emily1602's review against another edition
I can’t believe I actually finished it. I’ve been reading this on my morning commute for months. I like Melville, partly because of what he says in this book, partly because of what I know of his biography. While reading the book I tried to imagine how an olden times person, without photographs or videos, would imagine a whale if all they had was this book. It ends with the ship sinking, the whale escaped, one of the crew pulling a bird that had come to inspect the wreck down with it. The sea soon looking again, after the ship’s fight with the whale, the same as it had for eternity.
nickfourtimes's review against another edition
5.0
1) ''Then tossing both arms, with measureless implications he shouted out: 'Aye, aye! And I'll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames before I give him up.'''
2) ''All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick. He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it.''
3) ''The brain is at least twenty feet from his apparent forehead in life; it is hidden away behind its vast outworks, like the innermost citadel within the amplified fortifications of Quebec.''
4) ''Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee.''
2) ''All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick. He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it.''
3) ''The brain is at least twenty feet from his apparent forehead in life; it is hidden away behind its vast outworks, like the innermost citadel within the amplified fortifications of Quebec.''
4) ''Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee.''
mattpfarr's review against another edition
3.0
I've wanted to read Moby Dick, one of quintessential classics of literature for awhile. I actually started the audiobook years back but due to personal circumstances couldn't finish then. So I picked it up again, partially as a research project as I am currently writing a fictional story involving a whaling ship.
I probably don't need to recap the story of Moby Dick as it is a classic but it follows Ishmael as he goes on his first voyage aboard a whaling ship, the ship captain is Ahab who has a vengeance wish on the white whale that took his leg on a previous voyage. Ahab cares about pretty much nothing else but killing the great whale Moby Dick; not his family, not his crew, nor making money on this voyage. The story is incredible. I did not expect the ending as it was, but it was a perfect ending to the tale.
The writing is quite confusing at times. It starts in first person view of Ishmael but seems to go into third person omniscient and I wasn't always sure when it switched or even if it had. Ishmeal is the supposed narrator yet it is his first whaling voyage and the narration covers a large berth of whaling facts and referring to what is common among whaling, which Ishmael would know nothing of. In addition to this, there are entire chapters devoted just to explaining this on the ship or about whales. More like encyclopedia then exposition dumps. And quite literally an encyclopedia of species of whales. And again, Ishmael is our supposed narrator. There is an entire chapter on the rope, the whiteness of Moby Dick, and just so many different things like that which have no impact on the story. There was so much trudging to get through these things. The nice thing though is the chapter headings are pretty clear so I suppose you could skip them and just read the narrative which is mostly well written. There is some beautiful poetic prose, though some of it got a little too much for my taste and confusing as well. I had to reread some parts because it was too poetic and unclear what was happening. With a book like this you can really see the benefit of good modern day editors. This novel would not have flown today and an editor would have helped cut out about half the words to get us the meat of the really great story. But alas, that was not really possible back in this time.
The narrative slowing down so often for encyclopedia entries made it really hard for me to get through the book. I would often sit down to read dreading coming to the next encyclopedia chapter. The last act was very exciting though and kept me quite engaged. Up until then I was about a 2 star rating on Moby Dick, but the last act ramped it up for me and the glorious ending. Towards the ending Ishmael pretty much is out of the story which was an odd choice. While I totally understand this last act belongs to Ahab, it was weird that Ishmael literally does nothing to contribute to the story. Also, even when we watch the focal character through someone else's viewpoint, we still would be aware of actions they take during the scenes.
On to the ending, no spoilers. I loved the ending although it was not clear at all. I had to reread it three times before finally just looking it up on google to find out what happened. It was kind of weird it was so confusing as you would think this would be the place to be most clear. Maybe it was me though. Also, this novel has the BEST last line I have ever read. It was absolutely beautiful.
A side rant, somehow I got the weirdest way to do a fakeout death. One character becomes fatally ill and has a wonderfully poetic send away chapter. It gets quite morbid as they build him a coffin which he even tries out for size. We are emotionally invested in the characters eminent death. Only he decides he doesn't want to die and gets better almost immedietly...cause that is how sickness works. To make it even weirder, he doesn't contribute to the story in any way after that and is only mentioned in passing. So what was the point of writing in a emotional goodbye only not to commit to it? There was an element in this that is relevant later but I think there could have been other ways to get that done.
Overall, Moby Dick is classic and I know I wanted to read it. Should you? I guess that depends on how committed you are to classics. It was a hard read but the story was so good, and the last line is worth it to me. I would recommend with the added recommendation to be very generous about skimming or even skipping the encyclopedia chapters. If this novel could be edited and cut about half the stuff that is just unneeded, this would easily be a 4.5/5 star story.
I probably don't need to recap the story of Moby Dick as it is a classic but it follows Ishmael as he goes on his first voyage aboard a whaling ship, the ship captain is Ahab who has a vengeance wish on the white whale that took his leg on a previous voyage. Ahab cares about pretty much nothing else but killing the great whale Moby Dick; not his family, not his crew, nor making money on this voyage. The story is incredible. I did not expect the ending as it was, but it was a perfect ending to the tale.
The writing is quite confusing at times. It starts in first person view of Ishmael but seems to go into third person omniscient and I wasn't always sure when it switched or even if it had. Ishmeal is the supposed narrator yet it is his first whaling voyage and the narration covers a large berth of whaling facts and referring to what is common among whaling, which Ishmael would know nothing of. In addition to this, there are entire chapters devoted just to explaining this on the ship or about whales. More like encyclopedia then exposition dumps. And quite literally an encyclopedia of species of whales. And again, Ishmael is our supposed narrator. There is an entire chapter on the rope, the whiteness of Moby Dick, and just so many different things like that which have no impact on the story. There was so much trudging to get through these things. The nice thing though is the chapter headings are pretty clear so I suppose you could skip them and just read the narrative which is mostly well written. There is some beautiful poetic prose, though some of it got a little too much for my taste and confusing as well. I had to reread some parts because it was too poetic and unclear what was happening. With a book like this you can really see the benefit of good modern day editors. This novel would not have flown today and an editor would have helped cut out about half the words to get us the meat of the really great story. But alas, that was not really possible back in this time.
The narrative slowing down so often for encyclopedia entries made it really hard for me to get through the book. I would often sit down to read dreading coming to the next encyclopedia chapter. The last act was very exciting though and kept me quite engaged. Up until then I was about a 2 star rating on Moby Dick, but the last act ramped it up for me and the glorious ending. Towards the ending Ishmael pretty much is out of the story which was an odd choice. While I totally understand this last act belongs to Ahab, it was weird that Ishmael literally does nothing to contribute to the story. Also, even when we watch the focal character through someone else's viewpoint, we still would be aware of actions they take during the scenes.
On to the ending, no spoilers. I loved the ending although it was not clear at all. I had to reread it three times before finally just looking it up on google to find out what happened. It was kind of weird it was so confusing as you would think this would be the place to be most clear. Maybe it was me though. Also, this novel has the BEST last line I have ever read. It was absolutely beautiful.
A side rant, somehow I got the weirdest way to do a fakeout death. One character becomes fatally ill and has a wonderfully poetic send away chapter. It gets quite morbid as they build him a coffin which he even tries out for size. We are emotionally invested in the characters eminent death. Only he decides he doesn't want to die and gets better almost immedietly...cause that is how sickness works. To make it even weirder, he doesn't contribute to the story in any way after that and is only mentioned in passing. So what was the point of writing in a emotional goodbye only not to commit to it? There was an element in this that is relevant later but I think there could have been other ways to get that done.
Overall, Moby Dick is classic and I know I wanted to read it. Should you? I guess that depends on how committed you are to classics. It was a hard read but the story was so good, and the last line is worth it to me. I would recommend with the added recommendation to be very generous about skimming or even skipping the encyclopedia chapters. If this novel could be edited and cut about half the stuff that is just unneeded, this would easily be a 4.5/5 star story.
anetq's review against another edition
4.0
This classic was never on my reading list, but I got oddly drawn into it in bit by bit - listening to 135 actors and the like reading it for the Plymouth University Big Read. It's a strange strange book. Some chapters are action packed and character developing like our observant protagonist Ismael getting acquanted with his cannibal travel companion, and his religion (after sleeping in his arms), or the drama of the indian almost drowning in the head of a speam whale. At other times seemingly endless descriptions of different types of whales or chowders are booooring, but oddly fascinating at the same time...
Definitely worth the listen if you have travel time to pass!
Definitely worth the listen if you have travel time to pass!
futurememory's review against another edition
5.0
It's finished.
It took nearly a month to read (I started it on March 8th, 2010), but it was worth every single page turn.
Where to start with the book that's often billed as one of America's Great Novels?
I guess I can start with this simple sentence: do not listen to the naysayers. The ones that say Moby-Dick is too difficult, or too boring, or too long. They're wrong.
Yes, Melville's narrator Ishmael has a knack for going on and on about the most mundane details of whaling life. Think of him as the world's biggest whaling nerd fanboy. Melville's narration is the reading equivalent of Morgan Freeman. And if this doesn't make sense, then hear me out. Morgan Freeman has that voice that you could listen to for hours. Even if he's rambling about the most trivial topics, you're riveted, nodding your head, and thinking, "Yes, Morgan, yes." Melville's story-telling techniques are exactly like that. The boring becomes fascinating when presented in the proper way. As obsessed as Ahab is with Moby-Dick, Ishmael is equally obsessed with providing a nearly-complete category of life on a whaling ship.
