Sign in with Facebook
Robin's Reviews > Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick
by
by
Holy mackerel! I made it! I survived these cold, salty, surprisingly DRY waters. I didn't completely drown (though several times I needed CPR), I didn't perish at sea, tricked by the siren call of "literary masterpiece".
I've avoided the whale for years now, and would have continued to swim around it, to ignore its thick spine shaming me from my bookcase... but I have this friend, this very kind and dignified friend who bought me a copy a few years ago (it being his very favourite book of all time). "Have you read it yet?" he would ask, periodically. And I would hang my head. "NO... but I will! Soon! I promise!" And then I wouldn't. Because... truth be told, I was afraid. Because I'm not interested in blubber or harvesting of blubber, or whaling ships, or, let's be honest, most any book over 400 pages. And this one? 707 pages. 7-0-7.
I don't know what I was expecting, other than blubber and a bunch of dirty sailors. It was a lot more than that, though, and also, at the same time, only that. The beginning was fascinating, unexpected - a gay love story between Ishmael and Queequeg. An intriguing introduction to Ahab, the monomaniacal captain of the Pequod.
And then... (cue lullaby music, followed by a deep, deep coma)... 500 or so pages of encyclopediaic description of EVERYTHING pertaining to whales and whaling and the slaughtering of them, and the nobility of slaughtering them. He speaks lovingly of these leviathans, but he's equally passionate about their destruction. I was absolutely dying of boredom during these parts, and I know that those who love the book say that these parts just serve to make every other part more real and substantiated, and maybe that is true. But I dare say that the huge leeway that Moby-Dick's fans give this endless exposition of fact after fact after fact is given out of some unique, inexplicable soft spot people have for the book. I swear, anyone writing in 2019 who tried this literary torture technique would a) never be published in the first place and b) not receive the heartfelt adoration that Dick-lovers everywhere seem to have.
And I understand that this was written in 1851, and people's reading needs and tastes have changed. Folks in 1851 didn't have Wikipedia, and couldn't look up all about the whale's spout, tail, etc. Couldn't look up an in-depth description of how to behead a creature who doesn't have a neck. This was a great exercise in observing how our needs as readers have evolved... and HOW.
Highly sexualized language throughout (the name of the whale - a SPERM whale, at that, is just the beginning - there was, and I kid you not, a scene in which Ishmael says Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze that sperm, all the morning long.) brought back some life after what felt like years of reading a scientific textbook. Then, the magnificent ending - Biblical, Shakespearean, action scenes of the highest calibre. So what if the characterization is almost non existent? So what if Queequeg sort of disappears after sharing Ishmael's bed for the first 100 pages? I was IN, my heart was pounding, I felt the love, I was carried away by the grandness, awash....
And damn it, SO GLAD IT'S OVER.
I've avoided the whale for years now, and would have continued to swim around it, to ignore its thick spine shaming me from my bookcase... but I have this friend, this very kind and dignified friend who bought me a copy a few years ago (it being his very favourite book of all time). "Have you read it yet?" he would ask, periodically. And I would hang my head. "NO... but I will! Soon! I promise!" And then I wouldn't. Because... truth be told, I was afraid. Because I'm not interested in blubber or harvesting of blubber, or whaling ships, or, let's be honest, most any book over 400 pages. And this one? 707 pages. 7-0-7.
I don't know what I was expecting, other than blubber and a bunch of dirty sailors. It was a lot more than that, though, and also, at the same time, only that. The beginning was fascinating, unexpected - a gay love story between Ishmael and Queequeg. An intriguing introduction to Ahab, the monomaniacal captain of the Pequod.
And then... (cue lullaby music, followed by a deep, deep coma)... 500 or so pages of encyclopediaic description of EVERYTHING pertaining to whales and whaling and the slaughtering of them, and the nobility of slaughtering them. He speaks lovingly of these leviathans, but he's equally passionate about their destruction. I was absolutely dying of boredom during these parts, and I know that those who love the book say that these parts just serve to make every other part more real and substantiated, and maybe that is true. But I dare say that the huge leeway that Moby-Dick's fans give this endless exposition of fact after fact after fact is given out of some unique, inexplicable soft spot people have for the book. I swear, anyone writing in 2019 who tried this literary torture technique would a) never be published in the first place and b) not receive the heartfelt adoration that Dick-lovers everywhere seem to have.
And I understand that this was written in 1851, and people's reading needs and tastes have changed. Folks in 1851 didn't have Wikipedia, and couldn't look up all about the whale's spout, tail, etc. Couldn't look up an in-depth description of how to behead a creature who doesn't have a neck. This was a great exercise in observing how our needs as readers have evolved... and HOW.
