I'm scared to read this book

Read it. It's worth the acclaim. The long descriptions of whaling is pretty early on and an incredibly accurate and fascinating look at the industry in that time.

The encyclopedia parts are essential. They will fill you with awe and wonder about the whale. This is essential for you to gradually understand that Ahab's quest for revenge is foolish.

This is next in my stack, OP. I'm halfway through my current book, but I'll be starting Moby Dick in the next few days. I'm pretty excited. Just do it, breh.

nah just read, the encyclopedia parts are actually very interesting. honestly thats what sorta drew me to it because i was interested in what whaling was like. its a great book and it has this reputation for being very boring but its not, unless all you read is YA

I loved the whale information, ignore the brainlets not coping with it

> The long descriptions of whaling
>incredibly accurate
Yea, except for when you tells blatant lies like in the cetology chapter.

>Whales aren't fish
Sounds like you haven't read it.

Just prime yourself to read it
Read some general analyses before hand and more in depth as you go
There's a lot of interesting things you might not pick up on

Read it, its actually really funny.

>Didn't read my post
>Responded to it anyway
Melville tells you thinks that not only are not true he expects you to know they are not true. He is poking at human understanding and it's limits in regards to knowing the universe.

>He is poking at human understanding and it's limits in regards to knowing the universe.
Well how am I supposed to call you an idiot now?

moby dick threads should be banned, it should be illegal to besmirch Melville like this

Maybe this board shouldn't even exist.

Are Moby Dick's cetology chapters the most quintessential pleb filter of all time?

Whenever there's a Moby Dick thread it's always of the highest quality for the simple reason that plebby pseuds can't get their grubby hands around it. Other works like Ulysses and Blood Meridian are ruined because even the basest pleb can try and read it but be put off by the elevated prose -- not enough that they are truly confronted with their lack of intelligence like Moby "hey little dick.. stop trying, shut the book" Dick -- but just enough that they can pretend they gave up because they're above it all.

but with Moby "fuck off pseuds" Dick, they just go away. they are left with nothing and vanish into their suburban crevice once more.

Maybe you dont exist ??????

The only boring part was reading about paintings, knowing full well you can just Google that shit.

The best way to read the encyclopedia parts is to understand that the narrator, Ishmael, is a lowly mariner on a ship that only hunts whales. When Ishmael isn't on watch, he's either sleeping or thinking about whales. Its pretty accurate to what sailors would do on long underway interspersed with momentary excitement, so a hint of realism lies in everything he says.

Those encyclopedic parts are a naturally extension of Melville, and fit so perfectly within the frame of the story. Ishmael obsession with everything whaling mirrors A hand thirst for revenge, there for it is through Ishmael that we can see the limits one pushes one's self in pursuit of an obsession, while Ahab can represent the pitfalls of that selfsame jihad.

It really is an important part of the story. When reading the chapters, imagine Ishmael sitting in the belly of the Pequod, journal in hand cozied up in his hammock as the ship sways with the oceans current beneath the keel, with momentary breaks to view out into that vast nothingness that is the sea.

t. Former US Navy Sailor

JUST READ THE FUCKING BOOK

The lessons on cetacean biology are fantastic.

Moby Dick is comfy as fuck, I'm going to have to read it again soon, fuck the back log.

For me, it was as good as Harold Bloom said it would be.

go to your library, find a copy and read the first chapter

see if it wants to make you carry on

The 1st three chapters are actually funny. There is some inadvertant gay shit that goes down between Ishmael and Queeqeg. Then the encyclopedia stuff. Ugh. The blacksmith's chapter is touching. The climax was so muddled and abrupt I could barely grasp it.

>muddled and abrupt

Ahab finally confronts Moby-Dick. The whale is too vast, too powerful, and too clever for him. It destroys him, and destroys the entirety of the Pequod and its crew except for Ishmael. Revenge is fruitless, the universe is ultimately beyond human fathoming.

I don't see how any of it was unclear.

Fucking bingo

The plot is not the book. When there's the least "going on" there's the most actually going on.

Just read it, buddy. There are some dry anatomical chapters about whales and how they were hunted but they provide context for the next narrative-driven chapter. Plus, they're written beautifully. The book is a gargantuan treat.

Whoever told you that is a fucking pleb and you shouldn't take their opinion seriously.

"Of Whales in Paint, etc." is one of the best chapters.

"A soul's a kind of fifth wheel to a wagon"
I like the book

The only people who read this book are provincial and nautical retards. Urbanites all read Hawthorne. Fuck Ishmael and FUCK whalers.