, primal, and daunting novel for the modern reader.
Review of 'Moby-Dick by Herman Melville : (Penguin and Amazon Original Classic Seller List)' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I was quite surprised how easy a read this was. I tried reading [b:Frankenstein|35031085|Frankenstein|Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498841231l/35031085.SY75.jpg|4836639] once and got bored, expected the same here and was plesantly surprised by Melville’s much more enjoyable writing style.
I was also surprised by how rational Ahab acts. Yes, he wants to take revenge on Moby Dick. But most of the time he is just a captain on a whale ship that hunts whales for profit. The obsessive things he does are, apart from the oath bit and talking about the whale a lot, mostly limited to once threatening Starbuck when he demands a delay to save the valuable oil – and then delaying the hunt anyway – and then actually going out in the boats on days two and three, when the days before have shown how dangerous it was. I had expected more howling madness.
And, yes, this is more …
I was quite surprised how easy a read this was. I tried reading [b:Frankenstein|35031085|Frankenstein|Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498841231l/35031085.SY75.jpg|4836639] once and got bored, expected the same here and was plesantly surprised by Melville’s much more enjoyable writing style.
I was also surprised by how rational Ahab acts. Yes, he wants to take revenge on Moby Dick. But most of the time he is just a captain on a whale ship that hunts whales for profit. The obsessive things he does are, apart from the oath bit and talking about the whale a lot, mostly limited to once threatening Starbuck when he demands a delay to save the valuable oil – and then delaying the hunt anyway – and then actually going out in the boats on days two and three, when the days before have shown how dangerous it was. I had expected more howling madness.
And, yes, this is more a book on whaling than an action novel. But i found the details rather interesting. And at times the asides are a bit rambling. I don’t agree with the notorious¹ “Whiteness of the Whale” chapter. I don’t think a polar bear is more frightening because of its color, it being a giant, fierce bear makes it scary enough. Still even that chapter was interesting. —— ¹My mother warned me about that. Seriously. “Oh no! Don’t read Moby Dick! It’s too long! There is a chapter about how the color white is evil.” Actually, that is not even what Ishmael says in that chapter.
A fun, fast paced, and light hearted science-fantasty in space with dastardly villains and classic heroes! I love the ships in this, and the space battles are excellent! I have to admit however, I liked book 1 better, because the humans in book 2 detracted from the fun. I had issues with them, the captain most of all. The captain Serengeti mourned for in book 1 is...well he suffers in a state of dated, toxic behaviour so thick I just couldn't get why sweet, smart, powerful Serengeti puts up with it. Why he is presented as a 'hero' at all. He doesn't want help when he's injured ("Last thing I need is some damned nursemaid fawning all over me."), doesn't really value book learning ("Math? What math? What the hell does math have to do with any of this?"...they are discussing navigation and orbits in space …
A fun, fast paced, and light hearted science-fantasty in space with dastardly villains and classic heroes! I love the ships in this, and the space battles are excellent! I have to admit however, I liked book 1 better, because the humans in book 2 detracted from the fun. I had issues with them, the captain most of all. The captain Serengeti mourned for in book 1 is...well he suffers in a state of dated, toxic behaviour so thick I just couldn't get why sweet, smart, powerful Serengeti puts up with it. Why he is presented as a 'hero' at all. He doesn't want help when he's injured ("Last thing I need is some damned nursemaid fawning all over me."), doesn't really value book learning ("Math? What math? What the hell does math have to do with any of this?"...they are discussing navigation and orbits in space which is uh, very involved with math), uses questionable slurs ("Pansy-ass coward"), and judges people on their waistline ("Guy that fat's been workin' a desk for a while, which means he's pompous and self-important"). It was so off-putting it took me four months to finish the book - drawn back by Serengeti, and repelled by the captain over and over. BUT I am glad I did finish it - the ending is full of lovely lovely space battles.
I received this book from a facebook group I am a member of. its the second book in the series, and it was as good as the first one. A different genre for me to read, but I enjoyed it and look forward to the next book in the series.
Started out great, but once Melville gets into the chapters that feel like encyclopedia articles about the fishes (whales), he loses (lost) my attention. The rest felt like drudgery to just get through it.
A nice break from the Seeker adventures yet still one in a way. This book also introduced us more into how this universe works. What the Voids really are, how travel works, the trinkets, and the systems in place.
There were a few errors, like how one gate was opened by this character but a few paragraphs later the gate was supposedly opened and closed by the other character. There was also a rule about using trinkets, a restriction on what you can use but was multiple times ignored in the rest of the novel. Or, I could have misunderstood this trinket rule/restriction.
