Rating: 
Summary: Difficult, but worth it
Review: Moby Dick is a tough book. I will not for a minute pretend that I understood much of what lay below the surface of this story, because I was reading it for pleasure and did not bother to give it the time necessary to truly appreciate Melville's genius. On the other hand, even giving it only half my attention, the book was still entertaining. Ahab's obsession, the action on the high sea, and the battle with whales were all intriguing and griping. I also learned a tremendous amount about the whaling industry and life on the sea in the 19th century. There is tremendous depth to this book, but even if you only scratch the surface it is worth the time and effort to do so once. I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who does not like 18th century literature (it can be extremely wordy and dull at times), but for anyone who has an interest in maritime novels, Melville, or is just curious why there is so much talk about Moby Dick, I would advise you to give it a chance.
Rating: 
Summary: My pigheaded opinion about why you should read this book
Review: I love Melville's "Moby Dick, or the Whale." So naturally, as an advocate of this big, gnarly novel, I think everyone ought to read it. I'm going to make a case here why you should suffer through what many people consider an unwieldy book with too many digressions into "Everything you didn't know about Whaling and now wish you didn't."First, let me get your rapt attention with this passage from the chapter entitled "Loomings" (Looming is defined by my dictionary as: to take shape as an impending occurrence.) Ishmael, the narrator of Moby Dick is thinking about taking a sea voyage as a common sailor to cure his boredom and depression with the world. He envisions a "grand programme of Providence" (we would say headlines written by "fate") as reading thusly: "Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the United States" "Whaling voyage by one Ishmael" "BLOODY BATTLE IN AFGHANISTAN" Well, is that WEIRDLY prophetic or what! Items one and three, especially together. And this book was published in 1851. Hmmmm! Well, if I were to tell you this is another "Nostradamus" I'd be lying through my teeth. No, the real reason to read "Moby Dick" is that it is a gigantic myth. This is America's answer to Grindel in Beowulf (Yawn!), St. George's Dragon (zzz) and the Bull in Gilgamesh (wah?) --now wait just a minute, don't we all really LOVE mythology? This is why Joseph Campbell's series on PBS is a perennial favorite, and why kids and a good number of mature adults play video games, role playing activities and belong to the Society for Creative Anachronism. "Moby Dick" is mythology created by Melville, and it works on the same level. The whale Moby Dick is a mythical monster who grows more unbelievable yet more frighteningly unconquerable with every encounter in the book. Think about this: the film "Jaws" owes much to Moby Dick--the shark is more and more gigantically devouring as the film rolls to its horrific end. And so does the Pequod end up in the jaws of the white whale, whom no one can oppose without dire consequence. It's true that, interspersed with some highly dramatic activity, there are long passages of jaw-gaping boredom here as you read about the natural history of cetaceans, the life of the whaler, now more extinct than the whales they hunted to near oblivion. And the idea of rendering down these huge animals for oil to burn for light simply boggles the mind. The waste, the carnage, the loss of life of both whale and human is shocking, and Melville clearly records this, as he also lovingly records a lifestyle that he knows will soon be gone and probably forgotten--that of the Nantucket whaler. This book is American mythology and a glance deep into a way of life that is long gone. If you love American culture, and love great heroics, you must read this book and suffer through what Clifton Fadiman referred to as "towering faults of taste." That's right, Melville goes overboard as much as his characters, but catch a hold of a piece of this book and stay afloat. It's worth it, I promise you.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest American Classic
Review: I wish I could read "Moby Dick" again for the first time. It easily eclipses other American works of that period, with the exception, perhaps, of "The Scarlet Letter." Herman Melville's renowned masterpiece is a veritable epic, written in lush and provocative language, about the Quest of Life. The Captain's obsession, or rather his certainty, of destroying the great "monster" that took away his leg is pictured in the book as an incompliance with one's destiny. Many things in the novel might seem tiresome to some readers- the long passages on whales' bodily structure, their ichthyological and "culinary" aspects, or Melville's own musings on art, history, and the universe. As one reviewer noted- don't skip them, for they are written in the most satisfying language imaginable. Patrick McGrath's introduction adds to the book's charm- many of the homosexual innuendoes are revealed through his short study of Melville's allusions to sperm whales and innocent hugs of Ishmael and Queepueg, a harpooneer covered with tattooes from head to toe. At one point in the book, Ishmael says, "Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian." A careful reader will also pay great attention to the names of ships in "Moby Dick"- just like Conrad, Melville endowed his vessels with "titles" that revealed their nature and the nature of their Captains and sailors. I've read and reread this novel many times; and every time I read it I discover something new, just like with Shakespeare. Too bad I can't read this for the first time again.
