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A review by greebytime
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
3.0
I feel somehow cheap rating this only 3/5 stars but the reality is that while I'm glad I (finally) read it, I didn't really enjoy the vast majority of this vast book. I don't mind reading lengthy novels, and I was very excited for a rare opportunity to read this with the aid of someone who teaches it and considers it his favorite book. That helped, greatly, as I'm quite sure I would have quit during one of the roughly 75-80 chapters that are about whaling, or whales, or boats, or things that are certainly RELATED to our story but not SPECIFIC to our story. Well over half of the book is spent on these things (including not one but two consecutive chapters about whale as depicted by artists). Add in the floral language of 1851 and this is a TOUGH read.
And yet, the last 30 chapters or so, when we actually spend time on the Pequod with Captain Ahab, Starbuck, Stubb and yes, Ishmael ... these are really compelling and for sure a lot of that build up - both of understanding what the ship is like and also the consistent build up of dread and doom - works very, very well. I raced through this part of the book in one night, where the rest of the book took me almost a month.
Here's another question I can't quite shake - this story is told by the narrator who says to "Call me Ishmael." Throughout the book, there are numerous scenes we know Ishmael couldn't possibly have witnessed, and other tales he tells us that we should know aren't true (like him spending time with the tribe of a country that doesn't exist), etc. Additionally, Ishmael is at best a VERY minor character in the story, especially once he boards the Pequod.
So...why is he our narrator? Why do we even HAVE a narrator? It's an odd device that I can't quite decide if it makes sense or not.
I know many smart people consider this one of the greatest books in all of literature, and who am I to disagree? I feel certain that upon a re-read, the chapters that felt like clutter and noise to me would make so much more sense and help to build the fable and myth that surrounds the story we are being told ... but I also know that I'm never, ever, going to read this book again and I can only rate it on my initial pass.
It is indeed worth reading, but it's not exactly fun to do so.
And yet, the last 30 chapters or so, when we actually spend time on the Pequod with Captain Ahab, Starbuck, Stubb and yes, Ishmael ... these are really compelling and for sure a lot of that build up - both of understanding what the ship is like and also the consistent build up of dread and doom - works very, very well. I raced through this part of the book in one night, where the rest of the book took me almost a month.
Here's another question I can't quite shake - this story is told by the narrator who says to "Call me Ishmael." Throughout the book, there are numerous scenes we know Ishmael couldn't possibly have witnessed, and other tales he tells us that we should know aren't true (like him spending time with the tribe of a country that doesn't exist), etc. Additionally, Ishmael is at best a VERY minor character in the story, especially once he boards the Pequod.
So...why is he our narrator? Why do we even HAVE a narrator? It's an odd device that I can't quite decide if it makes sense or not.
I know many smart people consider this one of the greatest books in all of literature, and who am I to disagree? I feel certain that upon a re-read, the chapters that felt like clutter and noise to me would make so much more sense and help to build the fable and myth that surrounds the story we are being told ... but I also know that I'm never, ever, going to read this book again and I can only rate it on my initial pass.
It is indeed worth reading, but it's not exactly fun to do so.