Moby Dick
Herman Melville's masterpiece Moby-Dick was published in 1851 to little critical acclaim. It is the story of the wandering sailor Ishmael's voyage on the whaling ship Pequod, which is commanded by Captain Ahab. The Captain is inexorably obsessed with the Great White Whale who destroyed his boat and took his leg. This is what the book is ostensibly about, and with its long descriptions of whales, whaling, stringing one's harpoon, and a muddled plot, it has confounded readers since its publication.
Some argue that this book shouldn't be assigned in high school and they're probably right: it's long, filled with subplots and allegories; the language is dense and clumsy in places, and it reads like the epic dialogue from Paradise Lost. It is biblical in its depth and scope - it contains poetry, philosophy, comedy and tragedy, and the struggle it portrays is for nothing less than the soul itself. Moby Dick was more or less forgotten until the 1920s, and Melville published little after its failure. After working as a customs inspector in New York City, he died in 1891 almost totally unknown. It is almost as if the world, like the high school kids who now read it, needed to mature somewhat to appreciate Moby Dick.
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Gabe Sullivan
May 02, 2013
He is a dick
Irene Shaverdian
April 18, 2013
Love this book .!
Olin Britt
April 08, 2013
Chicken
Natalya Tchakovsky
March 26, 2013
It is filled with adventure
Baby Jesus
March 15, 2013
This book BLOWS!¡!¡!¡
Onion Greg
March 14, 2013
Penis is kool
Lily Figueroa
March 09, 2013
Ok
Shelly Magnotti
February 28, 2013
It is amasing awsome righting i have not finished it yet it might take a wiol consitoring I am only 11
John Thurston
February 26, 2013
I guess it was good😶
Merlin Ellis
February 15, 2013
It was a long read, but I finished. Chapter list would be nice.
Deb Rentmeester
January 23, 2013
Best book ever.
Ivan Villela
January 17, 2013
Well it was oky but i finshed it
Cheryl Whitmore
November 12, 2012
Just starting it!
Trent Seubert
November 05, 2012
It's the best book yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jake Mroczenski
November 05, 2012
It is a good book
Lewis Cox
October 27, 2012
I have not re-read it since High-School;but, I am enjoying it throughly. Amitedly, it is a tough "read".
Lan Khuu
August 29, 2012
I love it
Keana Blakeney
August 23, 2012
Loved this book in the beginning, then it got annoying. Too long, pages full of things referring to whaling and ships which I don't care about.
Evelyn Claffy
August 20, 2012
Although i completed several assignments in various classes about this book, i never really read the entire work. What a wonderful piece of writing. Even the meanderings were great reads. Well worth the time. Sad that Melville did not ever know he had written a classic!
Син Макинтир
July 17, 2012
Never before has anyone so intricately woven the Sea into meaning with everything else in life. In spite of its daunting length, Moby Dick is sure to draw in anyone with a particular interest in Ye Olde Classics. 4/5 - amazing, but not quite perfect~
Matthew Matheson
July 08, 2012
Love it
Donna Han
July 02, 2012
I was forced to read this classic. I like a few classic books but, this one was too long
Savannah Cantatore
June 28, 2012
I loved the movie
Tom Wolfson
June 28, 2012
So great to read this great, if not greatest, American novel at night in the dark with white letters against the black background, holed up with Ishmael and Queequeg, bounding out to sea. Melville's language is amazing and his sense of humor makes me lol. This book is one of the greatest adventure tales ever written!
John Noon
June 18, 2012
Good book but I was very upset by a certain plot direction that greatly disappointed me.
Jennifer Molina
May 16, 2012
Wonderful book great app
Andrea Hunter
May 09, 2012
I've seen filmed version of the book and, and now I'm reading the book to find out what was left out of the film.
Aftan Bhai
April 03, 2012
To long
ariel Osmond
March 22, 2012
Mellvill's use of language is wonderful. I reveled in sounding out the more quaint expressions, and marveled at his use of descriptions. No one writes this way anymore and be that considered good or bad, to me it is sad.
Allison Miller
March 12, 2012
Bad book too long
brendi la chula Dedos
January 27, 2012
Good
Patricia Madrzyk
December 20, 2011
I mean i guess it was a good book eventhough, it is so long.
Isadora Mousata
December 12, 2011
This book was an English Lit assignment and I did not look forward to reading it; however, I grew more fond of it with each chapter. Some chapters move slowly, for they pertain to facts about whales and indeed your general of whales will certainly increase. Those chapters add to the engrossing nature of the topic, so the narrator is a sane version of Captain Ahab. I shall never regret the time spent reading this novel, and I gladly give it a five-star rating.
Jacob Cipriano
August 20, 2011
In giving this a five star review, I don't necessarily mean to say I absolutely loved reading this book. In fact, I really hated reading it. The passages are slow, some chapters go in extreme detail that involves nothing in the plot. If someone took out everything besides the plot in this book, the novel would be 200 pages instead of 600. The white whale appears in only the last three chapters! Besides all of this, the novel has such an extraordinary plot, it compensates for the parts that make you rather run a cheese grater on your brain. Moby-Dick and I have a love/hate relationship. I had the greatest feeling after reading this monster, it was worth the pain. There is so much to learn in this novel, about whales, hunting whales, ships, and even values of life. This book even has times when there is such great action, stopping reading is impossible. Whale chases are fantastic and exciting. The greatest pieces of action, though, are most certainly the last three chapters, when Moby Dick appears. I truly want everyone to read this in their life, not just so they can say "What now, punks! I read Moby Dick!", but because so much can be learned, discovered and cherished from this great novel.