Reviews

Moby Dick by Rufus Beck, Manfred Zapatka, Herman Melville, Felix von Manteuffel

narzibenoucdel's review against another edition

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adventurous informative slow-paced

2.75

This is a tedious and excessively verbose book with some genuinely good writing and interesting construction beneath all of it, but it is challenging to get past its downsides. As you might expect from a classic from this time period, the racism and Christian-centric thought is prevalent and pretty exhausting. It is interesting and informative to a certain degree if you want to learn a lot about whales, whaling, and a more archaic perception of cetaceans as a whole, but the plot momentum is pretty non-existent and you will be forced to read dozens of inane metaphors about things you don't care about and paltry attempts at Shakespearean dramatics whether you like it or not. I'm glad I read it but I'll be glad to never read it again.
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augbookwormdog's review against another edition

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3.0

I wanted to love this so bad… It just didn’t do it all the way for me. It was too easy to doze off in the middle chapters and I suppose my lack of time to finish it didn’t provide the most excellent of settings to truly appreciate it. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable story. A rich one, at that! I would still recommend it for I believe I may merely have to read it again to truly absorb it.

awhorst's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

bekkireinig's review against another edition

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1.0

THE WHALE WON!!! The only thing I cared for tbh. This is a book where I will say... The movie is better (the one with Hemsworth ) even though the names do not match. But that does not suprise me since the names in the book are bloody stupid

God this was boring, why was this SO long !!
now I'm going to scatch that of my map and just watch the movie in the future

softlyvoid's review against another edition

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could not stand his info dump about seals being whales. 

wahistorian's review against another edition

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

4.5

I am a historian of 19th-century culture, so I am embarrassed to admit that this is the first time I’ve read ‘Moby Dick.’ The novel lends itself to so many interpretations—environmental novel, political metaphor (as the intro by Andrew Delbanco points out), the Shakespearean fall of an ambitious man—that has made it a must-read American classic. Melville stimulates all the reader’s senses with his descriptions of life on the ocean. His characters are engaging and sympathetic. If there’s any flaw, it is the long digressive passages that break the flow of the plot. But still a fascinating reading experience. 

paule_sibbi's review against another edition

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

3.25

gloriabg83's review against another edition

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2.0

2.5*
Novela que es 30% sopor, 30% divulgación sobre las ballenas y 40% interesante. La parte donde no se va por los cerros de Úbeda está muy bien, la obsesión de Ahab, la "malvada" Moby Dick, el mundo marítimo... pero entre tanta paja se hace difícil disfrutar de la historia.

chrisvanstee's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

bertrob's review against another edition

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4.0

The first and last quarter of this book was the parts I was most into. once they got on the boat Melville hits you with massive amounts of encyclopedic chapters on whaling and boating and other intricacies, these could be hit or miss. The chapters are fairly short for the most part, so even if theres a dud or a chapter that flew right past me, the next chapter could be a straight banger