Bestselling and beloved classic now with apparatus including: images, chronology, filmography, and essays spanning the themes of whaling, sermons, and cannibalism in Melville's novel. "It is the horrible texture of a fabric that should be woven of ships' cables and hawsers. A polar wind blows through it, and birds of prey hover over it." So Melville wrote of his masterpiece, one of the greatest works of imagination in literature. In part, Moby-Dick is the story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast and dangerous and unknowable as the sea itself. But more than just a novel of adventure, more than an encyclopedia of whaling lore and legend, the book can be seen as part of its author's lifelong meditation on America. Written with wonderfully redemptive humor, Moby-Dick is also a profound inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception.
Review of 'MobyDick\r\n \r\n Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions' on 'Goodreads'
No rating
So the story of the white whale had become my white whale. Not sure if that’s ironic or appropriate. But hey, only took me on an off 2 years to finish this…
This is a difficult one to review. Absolutely loved the beginning with just Ishmael and Queequeg but then the story really lost steam for most of the book.
Dense language and highly specific and partially translated outdated whale and whaling info does not make for the most riveting read, certainly not for hundreds of pages.
Still, I’m a sucker for maritime adventure stories and I enjoyed this way more than I should have. Will probably revisit favorite sections in the future but see no reason to read the book in its entirety again.
Review of 'Moby Dick (Vintage Classics)' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
In many ways, I can agree that Moby Dick (1851) is the classic that so many readers esteem it to be. Herman Melville has an incredible writing style. He takes his time with details, gradually drawing the reader into the world of whaling, and, in the process, into colonial and maritime history. The opening chapters, where the author introduces his narrator – call him Ishmael – are therefore a delight to read. From Ishmael’s stay at the Spouter-Inn and his encounter with Queequeg, a friendship described in terms of marriage, to the boarding of the Pequod and the appearance of Captain Ahab, I was captivated by the story that was just beginning to unfold. The lone poor sailor’s search for work reminded me somewhat of John Steinbeck’s work (Of Mice and Men), albeit set in the harbour of Nantucket this time.
After that, the story meanders through a …
In many ways, I can agree that Moby Dick (1851) is the classic that so many readers esteem it to be. Herman Melville has an incredible writing style. He takes his time with details, gradually drawing the reader into the world of whaling, and, in the process, into colonial and maritime history. The opening chapters, where the author introduces his narrator – call him Ishmael – are therefore a delight to read. From Ishmael’s stay at the Spouter-Inn and his encounter with Queequeg, a friendship described in terms of marriage, to the boarding of the Pequod and the appearance of Captain Ahab, I was captivated by the story that was just beginning to unfold. The lone poor sailor’s search for work reminded me somewhat of John Steinbeck’s work (Of Mice and Men), albeit set in the harbour of Nantucket this time.
After that, the story meanders through a long series of digressions. At first, I appreciated them, but I eventually grew weary of the novel’s high encyclopaedic level, with its cetology and extensive descriptions of whales, many of which are outdated. Admittedly, Melville writes with humour, but that didn’t stop me from skimming through certain chapters. I also struggled to fully perceive the story through a 19th-century lens. While it’s not fair to judge the book by 21st-century values, the anthropocentric perspective did bother me at times. Captain Ahab is undoubtedly a memorable (or ‘queer’, as the author so aptly describes him) character, but his ‘quenchless feud’ with the ‘murderous monster’ felt too excessive to me.
Gnawed within and scorched without, with the infixed, unrelenting fangs of some incurable idea; such an one, could he be found, would seem the very man to dart his iron and lift his lance against the most appalling of all brutes. Or, if for any reason thought to be corporeally incapacitated for that, yet such an one would seem superlatively competent to cheer and howl on his underlings to the attack. But be all this as it may, certain it is, that with the mad secret of his unabated rage bolted up and keyed in him, Ahab had purposely sailed upon the present voyage with the one only and all-engrossing object of hunting the White Whale.
It is Ahab who turns an ordinary sentient creature into a ‘monster’ and then, like Victor Frankenstein, chases it around the globe. All the while, Moby Dick serves as an ode to nature (or perhaps better: God’s creation). For those who view whales as swimming dollars, the novel conveys that other beings, too, deserve respect. Ultimately, Ahab’s attempt to defeat the leviathan is as futile as Don Quixote’s battle against the windmill. In this regard, the novel may be considered progressive.
I wonder how Melville would have approached the story if he had lived in the age of Wikipedia and Google Images.
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.
