Really 4 1/2 stars and I'll tell you why in a minute.

When I was about half way done with this tome I came upon this quote "... For there is no folly of the beast which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men." (Or something close to that i dont have the book in front of me at this second). And that pretty much sums up Moby Dick in a few words.

This is a very good book, some might even say an excellent book but damn it's a long book, sometimes a tedious book, sometimes an almost intolerable book. This story is told by that long winded friend we all have who just can't give you the abbreviated version of a story but the kind who has to give you every single littlest detail, backtrack, add asides, explanations, puts you on hold while she takes another call, on and on, but dang it, she tells excellent stories and you can't help but be drawn in and try to be patient when she goes into an extranious explanation. That is Melville. He has a leviathan of a story to tell you of a leviathan and he's not taking any shortcuts. So board the whale ship, sit back and be prepared for an extended journey (and ahem, sometimes those guys were out at sea for 3 years or more, lol).

And damn if I didn't learn a lot about whales. Mostly because I had to keep googling whales and wow and holy cow, I never did much consider whales. Never really cared all that much being more practical minded and caught up in the everyday world, which face it, doesn't have much to do with whales. But never mind, I now know more than I ever wanted about whales, sperm oil, baleen, whale boats, you name it. I even watched one video on YouTube where a humpbacked whale was caught up in a fishing net and I was moved to tears as the rescuers raced to save her life. Good lord.

And really all the explanations about whales I found interesting enough, life aboard the ship, okay, vignettes on certain characters and personalities fine, but it was the hunt itself, the more action packed parts of the story when most readers say "fuck yeah, finally!" where I balked. I just couldn't stand the slaughter. I HATED all the plumes of blood spewing from the blowhole churning water and death throes and all that. In one part they come across a pod of whales where one mama whale gives birth to baby whale, and well, I don't know because I skipped that part!

The last quarter of the book seemed to drag on for me. Yes, okay we get it Ahab is batshit crazy. Evil omens and tidings of great calamities everywhere, dear god just get on with it already. So that kind of did me in hence the subtraction of a half star. But that's just me. Symbolism, allegory, God and fate all that and a whale of a tale.