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.
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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.