Herman Melville

Vintage Classics Library

Moby-Dick

rumbledethumps

An absolute masterpiece. There are far too many themes (Man v Nature, Ahab v Starbuck, Ahab and Pip, The 9 Gams, The Unknowable, Melville v Shakespeare, etc etc etc) to be properly encompassed in a single, brief Goodreads review.

Instead, my experience in reading it: The first third drove me along, and I thought I had found my new favorite book. The humor, the language, the setting, the story were all such that I could not put it down, could not stop thinking about it in off moments. The second third, however, is where it gets its reputation for being a difficult book. For every chapter that advances the plot, there are two that anchor it down in academic asides about whales and the whaling industry. But once one clears these windless waters, the final third sails along to its inevitable conclusion, and I again could not put it down.

This book has earned a spot on my permanent shelf. I may never read it from cover-to-cover again, but I will definitely pick it up now and again to re-read favorite passages, and will be reading about it for the rest of my life.

Moby-Dick Vintage Classics Library

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