Reviews tagging 'Death'

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

29 reviews

novelyon's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

i can't believe the novel started with the "there is only one bed" trope and ended with ahab trying to attack and dethrone God

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racism, and Blood

Moderate: Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Violence, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Slavery

yrlaevelyn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative reflective

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, and Cannibalism

seanml's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

In some circles this has been referred to as the greatest of American novels. I wanted to know the basis for this, because surely there must be some merit if it is still brought up today. What did I find? I found that Moby Dick is, in a way, two separate books. First, there is a book of whale anatomy. Our narrator Ishmael, being a member of the crew, has many things to say about the process and subject of the whaling industry. Dozens of chapters will go by that are more educational than narrative, and that is why the book is so vilified: This educational content is like 80% of the book. Or at least it feels that way. The second part of this book is the story of our ship, the Pequod, and Captain Ahab’s relentless search for the malicious white whale. And this, surprisingly, was everything it was said to be. The sea is described like the primordial all-encompassing force that it is, and Melville through Ishmael taps into the innate fear of such an alien place, making this book scarier than many books in the horror genre. And within this void is Moby Dick himself, who comes and goes like a cosmic horror of the great deep, presaged by strange omens and otherworldly harbingers. So I recommend the narrative portion of the book, despite it being the minority of the page count. So why might this be called the greatest American novel? There are two possibilities. One, it is, but this is unlikely. Or two, this book was written in the mid-1850s, and there were like two books back then, so it was either this or Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and this one is pretty cool. 8/10.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Racism

Moderate: Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Death, Sexism, Slavery, Cannibalism, Alcohol, and Colonisation

lowpolylea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Child death, Cannibalism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

call_me_ishmael's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This book can be challenging but, boy, is it worth it. I recommend listening to an audiobook to help you get through. (Librivox has a great free recording done by Stewart Wills.) The style is very experimental and not a straight-forward adventure story. But even though it is dense, there is a lot of humor, wit, reflections on humanity, and lovable characters within. Herman Melville raises great philosophical questions about man, nature, and God. There is a reason this is considered the great American novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Death and Racism

msjenne's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

sherbertwells's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

The sole survivor of a shipwreck immortalizes its ill-fated final voyage: its crew, its prey and its captain’s monomaniacal obsession with the titular white whale. Verbose and glorious, and if Melville is not quite the American Shakespeare he is something deeper altogether.

“Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure. Consider also the devilish brilliance and beauty of many of its most remorseless tribes, as the dainty embellished shape of many species of sharks. Consider, once more, the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began. Consider all this; and then turn to this green, gentle and most docile earth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a strange analogy to something in yourself?” (283)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Gore

Moderate: Death and Grief

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, Antisemitism, and Cannibalism

yavin_iv's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny informative reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Racism, Xenophobia, and Blood

Moderate: Racial slurs and Medical trauma

Minor: Antisemitism and Cannibalism

isabeldotml's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism