Luffy Sempai's Reviews > Moby-Dick or, The Whale
Moby-Dick or, The Whale
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Is there a polite version of saying 'I hope you're roasting in hell since you died Herman Melville!'? If there's not, there should be...Screw you, Melville.
Once on Imdb (books section), I saw some yahoo saying to a naysayer of Moby Dick "It's your loss". The naysayer replied sarcastically. "My loss? On no. What will my boss and my wife and friends think of me when I tell them I gave Moby Dick 1 star?". That's my feeling as well.
This book is only for the pedants, the elite of snootiness, many of whom will be real behemoths intellectually. I persevered with this book just to know how awful a classic can be. I can assure you folks, they don't make them like this anymore.
I don't think I got it. Okay, I admit that. The problem with Moby Dick is not that it's boring. But it's that 99% of people will find it tedious enough not to read it entirely. It's hypnotic in its lack of actual plot. It wouldn't get published today.
Has there been a movie adaptation of Moby Dick? The closest to it is Jaws. That was a masterpiece. Not this book. This book is an editor's nightmare. It is the type of book, that when part of a curriculum of a class will prevent the student from loving books. Unforgivable.
Once on Imdb (books section), I saw some yahoo saying to a naysayer of Moby Dick "It's your loss". The naysayer replied sarcastically. "My loss? On no. What will my boss and my wife and friends think of me when I tell them I gave Moby Dick 1 star?". That's my feeling as well.
This book is only for the pedants, the elite of snootiness, many of whom will be real behemoths intellectually. I persevered with this book just to know how awful a classic can be. I can assure you folks, they don't make them like this anymore.
I don't think I got it. Okay, I admit that. The problem with Moby Dick is not that it's boring. But it's that 99% of people will find it tedious enough not to read it entirely. It's hypnotic in its lack of actual plot. It wouldn't get published today.
Has there been a movie adaptation of Moby Dick? The closest to it is Jaws. That was a masterpiece. Not this book. This book is an editor's nightmare. It is the type of book, that when part of a curriculum of a class will prevent the student from loving books. Unforgivable.
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Sharon
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Jun 14, 2017 06:26PM
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I don't know how closely it mirrors the book though, not having read it. As movies go, it wasn't bad, but nothing to write home about. :P
Thanks, Maureen.
I don't know how closely it mirrors the book though, not having read it. As movies go, it wasn't ba..."
All movies must have scripts. Even The Room had one. This book has nothing going for it.
It has some kind of nice imagery, but it does get tedious after the first chapter.
Dickens is a strange author for me. Parts of his writing is very modern (A Christmas Carol, Martin Chuzzlewit). But other books are totally 'classical'.
Hi Mark; Moby Dick has a pretty low average score on this site... 3.46. Yet it still has many fans. I'm not going to read Ulysses, ever.
Thanks, and I understand completely. I'm done with books like this, books that aren't meant to read for the plot.
Thanks, and I understand completely. I'm done with books like this, books that aren't meant to read for the plot." I do like some plotless novels but this one does not attract me at all. Too much seafaring.
Well thanks, Alexia. What this book convinced me was not to read a book because of the challenge in reading it. However, I will finish classics that have something going for them.
Moby Dick also had the shortest chapter I've ever come across. The epilogue was almost as brief. I was so joyful. The climax made me puzzled. The fight was over too soon. Also I didn't quite know what happened. Kinda like how Mowgli killed Shere Khan, in the Jungle Book.
I have never seen the Gregory Peck film, but there was a TV series I saw some years ago. I watched it, but I wasn't inspired to read the book though!
Oh no! I definitely respect the fact that you don't sugarcoat your opinions, but I have to say I love this book. Haha I hope we can still be friends Luffy :p
The story is simple. Ahab suffers from hubris, and his..."
It's a very simple story stretched over 700+ pages! There's no pacing. I didn't understand your question.
Luffy wrote: "Ha, there are plenty of other books on which we'll agree. Even if we don't, we're still friends. What else can I say? I feel sheepish, but relieved. What do you like about Moby Dick? Thanks for the..."
Haha glad to hear it :)
I read Moby Dick I think about 10 years ago now, but what I remember being most affected by was the character of Ahab. He is one of my favorite literary characters of all time. That, and Melville's use of language and word choice was often very beautiful.
I hope you are enjoying Les Mis more!
Haha glad to hear it :)
I read Moby Dick I think about 10 years ago now, but what I remember being most affected by was the character of Ahab. He is one of my favorite literary characters of all time. That, and Melville's use of language and word choice was often very beautiful.
I hope you are enjoying Les Mis more!
I once quit reading Les Mis when Hugo was describing Fantine's teeth in detail. But now I am versatile enough to read the book. That I'll be doing during the month of August during a buddy read.
That's where my limitations lie...I didn't understand the joke. But I'm glad you commented.
Forgive my poor attempt at humor. I was riffing off your story about saying to a naysayer of Moby Dick "It's your loss". The naysayer replied sarcastically. "My loss? On no. What will my boss and my wife and friends think of me when I tell them I gave Moby Dick 1 star?". That's my feeling as well.
Igor
Hell doesn't exist.
Life's too short to expound that it’s just my personal opinion.
I didn’t approach the book with that attitude. I still think the book is not readable, but you have given me something to think about.
Cool. - )
Lol, well said. I forgot the 'finer points' of the book, but its tediousness is something I've not forgotten.
To be fair I'd rather reread this than try tackling a classic that have a lot of fans that aren't honest with their opinion (War and Peace, or The Pickwick Papers) or those that I didn't finish, such as Les Miserables, or reread a bigger sized book such as the poor IMHO The Count of Monte Cristo.