A book I finally crossed off my bucket list! It was way longer than I anticipated, but was a welcome adventure with lots of information packed inside.

Read: July 8 – July 13, 2024

Genre: Classic, Historical
Audience: Adult
Book contains: whale hunting, loss of limbs, gore, death, cannibals

Purchase a copy from Amazon.ca

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A Whale-hunting Expedition of Epic Proportions

Captain Ahab is on the hunt for the legendary white whale called Moby Dick after losing his leg to it. He will stop at nothing to achieve this goal, even at the risk of his and his crew’s lives. Ishmael, once sailor on several merchant vessels, decides to try his hand at whale fishing alongside his new acquaintance Queequeg. They join Captain Ahab’s crew and unknowingly join his deadly vendetta.

There are so many references that I never knew came from this book that I know now! I’m not much into stories about seafaring, but an interest sparked in me after reading a rather delightful Pirates of the Caribbean fanfiction. I wanted to know more about it, and this book is one of those must-read classics that fills that need. It was filled with a lot more information than I could fully comprehend, but I still found it all fascinating!

This novel is mostly written in first person perspective from Ishmael, a young sailor who wants to take on whale fishing. At times, there are scenes that Ishmael couldn’t have been privy to, though they are included. There are also quite a few instances in which mass drops of information about the ocean, whale fishing, and the like are shared with the reader, that may be boring to those not interested in the art.

Originally, when I found the audiobook of this novel, it claimed to be 8 hours long. I thought this was odd, considering the size of the book, but went along with this. This turned out to be a glitch on Spotify, as the full length of this audiobook is about 24 hours. Nonetheless, I downloaded the full audiobook and listened along at 2x speed while doing my morning gardening and while decompressing in the evenings. I didn’t always have the physical book in front of me but was able to follow along nonetheless.

Despite showing up so late in the narrative, I found that Captain Ahab was most definitely the main character of this novel. He is the one determined to hunt Moby Dick, and the entire plot centers around him and his goal. The narrator Ishmael and the rest of his colorful crew brought a sense of intrigue and eccentricity to the story as this all played out.

All being crammed together on one ship for several years forces the men to have close bonds—especially when whale fishing. They need to trust that their companions will have their backs in the midst of battle with a giant whale. They all need to work in sync lest the whale win. Despite this, there was no one closer to Ishmael than the cannibal Queequeg, whom he met before signing on to the whaling voyage.

Melville’s writing style wasn’t all that bad, considering this book was the start of his decline in popularity. Over time, it became more well known and popular, but his writing is quite long-winded. He packs a lot of information alongside his plot. Cut out the extra information and this book would probably be half as long.

The pacing overall was quite slow, though the battles were fierce and timely. At times, especially when the narrator went on a scientific tangent, I grew bored, though the information was interesting. It’s definitely not a book for readers with short attention spans.

Despite being a monster of a novel, I found it delightful and definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to broaden their horizons or just learn more about the open ocean and the sport of hunting whales.

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