Moby-Dick: or, The Whale (Penguin Classics)
1 journaler for this copy...
Arrived two days ago from a paperbackswap member.
I finally read it. Having read about Moby Dick most of my life I finally got around to reading it myself. But I likely would not have if I had not scheduled it for a book club.
Ishmael begins his journey full of hope for the future. He's a bit of a braggart but capable of caring and observing others. The story begins as an adventure tale in the first person, Ishmael narrating. It drifts, though. Sometimes the story is third-person and at times even turns into a play, rather Shakespearean. And then there are the instructive chapters, many chapters about whales and whaling ships, offered as from an authority. Thus what is essentially a pretty simple story becomes over 600 pages.
Melville writes rather floridly. I don't think that people on whaling ships would speak this way, and I wonder why Melville narrates with so much extra padding. Methinks it could do with an editor. But I can't count myself an expert on classics in the 1800s. I can only say it was, for me, a bit of hard slogging at times.
Ahab, captain of the ship, is a bit of a mystery from the start. A passing seaman warns Ishmael against joining the crew of the Pequod, saying only one will survive. On board, the crew rarely sees Ahab. The routine aspects of the journey are handled mostly by Starbuck, a highly competent leader.
We are told early on that Ahab is obsessed with Moby Dick. We are told he is nuts. But when he offers the crew a monetary reward for spotting the legendary white whale they go along. As the ship comes closer to the part of the oceans where Moby Dick tends to be, Ahab increasingly comes on deck and searches with his eyes. The ship takes on whales on the way, of course, killing and butchering them on the ship, storing the spermaceti (a waxlike substance) in tanks below. When closing in on Moby, though, Ahab is impatient. He wants to ignore a sea full of whales and get on with his particular hunt. Starbuck tries to temper his obsession, to no avail.
Finally they are faced with the great white monster and Ahab is ready to sacrifice everything for it.
I had hoped for a build-up of the psychological nature of Ahab, for more of his presence throughout, and I didn't love the endless passages comparing types of whales and whalers. Like most people now, I have no stomach for whaling. I am glad I read the book so I know it myself, and I would be interested in discussing it more with others.
Ishmael begins his journey full of hope for the future. He's a bit of a braggart but capable of caring and observing others. The story begins as an adventure tale in the first person, Ishmael narrating. It drifts, though. Sometimes the story is third-person and at times even turns into a play, rather Shakespearean. And then there are the instructive chapters, many chapters about whales and whaling ships, offered as from an authority. Thus what is essentially a pretty simple story becomes over 600 pages.
Melville writes rather floridly. I don't think that people on whaling ships would speak this way, and I wonder why Melville narrates with so much extra padding. Methinks it could do with an editor. But I can't count myself an expert on classics in the 1800s. I can only say it was, for me, a bit of hard slogging at times.
Ahab, captain of the ship, is a bit of a mystery from the start. A passing seaman warns Ishmael against joining the crew of the Pequod, saying only one will survive. On board, the crew rarely sees Ahab. The routine aspects of the journey are handled mostly by Starbuck, a highly competent leader.
We are told early on that Ahab is obsessed with Moby Dick. We are told he is nuts. But when he offers the crew a monetary reward for spotting the legendary white whale they go along. As the ship comes closer to the part of the oceans where Moby Dick tends to be, Ahab increasingly comes on deck and searches with his eyes. The ship takes on whales on the way, of course, killing and butchering them on the ship, storing the spermaceti (a waxlike substance) in tanks below. When closing in on Moby, though, Ahab is impatient. He wants to ignore a sea full of whales and get on with his particular hunt. Starbuck tries to temper his obsession, to no avail.
Finally they are faced with the great white monster and Ahab is ready to sacrifice everything for it.
I had hoped for a build-up of the psychological nature of Ahab, for more of his presence throughout, and I didn't love the endless passages comparing types of whales and whalers. Like most people now, I have no stomach for whaling. I am glad I read the book so I know it myself, and I would be interested in discussing it more with others.
