Classic Review: Moby Dick, or The Whale by Herman Melville

Moby Dick, or The Whale
by Herman Melville

Description:
"It is the horrible texture of a fabric that should be woven of ships' cables and hawsers. A Polar wind blows through it, and birds of prey hover over it."

So Melville wrote of his masterpiece, one of the greatest works of imagination in literary history. In part, Moby-Dick is the story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast and dangerous and unknowable as the sea itself. But more than just a novel of adventure, more than an encyclopaedia of whaling lore and legend, the book can be seen as part of its author's lifelong meditation on America. Written with wonderfully redemptive humour, Moby-Dick is also a profound inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception.


My Review:
Finally made it through with audio! I tried a few times before, but didn't get very far.

Very good book, and informative. The ending was fantastic. I don't know how I've managed to avoid spoilers for this, but it was quite an exciting finale.

There are its slow points, though. When Herman Melville says he's going to catalog all of the whales, he's going to catalog all of the whales. Still, there were some very interesting asides, and many, though about whales on the surface, have a rather deeper and profound message.

I can totally see why it has been described as an important book.

Anyhow, I really liked this as an audiobook. Recommended for fans of the classics, of whales, and of sea stories. Vast in its scope.

Borrowed this from the library. Took a little over two weeks to get through.


About the Author:

The writing career of Herman Melville (1819 - 1891) peaked early, with his early novels, such as Typee becoming best sellers. By the mid-1850s his poularity declined sharply, and by the time he died he had been largely forgotten. Yet in time his novel Moby Dick came to be regarded as one of the finest works of American, and indeed world, literature, as was Billy Budd, which was not published until long after his death, in 1924.