Rating:
Summary: The Perfect Stormless Day
Review: If you can read The Perfect Storm by Sebastion Junger, you can read Moby Dick. Moby Dick starts out in New Bedford, MA. The Perfect Storm starts out two towns north in Gloucester, MA. Ishmael comes in out of the snow at the Spouter Inn. Junger comes in out of the rain at the Crow's Nest. Both narrators take you on a ship that never comes back. The storm gets one. The whale gets the other. I have read Moby Dick about ten times in my life. I have gone to it often. To say it is my favorite book is an understatement. I will not spend the time talking about the character of Ahab, the symbolism of the "Gams," the story of The Essex (the real ship that sank when attacked by a whale), or the meaning of the whiteness of the whale. I will mention the taste of clam chowder for breakfast, clam chowder for lunch, and clam chowder for dinner at the Spouter Inn; and Queequeg kicking away with his barefeet the sharks who come to feed upon the dead whale they have lashed to the side of the Pequod. (Ernest Hemingway copied this scene from Herman Melville in "The Old Man And The Sea." See my review on that book.) I will talk about how Ahab tries to stand in the row boat in the first "gam" and suddenly grabs the hair of the oarsman to keep from losing his balance with his wooden leg and to keep from falling out of the boat. Ah, the mighty Ahab. We watched from the ship's deck the little Ahab down there riding the waves. I will talk about the sound his wooden leg makes as he walks the deck above while I try to sleep; and the life threatening tendency to fall asleep while on watch up there on the tall mast head on those calm sunny days. I will talk about the beautiful calmness of the ocean. And I will mention that little known fact that while Ahab is seeking Moby Dick, Moby Dick is also stalking Ahab. Moby Dick lures Ahab to his killing zone and takes Ahab under beautiful calm waters beneath a beautiful quiet blue sky on a perfect stormless day.
Rating:
Summary: A Tough Classic to Read
Review: I enjoyed this book in retrospect but it was not an easy book to read. I would really rate it at 3.5 stars and in reading the other reviews posted, I also note that it is certainly not a book for every one. The book is heavily segmented in short, bursty chapters that shift from one subject to another like a worn out party drunk who can't finish a thought or make a continuous series of points. The story really doesn't flow as it is constantly interrupted by Melville's soliloquies on history, art, culture, and philosophy. However, there is a mosaic effect to the work that is only gained in retrospect, which is actually quite impressive. Overall, the book is definitely worth reading, but expect to either appreciate it after you've read it or not to like it at all.
Rating:
Summary: Moby Dick... Pierre... Billy Budd
Review: I would like to address my review to those who have a genuine interest in Melville as an artist, but have read only Moby Dick.
Allow me to begin my comments by asking a question and then creating an historical setting: When you try to understand Moby Dick, what do you compare it with? What context do you see it in?
Does it not seem to be strangely isolated?
