A review by gingervandorsten
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

challenging dark informative reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

A weirdly captivating book for how much of it is just straight up whale facts. Herman Melville's writing has something in it, something in the way he contructs sentences that's genuinely great. Some absolutely brilliant lines and really interesting characters (though there's a lot of the very unfortunate period-typical use of language to describe POC characters, which I think is good to be aware of before you start) and I just really love nautical fiction. And boy is this book homoerotic in some parts. Jesus. But it's really just 70% whale facts and not always (barely ever) interesting ones and I don't think I need to have any more whale information thrown at me for another decade. I'm also very interested to see what a modern cetologist would think of some of the biology in this book. 
Overall though, I see why this is a classic! I just do not think it needed to be this long! And also maybe Herman Melville needs to have a think about his feelings towards men. Just saying. 
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