Moby-Dick: or, The Whale (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

I love this book! I really wanted a new copy after years of hanging onto my poor annotated copy from school. This version is striking! Cover is dramatic with beautiful artwork, while the pages inside are super soft paper, and easy print to read. Buy this book.

Having reached the mid-life point, I didn't "get around to" reading MOBY-DICK until just recently. I'm certainly glad that I finally stopped putting it off. Herman Melville's work is truly one of the most amazing books I have read. As others have pointed out here, it's not always an easy read, but it is well worth devoting time to. Indeed, I approached it as if it were an artisan cheese or a fine glass of wine; I ingested it slowly, savoring it over a period of months. MOBY-DICK is told (mostly) through the eyes of a seaman ("Call me Ishmael"), beginning with his journey to Nantucket to find a job on a whaler and then continuing with his voyage on the Pequod. The initial chapters (minus the introductory matter) are somewhat misleading in that they employ a traditional narrative structure--quite amusingly describing Ishmael's first encounter with the cannibal harpooner Queequeg--and the unaware reader who enjoys this initial rollicking ride may be disappointed with the "digressions" that follow. Once the Pequod sets sail, the narrative adopts the rhythm of a voyage, i.e., long days at sea, labor-intensive with respect to the upkeep of the vessel, but otherwise dull, interspersed with heart-stopping whaling and welcome encounters with other ships. This pattern of life at sea is reflected in the book's structure in this way: the long, uneventful days lend time to the narrator to present the history, science, and art of whales and whaling, while the whaling and ship encounters brings the narration back to a more-or-less (and often less) traditional narrative structure. The core story is well known, and would be familiar even to those who haven't much other knowledge of the work. (Anyone who's seen or read JAWS would recognize the story.) A psychologically scarred and physically mutilated man, Ahab, the captain of the Pequod, is obsessed with exacting retribution against the highly dangerous white whale that made him a cripple, not to mention killing many other men. His loyal first mate, Starbuck, tries to reason with him, but Ahab is unable to respond to reason; Ahab feels that he is acting out a preordained role. MOBY-DICK, which was first published in 1851, is a surprisingly modern work. Melville explores the story using multiple perspectives and various literary devices, most notably inserting chapters written as scenes in a play. An example of this can be observed beginning with Chapter 36, "The Quarter-Deck": This is a seminal chapter in that in it Captain Ahab explains the Pequod's true mission--to kill Moby-Dick--and his personal motivation for doing it: "Aye, Starbuck; aye, my hearties all round; it was Moby-Dick that dismasted me..." Chapters 37-40, which are given sequential temporal titles ("Sunset," "Dusk," "First Night Watch," "Midnight") provide reflections on Ahab's speech to the crew from the perspective of three of the main characters, Ahab, Starbuck and Stubb; these are followed by a chapter written like a script of a musical play and which involves a number of crewmen. There is, in short, considerable exploration of and experimentation in narrative forms. What I found particularly moving were the small, almost painterly touches in Melville's writing, such as the image of a hawk in the far distance dropping Ahab's hat into the sea (Chapter 130, "The Hat"). Also delighting the reader are the intensely cinematic moments, e.g., Starbuck, standing outside Ahab's door and full of angst, ponders murderous thoughts while handling a musket (Chapter 123 "The Musket"). MOBY-DICK is a fabulous piece of art and is veritable literature worthwhile reading.

The book that I read was Moby Dick, by Herman Melville. This book is about a young man named Ishmael who wanted to go whaling. He was appointed sailor to the Pequod, the best whaling ship in New England which was led by renowned Captain Ahab. Once at sea Ahab did not show himself for many days, although Ishmael would hear him walking about the deck at night. As time passed, the ship had killed its fine share of whales, but one day Captain Ahab appeared on the ships deck and told the crew to look for a white whale. Captain Ahab told the crew to hunt the great white whale Moby Dick. Some years back Captain Ahab came across this white whale on a voyage; he and his crew tried to kill it but Moby Dick was too powerful for them, ripping off Captain Ahab’s leg. Since then, Ahab has been seeking revenge on the white whale on each and every whaling trip. So the Pequod set sail in search for Moby Dick. Along the way, the Pequod met other ships that reported seeing the white whale. Ahab wanted this whale badly enough to offer a gold doubloon to the first person to spot Moby Dick. Ahab even offered his share of the ship’s profit to the crew if they killed Moby Dick. Once the ship finally found the white whale, the Pequod and its crew put up a long battle against Moby Dick, using all the harpoons and spears they had. In the end, though, Moby Dick destroyed the Pequod and sent Captain Ahab along with his men down into the abyss. This book contained some notable messages. One was probably to never overestimate your abilities. Captain Ahab believed that he and the Pequod would easily overpower Moby Dick, only to find the opposite to be true, for in the end the whale was much stronger than they were. Kober 2 There are numerous major themes in this book, revenge being one of them. Years earlier, Captain Ahab lost his leg to Moby Dick, setting him on a course of revenge, leading to his final demise. Another important theme in Moby Dick is Fate versus Free Will. Clearly, Ahab thinks that he is destined to kill Moby Dick, only to eventually discovery differently. Finally, madness ominously runs thoughout the book. What I liked about this book is that is was very descriptive, making it easy to visualize the various scenes in the book. The story line was quite good I thought and made me want to keep reading to see what happens next, however the main story does not kick in until about halfway through book. I believe if someone is interested in stories about whaling and the sea, then this book is made for them. There are great descriptions about the whaling towns, and the ocean. Overall I give this book four stars.

