Moby Dick
Author: Herman Melville 1851 536 pp
My rating: 5*
Started October 2009, Finished February 2010.
A classic, which unlike some other novels so designated (see Charterhouse of Parma), lives up to that designation. Despite the fact that at least a third of the work is devoted to non-fiction, nothing-to-do-with-the-plot exegeses on whales and whaling, the basic story and in particular, the character of Ahab, are so powerful enough to compensate for the deadweight. The prose, while sometimes verging on incomprehensible gobbledygook, often reaches a deeply moving tone somewhere between biblical and poetic. The scenes at the beginning where Ishmael finds his way to the Pequod and in which he and Queequeg get to know each other are quite charming. And as far Ahab, he still rates among the commanding of villains in all of literature, with his almost every utterance being quote worthy.
And here shipmates, is true and faithful repentance; not clamorous for pardon, but grateful for punishment. (62)
Queequeg was George Washington Cannibalistically developed. (65)
In thoughts of the visions of the night, I saw long rows of angels in paradise, each with his hands in a jar of spermaceti. (398. Entire Chapter 94, “A Squeeze of the Hand” is terrific)
Ahab is for ever Ahab, man. This whole act’s immutably decreed. ‘Twas rehearsed by thee and me a billion years before this ocean rolled. Fool! I am the Fates’ lieutenant; I act under orders.
