The book about the whale: Moby Dick

 

    Hi guys, I was looking for a book to read, since for the majority of the semester I’ve been reading books Holly Jackson has written. When thinking about what to review for today’s blog post. Now, I’ve heard a lot of talk about Moby Dick, “weird book about the whale” is the most common thing I’ve heard about it. So I decided to give it a try, so today I will be reviewing Moby Dick by Herman Melville. 

    Moby Dick “The Great American Novel” by Herman Melville is full of a bunch of different themes. It addresses topics from religion, philosophy, colonialism, and revenge. But the main focus is The Whale, as per the book’s subtitle. It may seem simple, but Melville goes into a lot more depth. It’s a subject with so many layers to unpack. 
    

The narrator, Ishmael, tells us everything and more we’d like to know about whales and the whaling industry. There are entire chapters that mainly focus on cetology. Ishmale describes how life on board is, the hunting process, and much more. After, he later arrives at an inn in New Bedford Massachusetts. At the inn he has to share a bed with a Polynesian named Queequeg. He soon develops some type of feelings for Queequeg. 

    Ishmael overthinks a bunch, which means that every single thing is explained in almost a gross amount of detail. But the whale, which is what I was expecting while reading, didn’t appear until the last 30 pages of the book. Surely made the appearance of the Great White Whale very dramatic and exciting. 

    Melville wrote this book so beautifully, I loved the anticipation he gave the reader while waiting for the Great White Whale. The book was a difficult read, but so fascinating. There was so much to understand but it was so worth it. 

    583 pages later, all I can say is that I very much enjoyed the read and would definitely recommend it for anyone who might want a bit of a challenging book. 

Thank you for the read,

Kimberly Rivas