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A review by aseaoftomes
Bartleby, The Scrivener A Story of Wall-Street by Herman Melville
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
What a fascinating book.
This is a hard book to explain, since it's more of a short story and very philosophical, but basically this takes place in a law office and focuses on the scrivener's who work there, mainly a man named Bartleby. Bartleby refuses to do what is asked of him, often saying he "prefers not to" when asked much to the bafflement of his co-workers.
Since this is such a short work, it's a bit more difficult to discuss each element, so I'll do my best to do it all in one paragraph.
The writing was very well done. I loved the explanation of each of the scriveners, Bartleby and our narrator. It took a little bit to settle into the writing style and the denseness of it, but once I did, it was quite engrossing and captivating.
The setting primarily takes place at the office, so there's really not much to talk about.
The plot is also hard to explain. It was more of a character study than anything else, so the plot was formed around the actions the characters took.
As for the characters, they were all absolutely fascinating, but seen as more representations of certain traits, values and characteristics. I particularly found myself relating to Nippers the most.
This book is hard to talk about because the themes and philosophies are mainly the focus of the book. Bartleby has been seen as a representation of depression and also the concept of reasonableness. Whereas the other three scriveners could be seen as different points on a spectrum with regards to reasonableness and certain work ethics. The narrator/lawyer was very interesting because we were in his head seeing his reactions to everything.
Melville apparently wrote this when he was writing Moby Dick and wasn't having the best time of writing it and didn't really want to. There's just a lot to unpack with this one.
This is one of those books that I happened to read at the right time, so I really enjoyed it and I look forward to revisiting it again at some point in the future.
This is a hard book to explain, since it's more of a short story and very philosophical, but basically this takes place in a law office and focuses on the scrivener's who work there, mainly a man named Bartleby. Bartleby refuses to do what is asked of him, often saying he "prefers not to" when asked much to the bafflement of his co-workers.
Since this is such a short work, it's a bit more difficult to discuss each element, so I'll do my best to do it all in one paragraph.
The writing was very well done. I loved the explanation of each of the scriveners, Bartleby and our narrator. It took a little bit to settle into the writing style and the denseness of it, but once I did, it was quite engrossing and captivating.
The setting primarily takes place at the office, so there's really not much to talk about.
The plot is also hard to explain. It was more of a character study than anything else, so the plot was formed around the actions the characters took.
As for the characters, they were all absolutely fascinating, but seen as more representations of certain traits, values and characteristics. I particularly found myself relating to Nippers the most.
This book is hard to talk about because the themes and philosophies are mainly the focus of the book. Bartleby has been seen as a representation of depression and also the concept of reasonableness. Whereas the other three scriveners could be seen as different points on a spectrum with regards to reasonableness and certain work ethics. The narrator/lawyer was very interesting because we were in his head seeing his reactions to everything.
Melville apparently wrote this when he was writing Moby Dick and wasn't having the best time of writing it and didn't really want to. There's just a lot to unpack with this one.
This is one of those books that I happened to read at the right time, so I really enjoyed it and I look forward to revisiting it again at some point in the future.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Mental illness