You mean a "heads up" to reconsider that job you had been offered to go off on a whaling expedition? Yes, it was probably good advice, for this day & age
I got through it the first time as an audiobook, and the narration by Anthony Heald was so good, it was like stepping into a dockside New Bedford bar night after night in the 1850s & hearing an old sailor spinning sea tales.
I put it off for decades. Finally read it and found it surprisingly funny and engrossing and yes, at times, tedious. Also, I had a lot of time on my hands.
My favorite book of all time. I re-read it just about once a year and took a wonderful seminar on it via Zoom during Covid. I absolutely love this book.
The U of California Press edition is my favorite. It's a mass-market reprint of the Arion Press masterpiece, comes in PB & HC, and offers referential descriptions of the many nautical items, ships, and whales you'll find in the novel itself.
I did in my younger years. President Obama w/DJT whale….and the whale won. In the line of all the presidents accomplishments, Obama is 8, Biden is 14 and DJT is at the bottom literally. U need to get off the golf course to accomplish something for the 99%. He did raise the Natl debt 25% for the 1%
I don't know if listening to it counts, but when I finally got around to doing it I was astonished by the beauty of the writing and the insights it contained.
I have had people tell me it is so boring. What i have to explain to them is the Melville wrote this way on purpose to mimic what life was like on a ship. A lot of boring monotony with sudden bouts of excitement. I think it's a great book. If you get the chance read the indifferent stars above.
It’s not boring, it’s the style of writing for its time. Although I have to say that the last 50 pages are definitely worth the wait, though. Spectacular. It’s a natural history of whaling, basically.
Fun fact: I read _Moby Dick_ after seeing _Star Trek: First Contact_, when Captain Picard quoted from it and Lily says she never read it. I figured if it was good enough for Jean-Luc, it's good enough for me.
Literally tried four times over 10+ years. Never got past the hundredth page. Fifth time was the charm - but I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it again.
Comments
I didn't like most of it but I was glad that Melville gave me a heads up
https://youtu.be/AIDKbriJcq0?si=SiXXL7-sKexCqFsR
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UMuhwfMzELQ
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A great description of life aboard a whaling ship.
A great read