How hard would Moby Dick be for someone who just started reading?

How hard would Moby Dick be for someone who just started reading?
I've only read one book before (the wolf of wall street) and I would like to read Moby Dick next. Is it really wordy? Would I not be able to understand it properly?

its a book kids read in hs, i think, not american...

You will need to look up what some words mean just because people don't really use them anymore, but after 10% of the book you should pick most of it up. Other than that, there are a few references to things you might not know, like the parts of a ship as well as people and events in the bible.

Very hard and "boring" because there are a lot of descriptions of whales and other things marine-related. It's a book worth reading after you acquire much more experience and knowledge on literature. If you read it now, you'll definitely not find it amusing, For while the last pages that narrate the battle between the man and the whale are epic, the ones before those will be pretty boring for someone like you right now.

Go ahead, it's a good entry point into literature as long as English is your first language

It really isn't boring if you have any interest in art and beauty. This was the first book I ever properly enjoyed. Before that, reading was just the boring crap I had to do to for school.

Nothing gay about it.

v hard if i have to be desu

Just curious, how is that you've never read a book? Did you never complete required readings in school?

>Reading Moby Dick in HS
Nah, it'd be short excerpts or a very abridged version at the most.

Yeah, but I meant as in sat down and read a book by myself

Decided to buy this instead. Gonna read Moby Dick after I read as couple more books.

Good luck friend

Don't want to meme you my friend but starting with the Greeks might also be an option. Since you already had the motivation to read a tome, why not read the Iliad? It might be a struggle in the beginning but it'll pay off.

Yeah, I definitely will read the Greeks at some point, I just need to expand my vocabulary a bit more.

Pick up a copy of Hansen and Quinn's Greek; an intensive course

Also pick up a copy of mor. and Fleisher's Latin

Actively learn the grammar of both languages completing the exercises and drills in full.

Follow the start with the Greeks chart and then the Latin chart.

Also read the Septuagint.

Then you'll be worthy and prepared for Moby.

I'm 99% sure you will not get even half way through Mony Dick if you've only read one book before.
You probably imagine it as an epic chase filled with adventure, but they don't even kill their first whale until like half way through.
Most of it is the main character talking about things that he relates to things he is doing, or that he just wants to talk about, all of which relate to some bigger truth or observation.
If you imagine the book as being about hunting the whale Moby Dick, or even about hunting whales in general, then the majority of the book will seem like a tangent.

Go for it senpai. Moby-Dick was one of the first books I seriously read, and it got me hooked on reading.

I only picked up Moby Dick recently, I was not expecting it to be as funny as it was, to be honest.

I read Moby Dick in HS. On the very first year. I'm one of the only two in the class who didn't jump the scientific parts

Maybe read some of the bible and shakespeare beforehand, but I wouldn't say it's hard to understand. You might get bored as a new reader since a good chunk of it is a sort of encyclopedic writing about whales, whale hunting, whales throughout history, etc. I'd say just push through it, it's good to be challenged when you're starting to read seriously and you can always come back to it later.

...

The whole part before the Pequod begins its journey is often hilarious

Weren't the encyclopedic parts supposed to be comedic?

Toplel

'wordy' doesn't even begin to describe Melville's baroque style of writing.

i know what you mean, he'll write an entire sentence that runs for 7-8 lines before arriving at the object.

it probably has a bunch of literary english no one uses in every day english. prepare to use a dictionary

It might take a while.

The pacing, to a newer reader, could be seen as slow. You don't meet Ahab until after 100 pages and you don't hear about Moby Dick really until after 200-300 pages.

The vocabulary might trip you up at times, which is fine because if it gets too jarring then it's a good time to expand and learn what those words mean.

The chapters on whaling methods and whale anatomy might get tedious for you - a lot of people on Veeky Forums are divided on them. Some love it, some hate it. I think they provide an important context to the next narrative-driven chapters while also giving insight into the understanding of whaling at the time of its publication.

There's bound to be some references you'll find esoteric. Some editions of Moby Dick will include notes but you could easily google what they mean if you're struggling to follow it.

I thought it was a joyous and tragic read, but maybe try a few more easily accessible novels first like the Veeky Forums starter kit. I think when you do eventually read Moby Dick though - and if you finish it too - you'll come to accept it's not as mammoth a task as some may suggest. There's actually a lot of fun to be had with the book.

Yeah, and he used probably every word in the English dictionary.

I suggest OP try Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener, which is an excellent short story.

I completely agree with you. I think it's worth it for a newer reader to persevere through it. There's intense beauty and profoundness in the passages pertaining to Ahab's madness that simply gets better as you dissect it yourself.

Plus, the parts before Ishmael actually boards the Piquod are pretty funny.

It's full of references that would certainly be considered obscure to a non-reader. Off the top of my head, there are references to Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Leibniz, Seneca, The Bible and Shakespeare(obviously),Arabian Nights, and general Greek/Roman/Christian history.

There are some references though, that are so obscure that i think even a veteran reader wouldn't get them, like Ahab being a metaphorical roman caryatid,

>Shakespeare(obviously
>Greek

umm what references

Ignoring the obvious prose inspiration: Julius Caesar by Shakespeare when describing an amputated cow's head

Cretan labyrinth when describing Queequeg's tatoos.

I recently got to 40% of Moby Dick and got bored.. I'm relatively new to reading and English isn't my first language.

the descriptions of whales are partly satirical you brainlet