Moby Dick

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Summary: A suberb, atmospheric book of biblical proportions.
Review: A suberb, atmospheric book of biblical proportions. It is a journey through Melvilles obsession, as well as Ahabs, and presents a robust and romantic metaphor on oligarchy and the power and influence that psychopaths in charge exert over their crew or army. Fury like Ahabs has an almost indominatable force. Men like this have lead many unwilling accomplices to their graves. If it was't a whale it would have been something else, a mountain, a country, possesion, endless wealth, the lust to usurp and dominate. I loved Melvilles rambling passages about whales.

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Summary: The Problem of America
Review: We should dispense with the Great American Novel business that usually clouds the real issue about the literary value of this book, along with others like Twain's "Huckleberry Finn". Moby Dick is a difficult book: difficul because, like America, it tries to make sense of many things all at once. We're confronted by Ishmael, the philosopher struck by wanderlust; Queequeg,the highly-civilized savage; Ahab, the American Faustus; Starbuck, the moralist who is torn by a temptation to blow Ahab's brains out with a musket and the desire to turn him away from his revenge plot; and finally, the silent yet pervasive character after whom the book is named, the White Whale himself, who seems to be some sort of deity whose motivations are unfathomable, like the depths he inhabits. It is next to impossible to find a satisfactory treatment of all these characters at once. Keep in mind that these are just the main characters; we haven't even started talking about the others yet. Where should we start judging a book? By what standards? It would take a lifetime to figure out all the hidden real-life implications within the book. It is vanity to think we have exhausted all the avenues of criticism that this book has to offer

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Summary: Most awful, horrendous, and boring book I have ever read.
Review: Reading Moby Dick was like torture- I would have rather been writing a 500 page report. At least I could have written it on something interesting. Moby Dick is a 500 page account of the same whale, the same people, the same trip, and the EXACT SAME THING over and over again. I recommend this book if you have an incrediably boring life to begin with that couldn't get much worse and a lot of time on your hands.

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Summary: Great nautical story but often tortuous
Review: "Moby Dick" is a powerful story of the obsession of Captain Ahab to commandeer the use of his crew and ship to wreck vengeance on the mighty beast Moby Dick; I only wish Melville had kept it at that. It seems that Melville couldn't decide whether he wanted to write a dark, brooding novel of obsession and destruction, or rather a scientific treatise on whales and whaling. The digressions seemed interminable. I recommend future readers simply skip them; you won't miss much and some of what he says is quite wrong (e.g., whales are NOT fish). I suppose a modern editor would have cleaned that up for him and prevented the novel from suffering from its reputation of being boring (not at all deserved). One last point, the final climactic scene where everyone (except Ishmael) drowns as the ship sinks is quite unbelievable

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Summary: Captain Ahab versus Moby Dick - lessons in Taoism.
Review: Captain Ahab sure could've benefitted from some of the principles of Taoism. His obsession with chasing and slaughtering Moby Dick offers readers great insights into the typical principles of Western European philosophy which Melville was undoubtedly criticizing in "Moby Dick". The author is warning the world of the destructiveness and insaneness of the search and conquer attitude that was so prevalent during his time. Whether through colonization or industrialization, Melville is forewarning the powerful nations of his time of their irrational and unnatural pursuits. Only when we achieve a sense of peace and harmony within ourselves and with nature, can we lead healthy and happy lives. If Captain Ahab had been one with Tao, he would have realized that the great white whale that took his leg, was only obeying it's natural instincts. He, and other whalers, were the ones violating the whale's natural habitat. The consequences of this battle with nature, as Taoists know, are destined to be dire. Unfortunately for Captain Ahab, he never learned or accepted these Taoist principles in his worldly travels.

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Summary: Heave to! and read this awesome whaling adventure!
Review: If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, then Moby Dick deserves the title of classic. Upon its publication, Moby Dick alienated many of its readers; authors since have tried to capture his messages' meanings and somehow get the general reading public to understand what he had to say. Hemingway figured it out in his Pulitzer-prize winning "The Old Man and the Sea." Peter Benchley focused on the terror of the hunt in "Jaws" a popular spin on Melville's whaling classic. And of course, Verne pitched in with "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." After reading Moby Dick, I'll never be able to look at a physical object in this ambigous world and be able to say with all certainty what exactly it is I'm looking at.

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Summary: Like choking down a week old doughnut
Review: I read classics now and then, but this one was disappointing. The storyline is very good, but Melville is wordy, and gets caught up in dull, 20 page digressions. (Ex. difference between a humpback and a narwhale). All in all, I'm glad I read it, but it was real work at times

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Summary: Oh moby-god save me -- I too, love Ahab Tender Chicken!
Review: What more could you ask? Page after page that you don't understand all about everything that surrounds you. Poor Ahab. Poor you. How do you catch a fish? Even a little one would suffice. This guy's after the biggest fish in the universe, but in the meantime, you learn everything you ever wanted to know about the kind of people who put the world on the map -- seaman. (How'd YOU get there in the first place? Yacht sank?) Oh, by the way, if you are a woman, it's all about men. If you're a man, it's all about men. Perfect. Best of all, the hero floats away on that mysterious islander's coffin you could dig up looking for water and survives. Good luck

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Summary: Supreme. More than a masterpiece.
Review: It is as if by mistake that I picked up this book. I thought it would be an adventure story, like The Count of Monte Cristo or something of its like. As my reading progressed, it became clear to me, however, that it was more of a philosophical rumination rather an ordinary suspense or thrill book. After I finished reading the book, I've had a feeling it was more than a masterpiece--Melville had just uttered my innermost feelings through a myth, with so much life, that I could never be able to.

No, the book isn't a tragedy. In the surface, you may call it that way. But more than anything, it is a Triumph. It speaks of man's upholding of his dignity amid torture in the universe. Melville gave us, implanted in us, through the most poetical language, something that we can hold onto, something that will re-reveal to us, against Gods, that we are unconquerable.



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Summary: More like a thunderstorm than a book!
Review: Few modern characters can compare with Melville's creations in Moby Dick: Ishmael, Starbuck, Queequeg, Stubbs, and of course, Ahab. Each one is a work of art. The story is gripping and Melville's use of foreshadowing is masterly. From the early chapters as Ishmael reflects on the inexorable pull of the sea and finds himself in Coffin's inn, The Trap, bunking down with an unkown cannibal, to the very end as each character realizes that he is caught in the grip of Ahab's unrelenting monomania, the book has an hypnotic power that keeps readers immersed in its spell. Anyone who thinks they know the story of Moby-Dick but has never read the book should think again. Reading it is an incredible experience that shouldn't be missed.