Is this book actually difficult to tackle or is it blown way out or proportion? I've been thinking about getting it but I don't want it to be something I never really pick up and enjoy.
Lots of the grief I hear about it comes from the encyclopedic chapters about whaling, as well as the length.
Other urls found in this thread:
>Lots of the grief I hear about it comes from the encyclopedic chapters about whaling
That isn't even the driest part 2bh
Americans think it's terrible difficult but that's just due to their low standards.
It's somewhat dry in some parts, nothing more.
Start reading and find out. Personally I think it's both amazing and very fun.
There's a lot of antiquated language (obviously, considering when it was written), but if you can get past that it's engrossing and riveting.
I had only read the abridged version in High School (I know that's shit), but I'm going back through it finally and I like it. The whaling is just a bonus.
Read it for the first time in the 6th grade. Still one of my favorites. Commentary and criticism can help you pull things together if you lose the thread during a dry section.
>somewhat dry
Adhd eurotard detected
That's what I love about the book. You get blacks of really detailed prose about all sorts of interesting factual stuff, then you get blocks of prose that's more symbolic and philosophical, and then you get blocks of dialogue. I really like how these different trains of thought happen torrentially and switch gears in a meaningful way that makes the reading feel exciting and dynamic. Makes me feel curious.
I don't think it's terribly difficult (Pierre is easily Melville's most difficult work) but it is quite long
>pic related
It's long, has needlessly opaque prose, and beats around the bush too much in regards to its obvious themes.
This was the very first meme novel.
...
I feel the same way senpai
I didn't really get this feel from the book desu
>nobody on an autistic literature forum could read a novel written in plain English when they were 12
I never found any part of it dry, I like it when people explain things they understand in high detail. I appreciate the feeling that drove him to write a tome about the ins and outs of whale anatomy. He really just wanted to help.
It has nothing to do with the book, it's some edgy metal song
It just has a lot of side shit some of which you may find interesting and some of which you may want to skip over. It's not difficult by any means it's just that the side plots may be hit or miss.
It's just a reference to the band Mastodon that made an album loosely based on Moby Dick.
It's frustratingly digressive at times but it's great and pretty interesting throughout.
I had a ton of those books. I ended up reading all the original versions when I was a little older. My kids are gonna inherit them
DICK LOOOOL, Why did the author named his book moby (kinda sick?) DICK loool sick penis. Is it about nautical penises?
are you serious? why the fuck am supposed to read it if it's about human cocks? are you folks out of your wits?
writing about morbid cocks, what a shame
>live around New Bedford
>never read Moby Dick
I feel like I'm missing out on some grand part of my local heritage.
Whatever you do, don't get that penguin deluxe version.
>muh heritage
TELL ME GUYS WHY ON THE EARTH WOULD SOMEBODY WRITE A BOOK ABOUT SICK COCK?
t. someone with embarrassing heritage
AND STILL WHY THE BOOK WAS NAMED SO?
Sucks about living in New Bedford, man. Keep your head up. One day you'll move to Taunton and get stabbed.
So why did the author name his book as in other words sick-penis? Are Americans weird?
>Mocha Dick was a notorious male sperm whale that lived in the Pacific Ocean in the early 19th century, usually encountered in the waters near the island of Mocha, off southern Chile. American explorer and author Jeremiah N. Reynolds published his account, "Mocha Dick: Or The White Whale of the Pacific: A Leaf from a Manuscript Journal" in 1839 in The Knickerbocker. Mocha Dick was an albino and partially inspired Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick.
>a notorious male sperm whale
the fuck is that? could someone explain it to me?
>One day you'll move to Taunton and get stabbed.
I lol'd. I ate at that mall yesterday, believe it or not. Everything's back to normal, so as long as I don't fall on any fentanyl-filled needles, I think I'll be fine.
Only relatively helpful posts in this thread. Did anyone here actually read criticism and analyses, or just me?
Good book, draws you in, but the chewier parts on obsure cetological facts may put you off. Keep going, it's worth it.
A whale that gained fame among sailors for its appearance and behavior.
>Mocha Dick was most likely first encountered and attacked sometime before 1810 off Mocha Island.[2]:377 His survival of the first encounters coupled with his unusual appearance quickly made him famous among Nantucket whalers. Many captains attempted to hunt him after rounding Cape Horn. He was quite docile, sometimes swimming alongside the ship, but once attacked he retaliated with ferocity and cunning, and was widely feared by harpooners. When agitated he would sound and then breach so aggressively that his entire body would sometimes come completely out of the water.[3]:66
just get it and try it. It cost me a dollar at a used book place.
Just a long book. It's pretty funny though. Lots of good puns.
You're gonna have to pick it up regardless, OP. Give it a try.
I'm currently reading it for the first time. It's been quite a struggle to get through some chapters, but things are starting to click.
Love that cover
I have some semi-decent Wordsworth one
>antiquated language
it was written in the modern era of english, it's not even early modern english. What kind of antiquated language could there be other than slang? Not trying to condescend just legitimately curious.
Keep in mind the enclyclopedic parts are sort of a parody. Ishmael doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about and his bullshit and hero worship of whaling can be pretty funny.
The encyclopedic chapters completely abandon Ishmael's narration.
the entire novel is worth it for the try works and the sperm squishing chapter.
from the try-works:
But that darkness was licked up by the fierce flames, which at intervals forked forth from the sooty flues, and illuminated every lofty rope in the rigging, as with the famed Greek fire. The burning ship drove on, as if remorselessly commissioned to some vengeful deed. So the pitch and sulphur-freighted brigs of the bold Hydriote, Canaris, issuing from their midnight harbors, with broad sheets of flame for sails, bore down upon the Turkish frigates, and folded them in conflagrations.
Am I the only one who skipped the taxonomy chapter entirely because I was afraid to eventually spill out outdated scientific information?
nah, i just read it and looked up the actual facts simultaneously. it was somewhat enlightening. did you know whales are fish?
No it doesn't. Melville was just a really smart dude and he has an expansive vocabulary, but there isn't much antiquated about it
Maybe I'm just the right sort of person, but I fucking love how after the first few chapters the book sort of goes off the map. The first few chapters set the 'plot' and the last few chapters finish it, but in between the book basically wanders through life and death and thought and being and time. It's a really wonderful book to take your time reading, to read over a month or more, because each chapter seems to have new ideas and explore new concepts. The book feels like a journey through life itself with all its happenings and occurrences.
I never got through it all but then again I tried to read it when I was 12 and only because I wanted to look smarter than other kids and not actually cause I was interested in it