Highly sexualized language throughout (the name of the whale - a SPERM whale, at that, is just the beginning - there was, and I kid you not, a scene in which Ishmael says Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze that sperm, all the morning long.) brought back some life after what felt like years of reading a scientific textbook. Then, the magnificent ending - Biblical, Shakespearean, action scenes of the highest calibre. So what if the characterization is almost non existent? So what if Queequeg sort of disappears after sharing Ishmael's bed for the first 100 pages? I was IN, my heart was pounding, I felt the love, I was carried away by the grandness, awash....
And damn it, SO GLAD IT'S OVER.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Moby-Dick.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
October 20, 2018
– Shelved
October 31, 2019
–
Started Reading
November 3, 2019
–
10.0%
November 3, 2019
–
10.0%
"Is it just me or is this jammed full of homoerotic insinuations? Now Ishmael is debating whether he as a good Presbyterian Christian, he should “worship the savage’s piece of wood”."
November 4, 2019
–
15.0%
November 6, 2019
–
20.0%
November 10, 2019
–
25.0%
"More about whales than I could ever hope to want to know. Is this a novel or an encyclopedia??"
November 13, 2019
–
35.0%
November 17, 2019
–
45.0%
November 23, 2019
–
50.0%
November 23, 2019
–
55.0%
"I am currently reading a chapter titled: "The Crotch".
Evidently, I am not mature enough to read this book."
Evidently, I am not mature enough to read this book."
November 24, 2019
–
75.0%
""Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze that sperm, all the morning long."
MAKE THIS STOP."
MAKE THIS STOP."
November 29, 2019
–
Finished Reading
August 4, 2022
–
25.0%
"More about whales than I could ever hope to want to know. Is this a novel or an encyclopedia??"
Comments Showing 1-50 of 134 (134 new)
I have this book for about 5 year - still unread. It seems I'm joining Julie's club.
I’ve twice— no can do... but a hearty congrats for surviving this classic tome!!
Congratulations on finishing! I have tried twice (both times for school assignment) and never made it past page 60. But as with you, a few people I hold in high esteem love this, so I am determined to read the whole thing... someday. Your review will make me feel more prepared, so thank you!
Robin, when ever you are ready to go back to sea, try Melville's Typee: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
Julie wrote: "When I read it in college, I contemplated taking my own life, rather than finish it. I didn't finish it; I purchased the Cliff Notes. I've always hoped I would have enough love of Dick to finish it, but you have officially read it for both of us and I'm letting the guilt go."Your description of reading Moby-Dick matches how I felt reading The Illiad in university, Julie!
I only finished it out of respect for my friend, who deserved a book-report from me based on all 707 pages... that, and my stubbornness. I just can't stand the idea of letting a book "beat" me. (I might have to surrender that whole idea with Salman Rushdie though.)
It was generally Melville and Hawthorne who were responsible for all of my suffering in college. Beowulf was a walk in the park, compared to the novels of either man, for me.
Julie wrote: "It was generally Melville and Hawthorne who were responsible for all of my suffering in college. Beowulf was a walk in the park, compared to the novels of either man, for me."Funny thing - cuz Melville was in love with Hawthorne while writing Dick, and dedicated the book to him. Damn that Melville! And damn Hawthorne!
PS I just read John's review. Lovely, thoughtful, intelligent.
Tatevik wrote: "I have this book for about 5 year - still unread. It seems I'm joining Julie's club."Tatevik, believe me, I understand why you've left it on the shelf.
That being said, I rarely regret reading a book, and I definitely do not regret reading this one. There is a magnificence in these pages.
They were perfect for one another!Yes, what I love about John's review is his perspective as a sailor. There's the love of the sea voyage about that man.
I never cared for Hawthorne - I agree on that completely. Seamus Haney's Beowulf, on the other hand, I liked quite a bit.....
Wow! What a review! Excellent!
Heidi wrote: "I’ve twice— no can do... but a hearty congrats for surviving this classic tome!!"Heidi, I understand your no-can-do sentiment, and I thank you for the congrats! I feel a major sense of accomplishment!
I read it in grad school, in a class with a wonderful professor who'd made it his life's work. I enjoyed the class, but as a reader, I think if it were a 300-400 page book it would have been something people genuinely enjoy reading, versus something they slog through and never touch again. Academics love pouring over stuff real readers want and need cut away.
Julie, thanks for pointing that out (my perspective as a sailor). When one has been out in bad weather on the ocean out of sight of land, Melville's description of the sea and being upon it in a boat take on new meaning. Love and fear intertwined.
