Reading this famous classic by Herman Melville, I soon realized that there was a reason why people found it so notoriously difficult. From lengthy Shakespeare-esque monologues to unending descriptions of Folio, Octavo, and Duodecimo whales, Moby Dick could at times be, simply put, annoying.
The overall theme was, to be sure, steadily present throughout the entire novel. From the beginning, Captain Ahab was a figure of mystery and determination, with an almost godlike aura about him and in the reverence with which others treated him. If such a great man would devote his whole life sailing across the sea in pursuit of a whale, wouldn’t it be something worthwhile? And so begins a long journey, delineating where human recklessness and greed ultimately leads.
Moby Dick remains a novel I look upon with mixed feelings. It conveys extremely valuable messages, which are timeless and perhaps especially relevant today. But was it truly necessary to fill a good quarter of the book with descriptions of things that were distracting from the story? I would leave that for the reader to decide.
My final verdict would be to give it a try, and this largely stems from what I consider to be the strongest merit of the book: Melville’s affluent—perhaps even excessive—knowledge of the things he wrote about. The seascapes, the crew on the ship, and the great white whale seem to paint themselves in the air as the reader embarks on the fateful journey with Ishmael.
