Moby-Dick or, The Whale (Penguin Classics) by Herman Melville Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Moby-Dick or, The Whale (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: A great story but extremely long - winded at times.
Summary: 4 Stars
What can be said about a novel considered by many to be one of the crowning pieces of American Literature ever written. Well for starters, the book is quite a task to read, but a task that should be completed by anyone who is interested in fine writing. Or even perhaps the human pysche. But of course the book is not without flaws. The main flaw being that of length. I found it extremely irritating at times the number of pages Melville would prattle on about the type of rope used by the whalers or the hardness of the steel used as the spikes for the harpoons. Another criticism I have to make is that collectivly the tale of the search for White Whale only constitutes about half of the novel. The other half taken up by seemingly trivial information on the tools of the Pequod. But if these aspects can be overlooked or perhaps even skipped, as alot of the chapters don't add to the story at all, then the final result is an extremely well written novel about the insane quest of Ahab for the White Whale in which he "came to identify with him, not only all his bodily woes, but all his intellectual and spiritual exasperations."Book Review: Har! Har! Har!
Summary: 5 Stars
Thar she blows!!! A hump like a snowhill! Tis' Moby Dick! Har!!! This masterpiece is better than that song ye hear so often, har... you know the one... "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest..." Well matees, thars what I think. My name is Roger, and this novel made me feel like a Jolly Roger!! Har! I remember the old days, and this book reminds me of them. Squids and whales and peg-legs. No nuclear submarines like The Hunt for Red October. Har!! The sea was made for Ishmael, Ahab, and the white beast which tormented em so, yo ho ho. Twas a moonless night, dark as pitch, when I first picked up this book. I finished it in less than a fortnight! Har har har!!! An excellent read.Book Review: A very suspensful book that always leaves you hanging.
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book and found a lot of useful information about the 1800's. This book always leaves you hanging and at the end it all ties together. This was probibly Herman Melville's best book ever. suspense is one thing that this book has a lot of. Again this was a great book and I hope everyone gets a chance to read it.Book Review: America's Literary Gift to the World
Summary: 5 Stars
This is more akin to a mystical experience than simple reading. It's not always easy, and it's far from tansparent. This book makes you work, but isn't that what you read for? If you want something easy then just watch television, for heaven's sake! If you're still not convinced by Melville's vast, truly awesome canvas, try his shorter works, particularly "Bartelby the Scrivener." This tale presaged Kafka long before "The Hunger Artist" starved himself before an audience.Book Review: Symbolism!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an amazing metaphor for good vs evil, one of the best I've ever seen. The insane drive of Ahab, his refusal to listen to Starbuck or anyone else who tried to turn him away from the darkness of the water, his moment of tragic truth and his final destruction are all elements that make Melville's masterpiece's consideration as a classic deserved.My favorite aspect of the book is Fedallah, Ahab's Psychic Friends Network, who is always just standing around, saying something foreboding or looking at us in a way that foretells Ahab's doom.