Oh Robin! I'm so sorry you didn't like it! I read it maybe 20 years ago and remember loving it. (Although of course I am not in favor of whales being killed!!!) Well, we can't all love the same things!
Reminds many of us of our voyages through this book. Thanks!
John,I feel like it's important for me to point out here that love and fear are always intertwined. You've probably returned from several trips at sea thinking you'll never do it again, and then you do it again, right?
Julie wrote: "Diane: I love you!"Julie, I hope that doesn't mean you don't love me!
Ann: I do love you, and for the record. . . I don't love Diane because she hates Moby Dick, I love her because she's so damn honest!People have actually unfriended me, here and there, through the years, for disliking a book that they love, and that behavior drives me batty. They're just opinions, they're just books. . . why throw away a friend because they don't love your favorite novel? I love honest people, and you're one of them.
In fact, for every person who responded on here so far that they love this classic. . . I was thinking. . . good for you, I wish I did, too!
Robin, this kind of books should be left to read by your own decision. I am waiting for a voluntary action of my brain 🙃 I always admired Dahl's Mathilda for reading this book. And I admire you!
I've been eagerly anticipating this marvelous review, Robin! I had to read this in high school and hated it with a passion. I was determined to change my mind years later. Well, I didn't end up actually hating it second time around, but I would not repeat the experience in this lifetime or the next ;D. There were pieces of this I admired, however - that ending, in particular!
I totally understand why you were all-at-sea with this ponderous classic, Robin, but at least you didn't abandon ship! : )When I read it, aeons ago, I had a love/hate relationship with this leviathan of a book, but nevertheless became immersed in mad Ahab's suicidal battle with an almost-mythical whale that seemed to delight in mocking him. I got through it by skipping a lot of the extraneous stuff (ditto War and Peace and Les Misèrables), otherwise it would've been a case of "thar he blows".
An excellent, cogent review, Robin!
My good frind headed the Arrowhead board of directors in Pittsfield, Mass., and said, "MD needs a good editor." Yes, cut the encyclopedia of whales ch. Melville wrote the book mostly at Arrowhead, next to his in-laws' house now the Pittsfield Country Club. I've also taught a course in Maelville's sister's house in New Bedford, when it was an art school library: my course, the Artist as Writer, including Whistler's Gentle Art of Making Enemies.
Julie wrote: "Congratulations on finishing! I have tried twice (both times for school assignment) and never made it past page 60. But as with you, a few people I hold in high esteem love this, so I am determined to read the whole thing... someday. Your review will make me feel more prepared, so thank you!"Thank you, Julie! I don't think I'd have forced myself to the end if I hadn't been gifted the book by a respected friend. Glad I did, though, even if it feels like it aged me by at least a year. I definitely am not one of the people who can say they love this book. But it's like a rite of passage for us lit-lovers, and I can't wait to discuss it one day, when you're at the other side. :D
Pippin wrote: "Robin, when ever you are ready to go back to sea, try Melville's Typee: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5..."
Thanks, Pippin - I'd actually never heard of this book (I'm woefully ignorant of Melville's other books). Looks interesting. I like that it's relatively shorter. Tell me, does he do lectures worthy of an encyclopedia here, too?
Kudos to you for getting through it!
Julie wrote: "It was generally Melville and Hawthorne who were responsible for all of my suffering in college. Beowulf was a walk in the park, compared to the novels of either man, for me."BTW Julie, it sorta kinda pains me to admit this, but I haven't read Hawthorne. It feel like I should have by now. Is The Scarlet Letter a truly painful reading experience?
Numidica wrote: "I never cared for Hawthorne - I agree on that completely. Seamus Haney's Beowulf, on the other hand, I liked quite a bit....."Hmmm, both you and Julie give Hawthorne a thumbs down. It's not looking promising....
Jay wrote: "Wow! What a review! Excellent!"Hey, thank you, Jay! I enjoyed yours too. Beware the white whale... indeed!
Congratulations, Robin! I read it too for the first (and last) time this year. I share your pain and joy. I too am glad that it's over. Although I'm really glad I finally read it. Loved your review.
I have to agree. The lengthy descriptions and details bored me as well.
Julie wrote: "Ann: I do love you, and for the record. . . I don't love Diane because she hates Moby Dick, I love her because she's so damn honest!People have actually unfriended me, here and there, through the ..."
Aw, thanks Julie! I love you too!
