Eh I have nothing intelligent to say. It's really really good and so fun to read. I love when canonical books are good because they are so often terrible.

I guess I have complicated feelings about this. The beginning with Ishmael and Queequeg on shore feels really sharply drawn and brilliant but it seems to lose something in between Melvilles endless narration about whale biology and Ahabs endless monologues. I feel dumb giving what's supposed to be the great American novel four stars but there ya go. ( )

Moral of the story: whales are big.

Should have been six hundred pages shorter. ( )

3,5 stars

I must admit, this was a difficult read and a lot of it likely went over my head. I intend to return it, possibly a couple of years later when I am more knowledgeable and well-read. It’s likely that the book would be more enjoyable if there weren’t so many chapters describing whaling, whale anatomy.
Seeing things from Ishmael's perspective was quite interesting, albeit quite odd, especially when Queequeg was involved. The plot of the book was amazing, especially the final chapters, the intense chase, the ignored omens.

Read it if you’ve read your bible (optimally), like slow-progressing whaling stories, loaded with metaphors and complex motifs, symbols, etc. ( )

This book is really cool if you learn all the symbolism and interesting patterns he put all through the book...favorite quote from Moby Dick...
Even Solomon, he says, “the man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.” Give not thyself up, then, to fire, lest it invert thee, deaden thee, as for the time it did me. There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar. ( )