Regardless of those, full 5 stars for book 3! Now, let's begin the real adventure in book 4!
Oh, didn't I mention how the characters grew? Well done on building them up and keeping them realistic, characters we can relate to.
A nice break from the Seeker adventures yet still one in a way. This book also introduced us more into how this universe works. What the Voids really are, how travel works, the trinkets, and the systems in place.
There were a few errors, like how one gate was opened by this character but a few paragraphs later the gate was supposedly opened and closed by the other character. There was also a rule about using trinkets, a restriction on what you can use but was multiple times ignored in the rest of the novel. Or, I could have misunderstood this trinket rule/restriction.
Regardless of those, full 5 stars for book 3! Now, let's begin the real adventure in book 4!
Oh, didn't I mention how the characters grew? Well done on building them up and keeping them realistic, characters we can relate to.
Review of 'Moby-Dick, or, the Whale by Herman Melville : (Penguin and Amazon Original Classic Seller List)' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
What do I think about such an epic, Iliad and Odyssey combined, in a 19th century leviathanic novel of such proportions? Would I dare to add something of my own to such a renowned work?
This is not the kind of book you would grasp at first reading; and this was my first. There’s simply too much content for a fly-by reading such as mine to take it fully. There is simply too much, way too much to even venture a justifiable review.
With all that out of the way, the only thing I can add is the personal remark about if reading a book of such a magnitude is worthy of the time and patience to delve into this almost unknown world of the past. Is it? Is this time well spent? I believe it is; that if you don’t mind coming up to the same conclusion as I …
What do I think about such an epic, Iliad and Odyssey combined, in a 19th century leviathanic novel of such proportions? Would I dare to add something of my own to such a renowned work?
This is not the kind of book you would grasp at first reading; and this was my first. There’s simply too much content for a fly-by reading such as mine to take it fully. There is simply too much, way too much to even venture a justifiable review.
With all that out of the way, the only thing I can add is the personal remark about if reading a book of such a magnitude is worthy of the time and patience to delve into this almost unknown world of the past. Is it? Is this time well spent? I believe it is; that if you don’t mind coming up to the same conclusion as I did that one reading is not enough and one reading just gives you a glimpse of what’s underneath this mythical tale of man against nature.
When all else is considered; when you understand that only by taking it whole you can at least gain some reverence for the work and the genius behind it, you may come to the same conclusion that I did: it was worthy of my time; it was time well spent. Now I have to lay it dormant and hope the seeds I now planted may grow into something more insightful in the future. “There she blows!” (MELVILLE, 1851): maybe next time I'll give this whale a proper hunt.
As someone who loves Herman Melville's work, I can explain. This rating is ALMOST a three, I swear!
I'll never understand why out of all of Melville's work, this is one that's remained his namesake. At the time of writing, Melville was riding high off of previous works like "Typee" and "Omoo" (even if the latter wasn't nearly as popular). "The Whale" was the beginning of the end for ol' Herman's fall from grace. An estimated less than three hundred copies were sold at its release, and only just recently has it risen from the depths and taken on the title of The Greatest American Novel Ever Written.
Is it written well? You bet! Some of Melville's most gorgeously descriptive prose is littered throughout this monster of a book, you just have to get through all of the chapters about harpoons and rope to find it.
For many people, this …
As someone who loves Herman Melville's work, I can explain. This rating is ALMOST a three, I swear!
I'll never understand why out of all of Melville's work, this is one that's remained his namesake. At the time of writing, Melville was riding high off of previous works like "Typee" and "Omoo" (even if the latter wasn't nearly as popular). "The Whale" was the beginning of the end for ol' Herman's fall from grace. An estimated less than three hundred copies were sold at its release, and only just recently has it risen from the depths and taken on the title of The Greatest American Novel Ever Written.
Is it written well? You bet! Some of Melville's most gorgeously descriptive prose is littered throughout this monster of a book, you just have to get through all of the chapters about harpoons and rope to find it.
For many people, this will be the only Melville they know. They'll never see his (supposedly true but probably not) high-flying adventures in the Polynesian islands in "Typee". It may have been his first novel, but it's always the one I recommend to people first when it comes to Melville's library. It's either that or his excellent short stories.
"The Whale" certainly has found a deep emotional connection with a lot of people, but I'm not one of them. Never mind the fact that the descriptions of the whaling itself is often as abhorrent as it is beautiful in style, it just has so much riddled in there that it doesn't need.
