Rating: 
Summary: All superlatives seem inadequate
Review: This is the best book I've read in my nearly 40 years, with the possible exception of the Oxford English Dictionary, and easily warrants a ***** rating. But the version I read was the earlier Penguin edition, the one annotated by Prof. Harold Beaver. Why Penguin would discontinue that fantastically thorough effort, and replace it with this utterly barren one, I really cannot fathom.
Rating: 
Summary: Poetic
Review: The story is moving and significant, however, it's main purpose resides in it's poetry and philosophy---especially the chapter on the whiteness of the whale. Read for the poetry, the beauty and the significance, not the action, which is sporadic at best.
Rating: 
Summary: Inflated Melville
Review: I am one of those who firmly believes that Melville's non-fiction is superior to his fiction. "Typee" and "Omoo" are more to my taste. "Moby Dick" contains any number of memorable characters, scenes and philosohpical speculations, but, unconfined by the autobiographical incidents that formed his early work, Melville's mind and his syntax here ramble all over the place. It's interesting to note that this novel was resurrected from obscurity by Hollywood in the 1920's when it was adapted as a vehicle for John Barrymore.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful visuals, language, and philosophy
Review: It was difficult for a lover of whales to endure. I had no sympathy for Ahab until the end chase. He is not really developed till almost the very end. You may lose patience midway through, but will be rewarded with an emotionally wrenching conclusion. I expected to pull for the whale at the end but strangely found myself empathizing with Ahab. To fully appreciate it might require several readings.
Rating:
Summary: More "Important" Than Entertaining
Review: The recent television film of MOBY DICK has fired an interest in Melville's classic, and that is a good thing.The unfortunate reality is that the book itself is a mixed bag. Never Melville's most "popular" work in terms of sales, MOBY DICK or THE WHALE is now his most famous, a reputation based upon (at least in part) John Huston's classic film version...AND the Patrick Stewart remake. Distilled from the novel in both versions is the exciting story of Ahab, maimed by the infamous White Whale, and bent on revenge. Readers coming to the book after seeing the film(s) are often disappointed by the fact that this story is almost incidental, buried amidst chapter after chapter of whaling minutia, outdated science, fractured drama, and long-winded philosophy. Fully three-fourths of the book is over before the actual story REALLY begins. And the titular whale himself, for all his fame, has something less than a cameo appearance. And yet, Melville's detailed descriptions--even in the most painstaking recreations of sailing life--are often quite beautiful and allegorical, though tedious. The fact that they stop the story dead for chapters at a time is sure to annoy the modern reader. In short, MOBY DICK is an "important" book that should be read, but the parts are far more interesting than the whole.
Rating:
Summary: An allegorical comment on god and man
Review: I had read this book before, but I just finished it for a literature course. I never realized how much symbolism there is in this narrative. It is extremely moving. Queequeg can represent Christ and Ishmael the common man. Many biblical/Christian themes are represented here--salvation, redemption, resurrection. Everyone should read this book at least once!!
Rating:
Summary: I would recomend this book
Review: Although the plot dragged all over the place, it was a basicly good book with a lot of emence detale
Rating:
Summary: Wow....Superb! A breathtaking novel...really...
Review: When you read the book you'll find passages that are so perfectly written they easily rival shakespeare in their power. The book is like a poem in so many ways...it is very poetic...I did a critical review on Ahab, about what the main critics thought about him, and that gave me an even more greater respect for Melville. Ahab is an incrediable character---possibly the greatest and most complex in literature. He fights against fate and/or God.....he wants to assert himself--he wants to be in control...instead of being a thing or object, he wants to be in control...and so he trys to trump himself as a God....His fight to assert himself past his humanity--so he is more then just a man--is seen in everybody. He wishes he were something more then he is. But he keeps having to deal witht the fact that he is mortal...In the end, Ahab is seen really as a tragic hero...a good guy sorta...The reader starts to root for him. No movie can even come close to capturing the power of the book...it is too poetic and philosophical...Melville's ramblings in the middle of the book can seem tedious but add to the book greatly. They give the book so much depth in which to look at it...the world is seen as an ocean...on the ship are the earth's inhabitiants....they all try to figure out the purpose of existence, but with no shore (or landmarks) in sight, they all shoot from the hip, and each one's personnel view about life is as good as someone elses since there is no roadmap (very Hamlet like). Ahab's view of the whale as being the transcendese (sp--who cares) of evil is as good as Starbuck believing the whale is a dumb animal. The Doubloon in my eyes is one of the greatest chapters in the book....Side note: Melville himself said that he had written a "wicked book"---one that shows how life can be seen in so many different ways by different people and be correct, and Melville was a christian...hmmm...he also noted that the theme can be derived from the ship's cooks speech to the sharks.... In summery, one awesome book....SUPER deep and insightfull....reality is questioned thourougly...however, the book seems to indicate, if you stray to far from reality (whatever that is), then you'll fall of a crow's nest and die (you'll understand when you get to that chapter).....
Rating:
Summary: Expansive
Review: "Moby Dick" combines a rouser of a good adventure story, deliciously laden with profound symbolism all over the place, with many amusing digressions about cetology and the science/art of whaling. Some modern readers are not too taken with the latter, but I think each little jewel of a chapter is almost like its own essay, as Melville's thoughtful misungs paint a vivid portrait of things we can only imagine today. One should also not imagine that this is a humorless book, for Melville's wit is often prevalent among the perfundity.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Long to be really good!
Review: All I have heard of Moby Dick I imagined that it must be one of the best books ever written. It is certainly not of my favorites and it took me a long long time to read it! One tip: Buy the abridged version! I used to prefer unabridged books but this one must be shortened especially because it has whole chapters on uninteresting stuff like obsolete cetology!
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