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Summary: The greatest novel in the English language . . . period!
Review: Moby-Dick is, without question, the greatest novel written in the English language. Middlemarch doesn't come close; none of the mature Henry James novels come close; heck, not even Ulysses comes close (frankly, I'd like to see some scholar examine the influence of Moby-Dick on Ulysses--there has to be some). This book shouldn't be merely read, it must be consumed Eziekiel-style. I have never read any book that has had such a powerful influence on me. Whenever, I travel, I now carry a copy of Shakespeare, Milton, and Moby-Dick. If I were banished to an island and could take only one book with me, Moby-Dick would be my choice. No matter how many times I read it (and it has been several), I always find something new. It is endlessly fascinating.
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Summary: Have trouble getting to sleep at night? Get this!
Review: Dont waste your hard earned money on expensive sleeping pills, which can sometimes have dangerous and fatal side effects! Take the safer, easier route to a good nights sleep! Buy this book! It will do the trick, I garuntee. However, if your looking for a good book, dont read this, you will only become agitated. Such was the case with me. I am quite the fan of stories which involve man eating sea creatures, such as Jaws. Moby Dick is nothing compared to such classics, I fear. In fact, it is boring with a capital B. What is the whales motivation? You dont know. There is no suspense, and I find the idea of people hunting whales offensive. Offensive with a capital O. Whales are lovely, peaceful creatures and that is why their slaughter has been outlawed. This book makes whales seem like demonic, murderous creatures of doom. Such a thing should not be read to a child, for it preaches that animal cruelty is ok. Never before have seen such an abundance of immoralality! I am offended! I feel as if my brainards are going to freeze over and crumble like spoiled peanut brittle. Take my word for it, dont read this book.
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Summary: Norton Critical Edition of MOBY-DICK
Review: This is a notice, not a review. Bound copies should be ready 31 August 2001, in plenty of time for class adoptions and well ahead of the sesquicentennial. Wait till you see the cover illustration, the original of Queequeg!
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Summary: More insightful than most people realize.
Review: I won't try to repeat any of the millions of words that have been written about this book, but will restrict my short comment to an aspect of this novel that is not well-known: its relevance to the disease of depression. During my bout with severe clinical depression, I had occasion to read "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville. Because of my condition, while reading it I suddenly realized -- and I mean KNEW -- that Melville was afflicted with depression. I still remember the passage, Ahab, watching the sunset, thinking to himself: Chapter xxxvii - SUNSET (page 165) "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!" And that exactly described my condition. "Gifted with the high perception," I perceived the total, utter pointlessness and meaninglessness of -- not only my life -- but of existence itself! And so I could no longer enjoy the things of the world that other, less "insightful" mortals could. I later researched the life of Herman Melville afterward, and it turns out that he did indeed suffer from depression! I heartily recommend reading "Moby Dick." And if you're "lucky" enough to read it while clinically depressed, you may find it has a lot to say to you that may prove valuable. And you'll learn things from it -- many things -- that someone who is not experiencing depression could not possibly understand.
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Summary: Incredible story. What a lousy writer.
Review: Every time I pick up this novel and, in sortes fashion, read a bit of it, I want to beat my head against a wall. The problem, dear friends, and the polarized opinions that this problem engenders, is that MD is an incredible allegory, a metaphor for good, evil, passion, love, hate, nature, obsession, and so many other adjectives that I don't care to maunder on about, lest I sound like Melville (Zounds!), is that this is a fantastic idea, brilliantly conceived, and terribly executed. When I think of anyone being FORCED to read this novel (poor students, whereever you are) I want to fall on a harpoon. Ray Bradbury, who wrote the screenplay for this novel, (a la Gregory Peck) couldn't even finish the damn thing! He too just read bits of it, and gleaned the importance thereby. He recognized it's inner greatness, its actual grandeur absolutely mired in prose that makes you want to gnaw your foot off...or feed it to Queqaig (sp?). Mr Bradbury, one of the finest writers EVER, had the right idea. I wonder what Hemingway thought of this monster of a book? Get the cliff notes. They take up less room.
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Summary: Call me Crazy, but I love this novel
Review: Like so many great works of art, Herman Melville's 1851 "Moby Dick" is a universe unto itself, the relentlessly rolling, salt-thrashed universe of the Pequod, a seabound whaler. I would advise any first-time reader of "Moby Dick" to give himself plenty of time to get through this book, cetology and all, say 4 to 6 weeks. It's also a good idea to have a passing knowledge of maritime terminology: to know the bow from the stern, what a bowsprit is, a capstan and a shroud. Because Melville was a sailor for so many years, he assumes his professional jargon will be understood. He was also a well-read man, and "Moby Dick" is filled with historical and mythological references. (Quick! Who was King Porus?) It's best to keep a one-volume encyclopedia handy. The story itself is populated with mysterious characters: Ishmael is the narrator who never fully reveals himself -- and who recounts scenes he couldn't very likely have seen. Then there's Bulkington, the mariner who is only seen from a distance, but who receives his own special apotheosis,then disappears. Captain Ahab's wife is described as "a sweet, resigned girl", but the Biblical Ahab's wife Jezebel was a scheming pagan. Does Ahab have a dark family secret? The first time Ahab himself is mentioned, the Pequod's owner calls him "a grand, ungodly, god-like man", and his long-awaited first appearance has all the drama of a Shakespearean entrance. (He's been compared to Lear and Prospero, not to mention Marlowe's Doctor Faustus.) And when the title creature appears, he's more than a whale, he's a world. Ahab against the world -- it's a theme that inspires one dazzling chapter after another: Chapter LXX, Ahab's Aristotelian contemplation of a severed whale's head. Chapter LXIV, the cook's strange sermon to voracious sharks. Chapter XCIV, with its mind-boggling homoeroticism. Chapter CXXXII, with its beautiful comparison of sky and sea. The language becomes quite rich. Here's Ahab at the height of his obsession: " ... supper he never touched; nor reaped his beard; which darkly grew all gnarled, as unearthed roots of trees blown over, which still grow idly on at naked base, though perished in the upper verdure." Readers have called "Moby Dick" difficult, bizarre, and boring. Is it difficult? Yes. Is it bizarre? Actually, it's probably one of the most bizarre books ever written. Is it boring? Only if you're not willing to accept the literary conventions of a hundred and fifty years ago, before there were telephones, radio, movies and television. The long descriptions and digressions are a part of the universe Melville created in "Moby Dick". If you're bored with slasher thrillers and political potboilers, you'll be fascinated by this masterpiece of American fiction.
