Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Revenge story of a captain on a whale. Thats the story in nutshell.

The book is considered as American classic, and a website mentioned that , this book along with " Atlas shrugged " was left unfinished by many readers. If I had not known that, probably I would have done the same thing.

Instead of calling it a novel, I would like to call it " A study on whales and whaling ships ". The author wrote too much on taxonomy and anatomy of whales, about the interactions between the ships , and how the room mate of narrator baths and many more trivial topics. The uncontrollable wish of the author to make a bulky book , made reading an ordeal.

It took me almost six months to finish it. Many times I thought of abandoning it, but like captain Ahab who resolved to kill the rogue whale of all the seas, I have resolved to finish the novel. The reader must have the same qualities of the captain Ahab to accomplish the task. Patience, determination, ability to boost self and a broken leg, so that you can't run away.

Ishmael, narrator of the novel, knows too much, thinks too much, observes too much and has the urge to verbalize every thought. After reading a hundred pages I wanted to put a plaster on his mouth. Apart from nonsense on details, it's the Victorian English used by characters which pushed the annoyance to the next level.

Anyway, it's one book, I am proud of finishing. Like, Zen and art of motor cycle maintenance, it deserves another reading, may be after few years!

No comments: