Reviews

Moby Dick; or, the White Whale by Herman Melville

_maren_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny informative tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

vincenttimber's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

kurtwombat's review against another edition

5.0

The first techno thriller. I love to read about history, and this is history in infinite detail. Part seafaring adventure part whaling training manual, I devoured page after doomed page as Ahab and the crew are at odds with each other and the sea constantly tempting and taunting a fate that none of them but Ahab want to face. Shifting back and forth between the gradual clenching of fates teeth about the crew and the detailed depictions of the whaling trade kept me enthralled the whole time.

minnaohrner's review against another edition

Started this at the wrong time, I’ll give it a try again one day!

ferris_mx's review against another edition

4.0

Yeah, I finished it. It wasn't completely devoid of interest. It was a fairly encyclopedic look at whaling, mid 19th century. Amazing how modest the fuel demand of the time were, that you could send a few people out on ships for it.

All those people who are like "the whale represents something within Ahab's soul" - yeah, brain surgeon, because it says so right there. They were also pretty blunt about their foreshadowing way back when. Basically, "remember this for a few minutes, it's going to become important."

I was surprised that Melville had a sense of mutation and evolution in 1851 - when Darwin wrote Origins in 1859.

And the book is as big as a whale because it's a metaphor for the whale. Want to know how I know? Melville says so, right in the book. How meta!

isabelbellbell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

tonycomputer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced

5.0

This took me about two full calendar years to read, so it had a long time to steep in the background of my brain. Not knowing much about it going in, I was surprised by how structurally weird it is: lots of chapters-long digressions into dubious whale and whaling facts, often just when I thought the plot was about to pick up; scenes presented with theatrical stage directions seemingly at random; etc. It was also incredibly funny, which I wasn't expecting, and I was pleasantly surprised to find the climax and conclusion to be emotionally wrenching, even though I more or less knew what was going to happen. Giving a star rating to a literary classic feels like kind of a pointless endeavor, but I really did love this book in ways I didn't anticipate.

impla77's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

no one fucking cares

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and Racism

trent24's review against another edition

3.0

I didn't mind the parts about whale anatomy but it was far too long for such a basic plot.

andykmcc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny informative tense medium-paced

5.0