Had to read it for class. Very verbose and thick to get through, but the story itself is rather vague and we're given mere sketches of characters. And it seems Mr Melville has no idea why the characters are the way they are, nor does he seem to care. So why should we?

Three stars for the incredulous ending, and the reach of putting a strangely naive man to death for it. ( )

I read the story of Billy Budd, and enjoyed it. Melville tells great sea adventures, and also digs into the depth of his character's motivations. His writing is not easy reading, and I need a dictionary handy for quick reference, but when you have a quiet place to spend time with him, he rewards you with a rich story.

I did not read all of the other stories in the book, only picked a few, but I enjoyed the ones I read. ( )

Could not get into Billy Budd. I could not finish the story. Boring.

a hard read. the way that herman melville writes his version of a story is the kind of writing i find tiresome because it takes him so long to make his point which is a very difficult and boring situation for the typical reader who is just looking for a story with characters and a plot which moves along in an enjoyable and understandable way which i don't think is a peculiar thing for a reader to expect. ( )

This collection of short stories was much more entertaining than anticipated. Something about "Bartleby" is intriguing, and every time I am tempted to say "I would prefer not to" this story will now come to mind. Bartleby used remarkably effective behavior, even though it was obnoxious for everybody else! "Benito Cereno" was a good mystery. The shaving scene was eerie because by that point the reader knows something is really wrong. The blatant racism was disturbing though realistic for the time and place. "Billy Bud" is a good argument for providing adequate education to all. The main problem in this story would not have occurred if Billy could have communicated in another way.

The other stories in this collection (The Piazza, The Lightning-Rod Man, The Encantadas) had moments of interest that centered around living a quiet and relatively secluded life. "The Bell-Tower" was an adequate but not particularly interesting mystery and the "Town-Ho's Story" I didn't read because it will be available in Moby Dick.

As a whole, this collection could be seen as a good presentation of what are now dated views. It was worth reading once. ( )