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Title: Moby Dick: Or, the Whale (Writings of Herman Melville, Vol 6) by Herman Melville, Harrison Hayford, Hershel Parker, G. Thomas Tanselle ISBN: 0-8101-0269-2 Publisher: Northwestern University Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1988 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $38.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (249 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: What are you chasing?
Comment: We call classics those works of art which say something essential about the humankind and that also say different things to different people, no matter when or where they live. This book is one of those. It is a story of adventures in the sea; of the obsession of a man; of Fate and its inevitability; of the blind race that is life; of the undesirability of getting what we lust after. The plot is the simlpest, as it happens with many masterpieces: Ismael tells us the story of a mad captain whose only thought is to kill the whale who damaged him. The symbolism is not hard to find. What happens in between is great literature. Instead of writing a long and pretentious lecture, Melville decided to tell his message in a novel of adventures. We travel the world with Ahab, witnesses of his madness and his deep humanity (not understood as goodness, of course). In a sense, we all are Ahab: we lust for something we don't really know, and we spend our lives running after that undefinable object, until we die. Moby Dick has a quasi-biblical tone and ambience (and size), but every single page is worth the time.
Rating: 5
Summary: My pigheaded opinion about why you should read this book
Comment: I love Melville's "Moby Dick, or the Whale." So naturally, as an advocate of this big, gnarly novel, I think everyone ought to read it. I'm going to make a case here why you should suffer through what many people consider an unwieldy book with too many digressions into "Everything you didn't know about Whaling and now wish you didn't."
First, let me get your rapt attention with this passage from the chapter entitled "Loomings" (Looming is defined by my dictionary as: to take shape as an impending occurrence.) Ishmael, the narrator of Moby Dick is thinking about taking a sea voyage as a common sailor to cure his boredom and depression with the world. He envisions a "grand programme of Providence" (we would say headlines written by "fate") as reading thusly:
"Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the United States"
"Whaling voyage by one Ishmael"
"BLOODY BATTLE IN AFGHANISTAN"
Well, is that WEIRDLY prophetic or what! Items one and three, especially together. And this book was published in 1851. Hmmmm!
Well, if I were to tell you this is another "Nostradamus" I'd be lying through my teeth. No, the real reason to read "Moby Dick" is that it is a gigantic myth. This is America's answer to Grindel in Beowulf (Yawn!), St. George's Dragon (zzz) and the Bull in Gilgamesh (wah?) --now wait just a minute, don't we all really LOVE mythology? This is why Joseph Campbell's series on PBS is a perennial favorite, and why kids and a good number of mature adults play video games, role playing activities and belong to the Society for Creative Anachronism. "Moby Dick" is mythology created by Melville, and it works on the same level. The whale Moby Dick is a mythical monster who grows more unbelievable yet more frighteningly unconquerable with every encounter in the book.
Think about this: the film "Jaws" owes much to Moby Dick--the shark is more and more gigantically devouring as the film rolls to its horrific end. And so does the Pequod end up in the jaws of the white whale, whom no one can oppose without dire consequence.
It's true that, interspersed with some highly dramatic activity, there are long passages of jaw-gaping boredom here as you read about the natural history of cetaceans, the life of the whaler, now more extinct than the whales they hunted to near oblivion. And the idea of rendering down these huge animals for oil to burn for light simply boggles the mind. The waste, the carnage, the loss of life of both whale and human is shocking, and Melville clearly records this, as he also lovingly records a lifestyle that he knows will soon be gone and probably forgotten--that of the Nantucket whaler.
This book is American mythology and a glance deep into a way of life that is long gone. If you love American culture, and love great heroics, you must read this book and suffer through what Clifton Fadiman referred to as "towering faults of taste." That's right, Melville goes overboard as much as his characters, but catch a hold of a piece of this book and stay afloat. It's worth it, I promise you.
Rating: 5
Summary: A gripping classic on the high seas
Comment: Opening with the famous line "Call me Ishmael", so begins this classic tale of one man's obsession with a noble, beautiful, yet highly intimidating beast of the seas, the white sperm whale Moby Dick. Set in the mid-1850's, this story tells of Captain Ahab and his passionate quest to get his revenge on the whale which severed his leg on a past sea-voyage. The story is told by Ishmael, who along with his newly-found friend Queequeg, embark on this most fateful journey.
This book really expresses the heart and soul of men who spend many years of their lives away from their loved families and friends to pursue and kill the proud sperm whales of the deep blue. When reading Melville's description of life at sea, you really get a feeling of a sad dignity to the whaleman's life as he travels the globe. This novel isn't so much about a whale, but about one man's passionate sorrow and desire for vengence and the lengths to which he'll go to acheive his victory over a foe which seems almost to exist solely to torment him. It's a book rich with commentary on human behavior and the depths of one's soul.
Although this story is told by Ishmael, much of it is written more by an omniscient narrator. Certainly, there are many scenes which are described in detailed which Ishmael's character certainly couldn't have been present for. In fact, Ishmael himself hardly seems to play much a role in the events within the novel. But, he does spend many chapters describing the sperm whale, such as it's dimensions, eating and travelling patterns, the various goods its body produces, etc. He speaks of this so much at certain points it's almost a little too much. But, he gives wonderful details which suggest Melville really did some research for this novel.
I can certainly see why this is a classic. It's so very well-written and reading it made me wish so much I had this type of literary talent. The descriptive language is very beautiful. The characters all seem so real, particularly Captain Ahab, who's seems to be burdened with a good nature, but heavy heart. Although the novel may seem a little slow or long at some points and the lengthy description of the Sperm Whale can become tedious, it's well worth wading through these low points to enjoy this wonderful tale. I think this is really a great book and certainly worth reading.
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Title: The Scarlet Letter by NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE ISBN: 0553210092 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 April, 1965 List Price(USD): $3.95 |
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Title: Gulliver's Travels (Signet Classics (Paperback)) by Jonathan Swift ISBN: 0451527321 Publisher: Signet Book Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: Moby-Dick (Cliffs Notes) by Stanley P. Baldwin ISBN: 0764586645 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 06 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens ISBN: 0451526562 Publisher: Signet Book Pub. Date: 01 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger ISBN: 0316769487 Publisher: Little, Brown Pub. Date: 01 May, 1991 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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