Melville's prose is beyond beautiful. It's floral and wonderful and full of life. The sentences sparkle with alliteration, deeply-rooted metaphor, and witty observations. Each of the characters is lovingly rendered, from poor little Pip all the way up to monomaniacal Ahab. There's a wonderfully allegorical and epic quality to it, rife with symbolic meaning and spirituality. I could go on for pages and pages, but I'm just basking in it all right now. I've written down some wonderful excerpts to keep to myself.
Take this little passage, for instance, that nearly made me swoon in my chair: "The warmly cool, clear, ringing perfumed, overflowing, redunant days, were as crystal goblets of Persian sherbet, heaped up - flaked up, with rose-water snow. The starred and stately nights seemed haughty dames in jewelled velvets, nursing at home in lonely pride, the memory of their absent conquering Earls, the golden helmeted suns!"
And not to mention how humorous it is at times! Some of the similes and observations in here are hilarious, and had me giggling on the bus. The first interactions between Queequeg and Ishmael? Classic! Even Ishmael's random observations, from the poorly rendered drawings of sperm whales at the time ("In a word, Frederick Cuvier's Sperm Whale is not a Sperm Whale, but a squash.") to his musings on sharing a bed with his pagan friends (""Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian."). This is great, great stuff.
I'm so happy that I decided to read this, to not put it off, by dive right in to the oddly fascinating, wonderfully weird and tragic tale of the Pequod and its crew. There's a reason this one is a classic. Many reasons, in fact. So stop being intimidating by this whale of a book and just read it!
It took nearly a month to read (I started it on March 8th, 2010), but it was worth every single page turn.
Where to start with the book that's often billed as one of America's Great Novels?
I guess I can start with this simple sentence: do not listen to the naysayers. The ones that say Moby-Dick is too difficult, or too boring, or too long. They're wrong.
Yes, Melville's narrator Ishmael has a knack for going on and on about the most mundane details of whaling life. Think of him as the world's biggest whaling nerd fanboy. Melville's narration is the reading equivalent of Morgan Freeman. And if this doesn't make sense, then hear me out. Morgan Freeman has that voice that you could listen to for hours. Even if he's rambling about the most trivial topics, you're riveted, nodding your head, and thinking, "Yes, Morgan, yes." Melville's story-telling techniques are exactly like that. The boring becomes fascinating when presented in the proper way. As obsessed as Ahab is with Moby-Dick, Ishmael is equally obsessed with providing a nearly-complete category of life on a whaling ship.
Melville's prose is beyond beautiful. It's floral and wonderful and full of life. The sentences sparkle with alliteration, deeply-rooted metaphor, and witty observations. Each of the characters is lovingly rendered, from poor little Pip all the way up to monomaniacal Ahab. There's a wonderfully allegorical and epic quality to it, rife with symbolic meaning and spirituality. I could go on for pages and pages, but I'm just basking in it all right now. I've written down some wonderful excerpts to keep to myself.
Take this little passage, for instance, that nearly made me swoon in my chair: "The warmly cool, clear, ringing perfumed, overflowing, redunant days, were as crystal goblets of Persian sherbet, heaped up - flaked up, with rose-water snow. The starred and stately nights seemed haughty dames in jewelled velvets, nursing at home in lonely pride, the memory of their absent conquering Earls, the golden helmeted suns!"
And not to mention how humorous it is at times! Some of the similes and observations in here are hilarious, and had me giggling on the bus. The first interactions between Queequeg and Ishmael? Classic! Even Ishmael's random observations, from the poorly rendered drawings of sperm whales at the time ("In a word, Frederick Cuvier's Sperm Whale is not a Sperm Whale, but a squash.") to his musings on sharing a bed with his pagan friends (""Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian."). This is great, great stuff.
I'm so happy that I decided to read this, to not put it off, by dive right in to the oddly fascinating, wonderfully weird and tragic tale of the Pequod and its crew. There's a reason this one is a classic. Many reasons, in fact. So stop being intimidating by this whale of a book and just read it!
zosiablue's review against another edition
“More information about whales than I thought possible” - my dad
zaksi's review against another edition
2.0
2,5 ⭐
Not my type of book ...
Too long and I'm not into Whales sorry
Not my type of book ...
Too long and I'm not into Whales sorry
duartecompanhia_'s review against another edition
4.0
An absolute colossus of a novel in every way imaginable, specially in all that concerns it's panoramic scope. I only see myself growing more fond of it in the coming weeks.
nicib's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5