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Summary: Warning: Heresy alert!
Review: If you can't bear to hear someone say bad things about an alleged classic of American literature, do not read this review. This is, without a doubt, the single most overrated book in the English language. Granted, this doesn't mean that it is completely valueless, but considering its exalted reputation, it's amazingly close. On the plus side, the basic plot is certainly a classic plot; "normal fellow sails with compulsive maniac of a sea captain in hunt for killer denizen of the deep, and is the sole survivor of the experience" is, after all, essentially the plot to "Jaws", as well, so clearly, this novel has had major, long-lasting literary effect. And Melville starts well; the first 3-4 chapters are a delightful bit of lighthearted scene-setting and character development as we meet Ishmael and his new buddy, the harpooner Queequeg. And the penultimate three chapters, "The Chase, days 1, 2, and 3", are exciting enough. And I won't deny that there are some interesting literary devices applied between these bookends; periodically, Melville interrupts his attempt at writing a treatise on whale hunting in the ninteenth century to slip in a bit of character development or plot foreshadowing. But only occasionally; most of this book is only of value if you're interested in knowing all there is to know about the technical aspects of the whaling industry in the ninteenth century; then it's absolutely invaluable. Meanwhile, Melville's style is horribly obtuse, over-wordy, and convoluted, to say nothing of pretentious. As an example, in the chapter, "The Whiteness of the Whale", Melville spends 7 1/2 pages, including a 469 word sentence that takes up just ONE of those pages, saying nothing more complex than that, although white is frequently considered a GOOD color, in the case of Moby Dick, it is a BAD one, because instead of being reminiscent of purity, it is reminiscent of spectrality. Seven and a half PAGES, to say what I, a mere reviewer, can say in 31 words. The whole book is like that; he never uses one word where ten will serve. Mind you, I'm not some high school student forced to read this book for a class, unable to appreciate classic literature. I'm a very well-read 42 year old, who read the book on my own initiative because I felt that I wanted to make my own decision about it. I believe in speaking my mind; if I was any more complimentary about this book than I have been, I would be being intellectually dishonest. Astonishingly, there are those who consider this "The Great American Novel"; if you like pretentious writing and writing that can't keep to its topic but rather keeps wandering off at tangents, I suppose it is. I suppose it IS rather amazing that he was able to keep his syntax unscrambled in the above-mentioned 469 word sentence, but that hardly qualifies it for the title of "The Great American Novel". For my money, that title should go to "Tom Sawyer", but there are certainly any number of good candidates for the spot. This book is NOT one of them.
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Summary: Whales, Life and Stuff
Review: This is adventure interspersed with reflection. Actually, switch that. This is reflection interspersed with action. So if you want an exciting adventure only, read the abridged version. But if you want some interesting reflections on human nature, life, drive, etc, read this version (the real). Thing is, they cost about the same. I got my Moby Dick for just over $3. That's about 50 pages per penny (perhaps I exaggerate). If that's still too pricey, I'm sure your local lending institution can draw up a financing plan for you. That's Melville at just over prime.
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Summary: Moby Dick- A true example of literary genius...
Review: Moby Dick is a literary work that is more than a novel. It is more than a mantra. It is more... To those who are willing to accept Melville's invitation into the world of Captain Ahab and the human struggle, the work operates as a masterpiece of masterpieces. Besides the story being a captivating tale of a madman and the now extinct world of whale hunting, the metaphors that lie deep beneath Melville's ocean and spout from the furious blowhole of Moby Dick himself are poetry to make all men weep and contemplate emotion and existence. To those who are willing and able to take Melville's vogage: after you return, you shall never be the same. The novel's literary and poetic merit place it amongst the best books ever written by mankind. Read it, live it, and enjoy this gift.
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Summary: Moby dick----- boaring or just long
Review: I personally do not like this book because it was so long. it does not have a bad story line. So i suggest that you read the younger version no matter what age you are. The only way you should read the full thing is if you really love to read, have alot of time, and like alot of boaring points. In this book there is a whale and some men. the men espesially one man was after the whale. i will not give away any names. The whale overpowerd the people all except one. the end was not that good eather. i suggest this for older people who do not have much to do. except read a long book.
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