Setting: One of the tragedies of American 'cultural' history is that between the first and second world wars (the time when Melvile was 'rediscovered' and rejected again, as I will explain)American academia made a major decision to turn away from the truly indigenous American artistic voices (Louis Armstrong, Kenneth Patchen...) and give its support to the dying European culture represented in the English language by T. S. Eliot and others. And what happened was that big business moved into the arena and created the barren context in which American art would then have to prosper or die. (In terms of nuturing art in America academia went down with the European past it clung to.) American capitalism created, from raw American artistic material, something we can call FAST-ART: no real development in anything, just gulp it down and move on to the next ART-BITE, because that keeps profits up. And generations of Americans have become deeply conditioned by this totally art-indifferent or art-hostile context created by business interests. Typical of this is the negative review of Moby Dick written here by a man who says he is qualified to judge Moby Dick a failure because he reads 10 to 12 books a month, that is, at least one book every 3 days. (I can imagine what sorts of books they are.) The truth about this reviewer is that he is literally incapable of reading Moby Dick because its massive proportions will not fit into his FAST-ART schedule that has become part of his nervous system and was created for him decades ago by people who didn't care about art. So academia abandoned the field, left it to business interests, and made no effort to nuture the then current artistic passion in America and possibly develope it in connection with America's artistic past. So most Americans grew up incapable of feeling much real connection with Melville's art. And this was made even worse by the fact that academia never in fact really embraced Melville. When Melville wrote Moby Dick, the critics and academics were unesy with it, but could tolerate it. (There were very few who actually understood that something very important had been created.) But when Melville wrote Pierre or, The Ambiguities, he was not only rejected, he was scorned and no further attempt was made to understand him. Then the same thing happened again when Melville was 'rediscovered' in the 20th century. Though this time more people acknowledged the greatness of Moby Dick and it even became an academic cliche and a sort of hobby-horse, Pierre was again rejected. The crucial importance of this is that even when Melville was taught in school, he was taught as the one-book-wonder, the man who wrote Moby Dick, because in fact there was no coherent academic understanding of Melville's entire body of work which was actually centered in Pierre, not Moby Dick. And the reason for this is that America has always found Pierre unacceptable. Most people who have read Moby Dick have never even glanced at Pierre and they have been led to believe that they can understand Moby Dick without Pierre. And this finally brings us to my real point. Melville was a major artist who had a vision that encompassed far more than just Moby Dick which can not be really understood without Pierre, especially, but also Bartleby, Benito Cereno, and Billy Budd. The Melville who exists in a vacuum as the man who wrote Moby Dick is an academic illusion created by the fear of Pierre or, The Ambiguities. Melville is America's greatest artist and America's only artist who can stand with any artist from any time in world history. If you really love Moby Dick, then read Pierre as well and I promise you it will give you a new slant on Moby Dick and a new insight into America's greatest artist.
Rating: 
Summary: GOOD BUT DONT READ IT
Review: IT IS GOOD BUT DONT WASTE YOUR TIME READING IT LIKE I DID. IT IS SORT OF A WASTE OF TIME. YOU COULD BE WATCHING TV INSTEAD. THINK ABOUT WHICH IS MORE FUN. EXACTLY!
Rating:
Summary: Great edition
Review: I have the first Norton edition--and it is wonderful. It includes Melville's "Reviews and Letters" as well as numerous critical essays. Though at times rather elementary, the footnotes are nonetheless occasionally insightful.
Rating:
Summary: Call me you-know-who...
Review: I've read Moby Dick. It took me two attempts to do it, but I did it! I now can understand why it is often cited as the greatest American novel ever written. However, if I was to read it again (and I may) I would do so with a good amount of judicious skipping. Bear in mind that Melville wrote this at a time when not much was known about whales and whaling. Therefore, while the actual PLOT of Moby Dick is a fairly straightforward read, Melville will digress for pages and pages about whales, and the history of whaling. This may not prove that interesting for everyone and, since the chapters are all neatly labeled, one can easily skip over them. That having been said, DO NOT skip over every chapter you feel has no bearing on the plot. On The Whiteness of the Whale is one of the most important parts of the book - it perhaps answers why we find clowns so creepy. The important thing to remember is that Moby Dick is both low art and high art. It is a rollicking adventure tale, in which we find a lot of great prose and ruminations on the meaning of existence. Beware of the phantom spout, don't look too long into the fire, and enjoy the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Very tedious
Review: It starts off a little funny. Ishmael goes to a whale inn because he wants to go on a whaling trip. He gets stuck in the same bed as a strange, cannabalistic-tatooed man named Queequeg. When Ishmael wakes up this guy is hugging him.
But after that it gets very boring. Unless your life goal is to go to Borneo college and study squid fishing, or you love to spend every weekend fishing so you can study the fishes every movement and physiognomy, then you'd love this book.
It's got everything you'd ever want to know about whales. Their skin, face, blubber, signifigance in history, classification of whales (whole chapter dedicated to it), symbolism of their whiteness, etc. If you're not into that,you should read the book for the fun of looking up biblical references of which are many.
There are a few good points to the book. (1)It makes you feel like you are really part of the whaling crew with it's through chapters on things whale related.(2)It feels very realistic (3) There's so much symbolism and analyzing. (4) it has atmosphere that humans are insignifigant to God, nature, and greater powers and make you feel like there's more out there.
But if you want to appreciate this book, I suggest that you take your time reading it. To me it's one of those books that's completely over rated just because it's a classic. There's no real interest for people who don't like to analyze books and write term papers on the symbolism of it all. I feel sorry for people who think this book is the highlight of their life.
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