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Title: Moby-Dick by HERMAN MELVILLE ISBN: 0-553-21311-3 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 February, 1981 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.98 (243 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Rich, Difficult, Complicated, and Rewarding
Comment: The Story: The title refers to the name given to an enormous albino sperm whale who is being hunted by Captain Ahab, the ruthless, single-minded, driven master of a whaling ship. Ahab hunts Moby Dick because, in a previous hunt, Moby Dick amputated Ahab's leg in a failed attempt by Ahab to catch the white whale. The story is told in retrospect by a crewman, Ishmael, of the ship, who was a young, somewhat naive man at the time.
This is not a novel for everyone; it takes a patient and persistent reader to tackle the rich but complicated writing style of Melville, as well as the author's penchant for going off on detailed, descriptive tangents. However, the writing style almost becomes poetic at times, and symbolism and metaphor abound. The closest thing to Melville's style I've found amongst contemporary writers is Gene Wolfe ("The Book of the New Sun", "The Book of the Short Sun", "The Book of the Long Sun"). Wolfe also borrowed from Melville the device of telling the story from the viewpoint of young, naive observers, who report what they see with little bias or editorializing, which leaves the reader to interpret the story on his/her own.
To me, this story is a detailed and adventurous tale of obsession verging on insanity. Ahab is so focused on catching and killing Moby Dick that he loses sight of his own welfare and the welfare of his men. He never questions his own motives; he is out after revenge for losing his leg, as well as out to redress the insult of a simple beast not accepting the dominion of Man. Moby Dick's defiance of Mankind's superiority and sovereignty is seen as an outrage, a matter of honor for Captain Ahab to resolve. But, why did Moby Dick bite off Ahab's leg in the first place? Ahab sees it as an act of war by the whale, a refusal to bow down to the Master of the Earth (Mankind). Might it not just as easily be an animal naturally defending itself against a predator (Mankind) invading his (Moby Dick's) domain?
Jay Nussbaum wrote a book called "Blue Road to Atlantis" which is a gem of a story that retells Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" from the fish's point of view. Mr. Nussbaum could make quite a story out of Moby Dick's point of view of this puny maniac who keeps harassing him and trying to kill him.
Rating: 4
Summary: The Problem of America
Comment: We should dispense with the Great American Novel business that usually clouds the real issue about the literary value of this book, along with others like Twain's "Huckleberry Finn". Moby Dick is a difficult book: difficul because, like America, it tries to make sense of many things all at once. We're confronted by Ishmael, the philosopher struck by wanderlust; Queequeg,the highly-civilized savage; Ahab, the American Faustus; Starbuck, the moralist who is torn by a temptation to blow Ahab's brains out with a musket and the desire to turn him away from his revenge plot; and finally, the silent yet pervasive character after whom the book is named, the White Whale himself, who seems to be some sort of deity whose motivations are unfathomable, like the depths he inhabits. It is next to impossible to find a satisfactory treatment of all these characters at once. Keep in mind that these are just the main characters; we haven't even started talking about the others yet. Where should we start judging a book? By what standards? It would take a lifetime to figure out all the hidden real-life implications within the book. It is vanity to think we have exhausted all the avenues of criticism that this book has to offer
Rating: 5
Summary: Everyone Should Read This One
Comment: This book represents a microcosm of society, artfully done by
Melville. He takes time to develop the characters, wonderful.
Jeffrey McAndrew
author of "Our Brown Eyed Boy"
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Title: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne ISBN: 0553210092 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 April, 1965 List Price(USD): $3.95 |
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Title: Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, Leo Damrosch ISBN: 0451527321 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: Moby-Dick (Cliffs Notes) by Stanley P. Baldwin ISBN: 0764586645 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 06 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Frederick Busch ISBN: 0451526562 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: August, 1997 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald ISBN: 0684801523 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 01 June, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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