After reading and discussing
Moby-Dick for four weeks, it is a bit odd to be finished with the book. Even with those four weeks, I know we didn't cover hardly any of the content. This book is just so full of everything from Ishmael's made up whale classifications to the foreshadowing of what is eventually going to happen to the crew to Ishmael's use of mythological stories. I don't know if we would have been able to talk about everything even if we had been given more time.
Now that everything is said and done, I would have to say that I probably wouldn't recommend
Moby-Dick to too many people. It was an interesting book and there were parts I enjoyed, but it really wasn't my cup of tea. I'm sure that I will probably re-read it at some point because I am sure I missed a lot of things while reading it this time. I think I would like to take the time to think things over and ponder what some of the chapters are actually meaning. I would probably recommend
Moby-Dick to people who I know that tend to take things a bit more slowly. It wasn't a life changing book for me, but I can see that it is important to the literary canon.
This brings me to the pie chart I made earlier.
I still agree with this pie chart. Even after the entire tale is done, we still don't know much at all about Ishmael. We know he survived and that is pretty much it. It still kind of bothers me that we never knew if Ishmael is his real name or not. I also still find it hard to trust much of what he is saying because of this. I was hoping for some kind of character development on his part, but I never really saw any. He kept to himself and he reported on everything he saw on the ship. Mostly he reported about whales though. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to see whales in quite the same way after this. I also think that Ishmael got the adventure he was looking for. I'm just not sure that he actually saw the world. He did see a lot of ocean though.
Overall, Melville's
Moby-Dick is a good book. It has a little bit of everything and a lot of crazy. It pushes the boundaries and makes people think. Which, I suppose, is what a good book is supposed to do.
I agree with you one hundred percent: this book would probably not be enjoyed by the average reader. That said, I really enjoyed the pie chart because it helped me realize how much is about whaling and how very little actually involves Ishmael. It seems odd to me that I never thought about that contrast before, and yet the moment I read that chart I understood the truth of it. The only thing I don’t concur with is that Moby-Dick is a good book. Ya it has lots of juicy metaphors and interesting essays to keep any single person busy for their whole life, but I like to think a good book can be both impactful and enjoyable to read; to me Melville’s novel just wasn’t telling the story enough.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, that pie chart is amazingly accurate. It truly was not a book about Ishmael, but one about whales and whaling. I also agree that there was very little character building throughout the novel. I felt as if I knew more about Ahab than Ishmael. Moby-Dick is certainly a daunting novel and I am glad to be rid of it. Due to the fact that so many people, books, movies, and so on reference it I am glad that I finally read it. However if you do end up reading it again I give you high praise. This novel is not on my list of favorite reads.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment about not being able to discuss everything in the book; it's so rich that if we tried, _Moby-Dick_ fatigue would set in (as it probably has for some of us already).
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