Moby Dick

So I'm reading this on my kindle and its saying im 80 percent of the way through,yay for me!

Is anyone else reading or has read this book? (I'm aware its a trick question because its commonly used in school English lessons)

yes this scene was the first thing that came to mind,captain Knuckles getting punched.

When I was a kid, I had this version◊, which strips out all of the whaling stuff and focuses on Ishmael's story, and I loved it. In my teens, I read the actual novel, and found it to be very tedious. I need to take the time to re-read it and see if it grabs me any better.

Edited by Willbyr on Aug 7th 2023 at 4:35:47 AM

It's a personal favorite of mine. I was never assigned it in school, which seems to play a huge role in one's ability to tolerate the book! It's full of interesting digressions and playful miniature Author Tracts, but the regular "gams" (encounters with other ships) over the course of Ahab's hunt give the story a structure and keep it from being too much of a shaggy-dog tale.

It's an early version of the "encyclopedic novel," and such later examples as Gravity's Rainbow, Ulysses, and Pound's Cantos owe Melville an awful lot.

Much of the novel's whaling bits are to drive home the fact that Moby Dick is a just a whale, that Ahab is obsessing about an animal that doesn't care anything about him

Here's a thought I just had

Ahab feels like it could be short for Abraham and in the bible God makes him sacrifice his son to him and as everyone knows its a test,and is this story Abraham is pursuing a whale which represents God..

no I didn't cover this novel in school but I wish I did.

Edited by Ultimatum on Aug 8th 2023 at 7:24:47 PM

Ahab is specifically named for another Biblical figure, King Ahab, the seventh king of Israel known for being particularly wicked and for being the husband of Jezabel. If I remember correctly, they comment on Captain Ahab's name being ill-omened in the book.

Edited by Robbery on Aug 8th 2023 at 2:07:14 AM

Yes, pretty much all of the names in the book have some deliberate meaning.

Also, could we please do something about the title of this thread? It's way too long and has a blatant misspelling in it.

I got carried away with the title,whoops.

Edited by Ultimatum on Aug 8th 2023 at 11:57:15 AM