Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

9 reviews

sofipitch's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think this was overall good and enjoyable but man the memes about the anatomy of the whale were not kidding, I thought it would be one chapter, like the battle of Waterloo in Les Mis but nope, Ishmael keeps coming back to it. I appreciate what it was doing, this next chapter he really was gonna fully get it, if he can just understand the whale he can surely understand the incomprehensiblity of nature/the universe. I did still prefer chapters with the actual characters, especially Ishmael. It surprised me for being an anti-racist (for it's time) and critical of christianity text given it's title as one of if not the great American novel
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happysoullovesyou's review against another edition

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adventurous informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

No plot, just vibes. I would have rated this even lower if it weren’t for the fact the book is kinda gay, and it has lots of info on whales. But a lot of the info is also about hunting whales :/
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impla77's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

no one fucking cares
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cephalopodbot's review against another edition

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adventurous sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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littlefrank's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging lighthearted reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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itry's review against another edition

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It's impossible to ignore the racism (despite the historical context) when it's shoved in your face every other paragraph ;__;
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seanml's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging informative mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

In some circles this has been referred to as the greatest of American novels. I wanted to know the basis for this, because surely there must be some merit if it is still brought up today. What did I find? I found that Moby Dick is, in a way, two separate books. First, there is a book of whale anatomy. Our narrator Ishmael, being a member of the crew, has many things to say about the process and subject of the whaling industry. Dozens of chapters will go by that are more educational than narrative, and that is why the book is so vilified: This educational content is like 80% of the book. Or at least it feels that way. The second part of this book is the story of our ship, the Pequod, and Captain Ahab’s relentless search for the malicious white whale. And this, surprisingly, was everything it was said to be. The sea is described like the primordial all-encompassing force that it is, and Melville through Ishmael taps into the innate fear of such an alien place, making this book scarier than many books in the horror genre. And within this void is Moby Dick himself, who comes and goes like a cosmic horror of the great deep, presaged by strange omens and otherworldly harbingers. So I recommend the narrative portion of the book, despite it being the minority of the page count. So why might this be called the greatest American novel? There are two possibilities. One, it is, but this is unlikely. Or two, this book was written in the mid-1850s, and there were like two books back then, so it was either this or Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and this one is pretty cool. 8/10.
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thetatteredowl's review against another edition

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I'm not going to be the person that's like 'classic book bad actually'. This book was very difficult to get into, but once I was settled I found it was enjoyable, albeit very slow. Gave up once I realised I was reading it for the sake of reading it, instead of reading it because I liked it
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yavin_iv's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny informative reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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