"Command the murderous chalices! Drink ye harpooners! Drink and swear, ye men that man the …
I think the reason I like this book so much is that in response to a whale-related traumatic situation, I too would incessantly regale anyone I could corner with whale trivia
@mouse The only time I've read this book I could not stand it. To this date it is a book that I know deserves a second chance for me to form a better opinion of it, since I read it as a teenager, but I just hated how much it felt like a waste of time, when the story is only actually like 100 pages long out of the 400 or so the book has. I know that in its historical context, in the 1800s, most people had never seen a whale, so the descriptions make sense for the reader to have an idea of what the narrator talks about, but in the modern day it just didn't vibe with me. Reading comments like yours make me wonder if I missed something and I just became too fed up with the endless whale facts to truly enjoy it, and make me want to give it another shot, but I dread hating it again, hahaha.
@jectoons I don't think it's for everyone and everyone should like it, but it might be worth giving another shot if you didn't like it as a teen. It is definitely mostly whale facts, but imo they're presented with a ton of voice and personality that make it feel like part of the character and story? And some of the writing is just superb. But it's still approximately one million pages of whale facts.
@mouse I think I will definitely give it another go one day. It's on my list for sure. :) I am sure there's more nuance that I can capture on it on a second reading, especially when I read it so long ago.
And whal-ing facts!
The Try Works, about how the whale oil was rendered BY FIRE on a WOODEN SHIP.
https://mobydick.wales/chapter/096/
The Cassock, which is about making a seamless waterproof coverall. I swear to ypu it is worth reading again as an adult:
https://mobydick.wales/chapter/095/
It boggles my mind that there was a whaling station in San Francisco in the 1970s, and that whale oil was used for automatic transmission fluid, or that whales were burnt in homes for illumination.
