A review by jango102
Moby Dick; or, the White Whale by Herman Melville

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

5.0

The great American novel. The product of a sustained years-long manic phase, which was understood in its time only by the intellectual love of the author's life. A novel in love with the world and its inhabitants. The most striking image, which will never leave me, is that of the "lake" at the center of the grand armada, where nursing baby whales are compared to human infants who "gaze fixedly away from the breast" as if in another world. The utterance of one who truly saw.