Moby-Dick
A whaling voyage, an encyclopedia of whales, and a captain who has decided the ocean owes him an answer.
Ishmael signs onto a Nantucket whaler and finds its captain has no interest in oil. Ahab wants the white whale that took his leg, and will spend ship, crew and his own life getting to it. Melville interrupts the chase with chapters on cetology, rope, whiteness and the law of salvage, which is why the book failed in 1851 and why it later became inexhaustible. It is an adventure novel that keeps stopping to ask what anything means.
Recommended by 2 People
Adam Haslett
The entire adventure is bathed in reverence for the natural world through which Ahab, Ishmael and the rest of the sailors move. Ishmael’s descriptions sing with awe for the ocean and the whales. And in this light Ahab’s fixation, however distorting it is of life, comes to be seen as a kind of respect for the majesty of the creature he’s pursuing. And so there is nothing simple about his avoidance.
Interview · July 2010
Colum McCann
It's an exploration into the depths of human consciousness; we all eventually become Ishmael in the hope to survive.
As an Amazon Associate, bookstoread.org earns from qualifying purchases. Links to Amazon on this page may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Spotted an error on this page? Tell us and we will fix it.