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A review by nate_meyers
Pierre, or the Ambiguities: Volume Seven by Herman Melville
3.0
I don't know what your reading habits are. But, if you're not reading a book every so often that makes you ask "what the hell did I just read?", then you're doing it wrong. I, for one, love reading controversial novels by classic authors. I've read Dostoevsky's Devils, Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata, Hardy's Jude the Obscure, and now Melville's Pierre. Pierre is the novel that ensured Melville would be penniless and unrecognized for life. Written immediately after Moby Dick, Pierre was so deeply hated by publishers that Melville inserted two chapters in the middle of Pierre to rant about the state of publishing in the United States.
In all seriousness, it is very easy to see why Pierre was blasted by publishers. The book is gothic satire to an extreme, with little in the way of plot. Instead, the book is mostly characters--central of which is Pierre--stuck in their own heads overanalyzing emotions. On top of this, the central conceit is that Pierre cannot distinguish familial relationships from romantic relationships. The subtitle of this book shouldn't be "The Ambiguities" but rather "How to Form a Harem." Pierre is in his late teens, the sole child of Mr. and Mrs. Glendinning. But his father died when Pierre was young, so Pierre lives with his mother at their family mansion. Pierre is all-but-engaged to Lucy Tartan, yet has a weird relationship with his mother where they call each other sister and brother and act overly fondly towards each other. This setup takes the first 100 pages of the book, because Pierre has a lot of feelings.
Most of what happens next is that relationships get more complicated. Pierre is contacted by a poor girl named Isabel claiming to be his half-sister (i.e. his father's illegitimate daughter). The only proof of this is a portrait Pierre has of his father in his room expressing a weird emotion, and an enchanted guitar that Isabel has. After much thought, Pierre decides he must preserve his parents honor while uplifting Isabel...so he decides to marry her with her posing as his wife. Lucy is crushed by this sudden turn of events, and Pierre's mother dies of grief. Pierre with Isabel and another girl Delly (don't worry about it) go to live with his cousin Glen (who Pierre had romantic feelings for as kids, because of course) in the city. But Glen rejects them so Pierre and his little harem shack up in a hostel more or less. Pierre's plan to make money is to write a novel, but he ultimately goes crazy.
So why did I give this book three stars? Well, they're three hard-earned stars because Melville is really hard to read. He uses more commas in run-on sentences than the Apostle Paul and often shifts focus mid-sentence. At the same time, he's a really good writer. He uses astoundingly descriptive language and captures human emotions really well. I liked his writing enough to add Moby Dick to my immediate queue. At the same time, there wasn't really a plot to Pierre and I was left asking--"what the hell did I just read?"
In all seriousness, it is very easy to see why Pierre was blasted by publishers. The book is gothic satire to an extreme, with little in the way of plot. Instead, the book is mostly characters--central of which is Pierre--stuck in their own heads overanalyzing emotions. On top of this, the central conceit is that Pierre cannot distinguish familial relationships from romantic relationships. The subtitle of this book shouldn't be "The Ambiguities" but rather "How to Form a Harem." Pierre is in his late teens, the sole child of Mr. and Mrs. Glendinning. But his father died when Pierre was young, so Pierre lives with his mother at their family mansion. Pierre is all-but-engaged to Lucy Tartan, yet has a weird relationship with his mother where they call each other sister and brother and act overly fondly towards each other. This setup takes the first 100 pages of the book, because Pierre has a lot of feelings.
Most of what happens next is that relationships get more complicated. Pierre is contacted by a poor girl named Isabel claiming to be his half-sister (i.e. his father's illegitimate daughter). The only proof of this is a portrait Pierre has of his father in his room expressing a weird emotion, and an enchanted guitar that Isabel has. After much thought, Pierre decides he must preserve his parents honor while uplifting Isabel...so he decides to marry her with her posing as his wife. Lucy is crushed by this sudden turn of events, and Pierre's mother dies of grief. Pierre with Isabel and another girl Delly (don't worry about it) go to live with his cousin Glen (who Pierre had romantic feelings for as kids, because of course) in the city. But Glen rejects them so Pierre and his little harem shack up in a hostel more or less. Pierre's plan to make money is to write a novel, but he ultimately goes crazy.
So why did I give this book three stars? Well, they're three hard-earned stars because Melville is really hard to read. He uses more commas in run-on sentences than the Apostle Paul and often shifts focus mid-sentence. At the same time, he's a really good writer. He uses astoundingly descriptive language and captures human emotions really well. I liked his writing enough to add Moby Dick to my immediate queue. At the same time, there wasn't really a plot to Pierre and I was left asking--"what the hell did I just read?"