Great novel in a nice edition with an excellent introduction.

the link to the audio book didn't work at all, and the linked site seems unavailable, i keep getting a google message that there is an error. so not sure what is up with that. but the ability to search the table of contents, to be able to find and read any chapter in the book whenever you want, is very good. it works. i had bought another "cheap" edition of m.d. when i first got my kindle, but not being able to access individual chapters made me dump it and search for another version. plus i love the cover, dim and gray as it is on kindle. the artist is a fantastic classic american illustrator/artist whose early 20th century artwork for m.d. fits the story. these are considered the classic, best illustrations of m.d., and they are awesome. not sure where any of them are in the text, found one tiny one, a third of a page, but i assume there's more of them included here. may have to seek out the hardcopy of this edition, to better appreciate the illustrations. hurry up with the color kindle! i always go back and read a little of this book now and then, i alway have to have it with me.....it's such a beautifully written book, it's like each page is sheer poetry. it's the best written book ever, i think. only wish h.m. could know this. this book was a failure during his lifetime, and in his life, he was pretty desperate for some good news. he was such an astounding writer. when i originally read this book, it was a slog to get thru, no doubt. it wanders here and there, lots of (unasked for) pauses in the action for super boring details about other whale hunts and other things we can just google today. but this classic story hasn't aged and never will- it's a historical novel, based on a real event, and the story involves learning all about the customs, thoughts, actions, and highly un-p.c. goings on of the period. very, very interesting. we can't do anything about how they felt or acted back then, it's history, and it is good to know how these things went, horrible and cringeworthy as they are. the characters, especially the captain, well, they are superbly written, and very real, having the emotions and reactions of flesh and blood people. sometimes people get obsessed about things- that's the captain, he's really obsessed, but he does have some reason to be pretty mad at the whale. he IS kinda selfish about his obsession, screwing up the lives of his whole crew (and the life of his wife) for a personal vendetta of his own, but in that sense, he's a pretty modern dude. there's still people around like this, you read about them in the news everyday. today they have different "crews" but still the same in alot of ways.......the story of "moby dick" is incredibly interesting, if you've never read it. and if you are looking for great literature, this is it. some things are called "classics" for a reason.

I don't know what I expected when I chose to read this book. It wasn't required reading when I was in high school, still, I've heard of it my entire life, but so much was missed! I laughed out loud, was thoroughly disgusted, and even had tears in my eyes at one point. The antiquated terminology can be a little difficult to decipher at times, but not so much that it takes away from the story.

Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, is one of the greatest American contributions to world literature. Although it is often labeled as a novel, and indeed it does begin as one, the book is sui generis, and contains multiple digressions in the plot that make Moby Dick a thoroughly distinct work. Notorious for its difficulty, and infamous for its many chapter's describing the mechanics and history of whaling, Melville's book is now regarded as a classic par excellence. What are we to make of this book? It is one of the strangest that I've ever encountered, and I reckon myself pretty well versed in strange books. For one, this is the most overt effort to write a 'classic' that I've come across. Melville knows what he's going for, and he self-conciously pulls out every trick in his bag. The book is firmly grounded in the Western canon, making references to Shakespeare, Locke, Milton, Kant, Plato, the Bible, Goethe, and Coleridge, among others. It is also meticulously researched, with virtually whole bibliographies on whaling and whale-stories contained within. It seems that Melville's White Whale was greatness, and he pursued it with a madman's ire, lashing out at it with every harpoon in his armory. In fact, Moby Dick was not well-received during his lifetime, and so perhaps Melville even shared in Ahab's fate. In the book, Ishmael uses everything on board the ship to serve as a metaphor for something else, until, in the end, the ship is as riddled with metaphors as with the rigs, ropes, and lines that cross her hull. Meaning is ever-elusive, and one thing can stand for ten others. The best example of this is, obviously, Moby Dick, who can take on almost infinite meanings. Is he nature, punishing the whalers for their slaughter of his kinsmen? Is he Melville's struggle with greatness? With God? Or is Moby Dick simply Fate? Or, is Moby Dick a pre-Freudian psychological device? The object of Ahab's displaced fears, hopes, and anger? Is Moby Dick a phallic symbol (his name is straightforward enough)? A ram-shaped whale, filled with white spermaceti! I hate to be coarse, but the work asks these questions, and a thousand more. Melville also gives us a consummate tragic character, Captain Ahab, who seems to be a composite of nearly every other tragic figure that came before: Achilles, Orestes, King Lear, Hamlet, Faust, and Satan from Paradise Lost. Added to that, Melville blends with Ishmael several times during the narrative, becoming both part of the story as well as the author. He makes no attempt to hide the process of creation, giving Moby Dick a strickingly modernist feel at times. But is Moby Dick a perfect work? Not a soul would argue that. Some chapters on whaling are indeed excessive, Melville's prose, while often brilliant, has a tendency to become labyrinthine and over-precise during his technical explanations. The storyline itself is actually quite short, and is told in the first and last 10% of the book, the middle 80% consisting of a monumentously ambitious literary experiment (some of which he could have spared us). But I regard these flaws as I do the scar that runs the length of Ahab's body: the flaw that makes perfection. The entire work itself becomes some sort of allegory for Ahab's character: monomaniacal, brilliant, flawed, and over-extended. Blast you, Melville, you're a genius after all.

These illustrated classic books are perfect for the reluctant reader. These were given to a 5th grader who can read fairly well but who does not enjoy reading. He liked these books because of the illustrations on almost every page. The storyline is very close to the original classic, even to the point of using the same language nuances. Not only did the 5th grader read them, but so did his brother who is 7 (and an advanced reader). Highly recommend!