Mary wrote: "I read it in grad school, in a class with a wonderful professor who'd made it his life's work. I enjoyed the class, but as a reader, I think if it were a 300-400 page book it would have been something people genuinely enjoy reading, versus something they slog through and never touch again. Academics love pouring over stuff real readers want and need cut away."Totally agree, Mary. If it were half the size it would be the best, most thrilling, epic sea adventure ever written, instead of a test in endurance, or an academic's playground. Thanks for your great comment!
Fede wrote: ""Dick-lovers"? 🤣"It had to be said. :D
Numidica wrote: "Julie, thanks for pointing that out (my perspective as a sailor). When one has been out in bad weather on the ocean out of sight of land, Melville's description of the sea and being upon it in a boat take on new meaning. Love and fear intertwined."I have no doubt that your nautical know-how added to the pleasure in reading this book, John. And you are right, there were many beautiful descriptions.
Ann wrote: "Oh Robin! I'm so sorry you didn't like it! I read it maybe 20 years ago and remember loving it. (Although of course I am not in favor of whales being killed!!!) Well, we can't all love the same things!"Ann, you're right, we can't all love the same books (even though the books we love, we want our friends to love too, and it pains us if they don't). I wish I did love this more. There are things here that I DID love, though. I can see there is much to admire.
Ha ha. Well done, well done. I shall add Moby Dick to the list of books I shall probably always be a little intimidated by and never read along with Ulysses and Midnight's Children
Robin wrote: "Ann wrote: "Oh Robin! I'm so sorry you didn't like it! I read it maybe 20 years ago and remember loving it. (Although of course I am not in favor of whales being killed!!!) Well, we can't all love ..."Yes, there's just that little bit of pain when our friends don't love what we love, but I try to get over it quickly!
By the way, I started watching this documentary called "College Behind Bars", about the Bard College prison program in New York state. It starts out with a literature class in which they're reading Moby Dick. There is a great montage of various students reading the first paragraph out loud. (I haven't finished watching because it's 4 hours long and I got distracted, but I intend to finish.)
Diane wrote: "I hated this book."I get it, Diane. I really, really do.
And like Julie said in the comments, I love your honesty. There's a pressure to "appreciate" certain books, and to look past the things we struggle with. There's a fear that some might say, "you just don't get it". To that I would say, "oh, I got it, I just didn't like it".
Ken wrote: "Reminds many of us of our voyages through this book. Thanks!"My pleasure, Ken. At least, the writing of this review was a pleasure. The reading was a rocky experience....
Julie, yes, you are right, of course. I once did a 20 hour off shore run to Charleston, followed the next day by an 18 hour off shore run to Hilton Head (during the latter part of which I started to hallucinate from lack of sleep), and I had decided by the time I docked the boat at Hilton Head that I hated sailing and I would sell the boat and take up knitting (or something). But here I am with two more Gulf Stream crossings under my belt since then, planning a trip south through the Bahamas and Turks-Caicos across the Antilles Current to the Dominican Republic. Not sure what's wrong with me. Death wish, maybe? Wait, that's why I get Ahab!
Love your review! I think this book should be banned from high school and college. I mean it. It misrepresents literature. Interesting point you make about it likely not cutting it in today’s market. In my teens, I read maybe 200 pages of it and it seriously made me hate reading! I ended up a Psych major! When I attended great lit
courses later in college, it opened a whole new world. Loved reading again, and loved writing papers. A teacher was passing me in the stairwell one day and begged me to switch to English as my major, and I was so flattered, I did! Ah, so happy I did!!
I love how you don't apologize for not loving something, Robin. It's not our responsibility to bend ourselves into a Twister position to appreciate something. I also think a novel changes for each generation and those who fell in love with a book in the 1950s should not expect a reader of today to. (I still hold a grudge for having to read The Canterbury Tales in high school).As a treat for finishing this whale, here's Harrison Ford in the 1970s making a drink with a lemon twist. Don't let Julie steal this.
I'm sorry, Robin, that I am here (yet again) with another comment on your review, but Joe just baited me with lady porn. Joe!
Robin wrote: "Pippin wrote: "Robin, when ever you are ready to go back to sea, try Melville's Typee: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5..."
Thanks, Pippin - I'd actually never heard of this book (I'..."
Robin wrote: "Pippin wrote: "Robin, when ever you are ready to go back to sea, try Melville's Typee:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5..."
Thanks, Pippin - I'd actually never heard of this book (I'..."
Typee was so popular that Moby Dick bombed because people expected it to be another adventure story like Typee. It wasn't until later that critics began to reassess MD and came to consider it a classic.
As I recall, it is fiction but based on experiences Melville had in Polynesia.
(If you haven't read John's review of this yet, I recommend it).