Moby-Dick

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Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

So… it’s a book about whaling?! 🐳

Of course it is. That’s not what I mean. 

I mean it’s damn near non-fiction. There are 135 chapters in this book, and about 12 of them are actual story, the rest are the equivalent to a whale biology text book and a 19th century sailing instruction manual.

It gets 2 stars on its prose alone. Prose that make for a writing style that’s almost hypnotic. It’s so stylistic, it does an unwittingly amazing job of hiding how pointless and unnecessary the majority of the book is.

It sounds odd to say that the climactic finale came way too late in the book, after all, it’s the “finale”, that’s kind of the point. However, it’s the suddenness and lack of closure to the finale that adds to its emptiness. Usually there’s the climax, then a chapter or 2 of closure before it’s over. But in Moby-Dick, there’s the climax… then it’s over. Its abrupt ending almost accentuates how long it took to get there, made worse by the fact that the book is an absolute behemoth.

I believe Moby-Dick is a prime example of people letting the opinions of others influence their own. Its historical significance has elevated it to a status of reverence by default. But this is not to say that I don’t have a certain appreciation for what Moby-Dick has achieved. The problem is that it’s a product of its time. A lot has changed in 170 years, and quite frankly, it’s lucky it came out when it did. If Moby-Dick came out today, nothing would happen. It would receive some criticism for being too bloated while getting below average to mediocre reviews, sell just enough to be considered a mild success, and fall into obscurity.

Sadly, epics of this nature are not nurtured in the 21st century.