By: Herman Melville Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Penguin (Non-Classics) Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 672 Publication Date: September 01, 2001 Release Date: September 04, 2001
You Cannot Allow Yourself To Miss This Book I considered writing a lengthy review attempting to describe and explain the effect of this book, but it would be a waste of time. You know how Kafka intentionally wrote his stories in such a way that they would defy any attempt at interpretation? Well, Melville did the exact opposite: He wrote a book that is so charged with significance, that draws on so many sources, that attempts (and succeeds!) to do so much, that offers itself to such an unspeakable variety of interpretations (almost all of which Melville himself anticipated and plays upon), that there are quite literally as many different Moby-Dicks as there are readers--and more versions yet to be discovered. This book is like an ink-blot test or a carnival funhouse mirror, showing something unique to everyone, and it will speak directly to YOU, whoever you are. It is THE GREATEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN BY AN AMERICAN, and easily one of the greatest books EVER written. It competes with Shakespeare and the Bible. Read it, read it, for God's sake READ IT.
Moby Dick, Philbrick intro This edition of this great book is pleasing in every way...I used it to read from in the Moby Dick marathon in New Bedford...supple, beautiful, light but sturday paperback. Nathaniel Philbrick's introduction is wonderful. This edition belongs at every bedside.
One of the best literary works of all time From awe-inspiring metaphors, to the tale of a whale and the addicted sailor who relentlessly pursues him, this book is truly amazing. It brings home from the depths of the sea the reality that we all possess within us. Each Character has their own uniquely powerful personality that most can relate to. After taking a university class dedicated entirely to this book, I am convinced that Herman Melville has encapsulated the mystery and reality of what it means to be human. On the surface you will get a great adventure story, but if you analyze it carefully, as my professor would say "the universe can be found in this book." A little quote: "Don't step off that isle for thou canst never return." A definate read for all ages!!!
A 19th Century American Masterpiece I guess I did not know what to expect, but I was surprised by the form and structure of the book. It is written in the form of 135 short chapters, some only half a page long, and it ends abruptly with a flourish of action without much warning.
As a reader I want to state one cautionary note about this version of the book. By the way this is a well made book with large font and the paper is similar in quality to a hard cover book. The thing which I did not like and I caution a reader about in advance, is that one should not read the introduction by Nathaniel Philbrick and do not look at the maps or table of contents until you have finished reading the book. Too much of the plot is given away in those parts, well meaning or otherwise; and, knowing the end and the outline of the story spoils the read in my opinion.
There are three elements which I found of interest. The first was the description of whaling and all the stories and trivia surrounding whaling. There is much romance and lore presented by Melville, over 500 pages and it is mostly an interesting and an impressive read.
Ismael is the narrator but he is colorless compared to the larger than life captain Ahab who is the living embodiment of everything wrong with having an obsession. His obsession is to find and kill the great white whale Moby Dick. Most of the story is the search across great oceans to find this notorious whale.
The last thing that stood out for myself was the prose. Melville has a colorful and interesting style, almost Shakespearean from time to time, and that makes the book the great masterpiece that it is. The last dozen chapters are very well written and convey a strong feeling of excitement and action. Here is an example from an earlier Chapter 37: "Sunset."
"The cabin; by the stern windows; Ahab sitting alone, and gazing out.
I leave a white and turbid wake; pale waters, paler cheeks, where'er I sail. The envious billows sidelong swell to whelm my track; let them; but first I pass.
Yonder, by ever-brimming goblet's rim, the warm waves blush like wine. The gold brow plumbs the blue. The diver sun- slow dived from noon- goes down; my soul mounts up! she wearies with her endless hill. Is, then, the crown too heavy that I wear? this Iron Crown of Lombardy. Yet is it bright with many a gem; I the wearer, see not its far flashings; but darkly feel that I wear that, that dazzlingly confounds. 'Tis iron- that I know- not gold. 'Tis split, too- that I feel; the jagged edge galls me so, my brain seems to beat against the solid metal; aye, steel skull, mine; the sort that needs no helmet in the most brain-battering fight!
Dry heat upon my brow? Oh! time was, when as the sunrise nobly spurred me, so the sunset soothed. No more. This lovely light, it lights not me; all loveliness is anguish to me, since I can ne'er enjoy. Gifted with the high perception, I lack the low, enjoying power; damned, most subtly and most malignantly! damned in the midst of Paradise! Good night-good night! (waving his hand, he moves from the window.)"
Moby Dick is semi-autobiographical and is based on trips made by Melville himself in younger days. Melville in his later years was unable to regain the passion and complexity of this book in his writings and was forced to give up being a full time writer. This is a great read, and most book lovers will want to read the masterpiece more than once.
A Milestone in Every Reader's Life! I'd heard rumors about the book before I read it. That it was drawn out and overlong. That it was bizarre in its construction and characterization. That it senselessly detailed the intricacies of whaling to a microscopic degree. Having read the book, all of these are true, but they are by no means condemnations. It is a book ahead of its time--perhaps still ahead of our time. Take, for example, those first hundred pages which so beautifully detail the relationship of Ishmael with Queequeg; this section is intriguing and instructive and startling at once, displaying homoerotic overtones that would shock today, more than 150 years after its publication. This is a book that depicts the entirety of life: religion, relationships, occupation, philosophy, etc. There is nothing untouched in this novel, and it provides insight into all.
Reading Moby-Dick, I had an experience similar to that which I felt while reading Heart of Darkness for the first time. I find them strikingly similar in construction. For Conrad, it was the jungle; for Melville, the water. The protagonists of each are drawn inexplicably forward, many times against their own will. The psychological and philosophical implications of these narratives are truly enlightening.
Indeed, the language is sometimes difficult to wrap your mind around--especially some of the whaling dialect that arises in the characters extended soliloquies. But this is a book that shouldn't be missed. I was startled to conclude that the cetology and whaling minutiae did not distract me from the experience but focused me on the events that followed; for all of its eight hundred pages, there is not a superfluous word. And when the novel reaches its beautiful conclusion, it is a dramatic and brilliantly paced even that creates a bit of a whaler in each reader.
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