An Epic Tale, Brilliantly Told (Moby Dick - Herman Melville)

Member Name: Burning_Darkness

Product:	Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Date:	06/08/09 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Full of powerful prose, brilliant dialogue and immense depth, exciting characters and story

Disadvantages: Often goes into microscopic detail about whales and whaling, which is rewarding but can be a slog

Penned in the mid 1800s, American author Herman Melville's classic novel is about Ahab, the monomaniacal captain of the whaling ship the Pequod, who puts the lives of himself and his crew jeopardy in a crazed attempt to kill a vast, albino whale who mauled him many years ago on a previous hunt, leaving him with an ivory stump for a leg. As a huge fan of the 1956 film adaptation starring Gregory Peck, I thought I would give the original novel a go, and though it took some getting through I'm really glad I did.

Told from the perspective of a sailor known only as Ishmael, the story documents their voyage around the world chasing after the the much-feared and celebrated white whale, on a ship populated with a colourful and varied crew that includes Starbuck, Ahab's first mate and a straight-laced and intellectual Quaker, the earthy and good-natured second and third mates Stubb and Flask, Pip, a young African boy who acts as ship-keeper and the harpooners, namely the Maori Queequeg, American Indian Tashtego, African Daggoo and Arabic Fedallah. Whilst it's true that these latter characters are portrayed as racial stereotypes, they are presented so in a way that is not derogatory, but rather paints them as mysterious, powerful and awe-inspiring. Much like in James Fenimore Cooper's contemporary novel 'The Last of the Mohicans', there is an emphasis on the contrast between Christianity and paganism throughout, and the book is thick with symbolism, dealing at length with themes of religion and philosophy, obsession and revenge, the nature of man and man's relationship with the natural world throughout its dense, 500-odd page duration.

The story itself is dramatic, tense and excitingly told, with truly brilliant characterisation, especially in the tragic yet fearful and somehow pitiable figure of Ahab, his relationship with Starbuck, who is torn between loyalty to his obsessive captain and the safety of himself and his crew, and also in lesser characters such as the innocent and playful cabin boy Pip and the simultaneously terrifying and immensely likable harpooner and cannibal Queequeg. The dialogue is simply superb, Shakespearian in its style and quality and play-like with stage directions and extended soliliquoys employed frequently throughout. One of my personal favourite lines of dialogue is one in which, when Starbuck is attempting to sum up the courage to overthrow Ahab before he can lead them all to a watery grave, Ahab responds in affectionate yet deterministic, fateful, and ominous tones...

"Starbuck, of late I've felt strangely moved to thee; ever since that hour we both saw - thou know'st what, in one another's eyes. But in this matter of the whale, be the front of thy face to me as the palm of this hand - a lipless, unfeatured blank. Ahab is forever Ahab, man. This whole act's immutably decreed. 'Twas rehearsed by thee and me a billion years before this ocean rolled. Fool! I am the Fates' lieutenany; I act under orders. Look thou, underling, that thou obeyest mine..."

Then there are the words Ahab uses to describe his disposition towards the whale, which he has come to see as personifying all that he resents and despises about the world and his life:

"Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee".

Its all immensely powerful stuff, and makes for an incredibly exciting read, but the actual story itself only makes up a small proportion of the book. Much of the text is given over to philosophy, mixing this with every aspect imaginable concerning whales and mid 19th century whaling; there are whole chapters given over to anatomy, taxonomy, references to whales in the literature of antiquity, whale hunting and processing techniques, the uses of whale oil and even one chapter on the abstract philosophical ramifications of the albino whale's whiteness. Though ultimately rewarding this stuff tends to be slow-paced and can be quite a slog to read through, though it does add to the momentum and gravitas of the central story.

There is an abridged version of the book available which omits these sections to concentrate on the main story, and is less than half as long as a result, but I would advise against reading this as though quite a heavy undertaking the original version of 'Moby Dick' is well worth the perseverance, and is a book which I consider to be the best I have ever read.

Summary: An epic, powerful novel thats entirely worthy of its status as an all time-classic.