Moby Dick

An American writer named Herman Melville wrote Moby dick in the mid 1800s. Herman writes in an informative way as he fills his storyline with large amounts of facts about the anatomy of whales. He took the pattern of switching between the story and facts about whales. I found that at times it cut the excitement short, as it didn’t allow me to get into the book as much as I thought I would. For example the sailors are launching a harpoon and are about to catch a whale. Melville abruptly switches into telling us about whale skins and what they are made of, not letting us get the full experience and relief of them catching the whale.

However, many people say that Moby dick is one of the best English-language novels that has ever been written, which I’m not disagreeing with as the novel holds huge amounts of complexity and depth which meant I found it quite confusing at times. Despite the novels ambitious language, I found the book to become very boring, mainly due to the fact that I don't share a keen interest in whales as Melville and some readers.

Nonetheless, the underlying story is actually pretty interesting. Ishmael who is illustrated as this outcast narrates his adventures with captain Ahab who is portrayed as this powerful and captivating character. They set out on a mission to fill the ship with sperm whale oil but as you read on it becomes clear it wasn't as easy as first anticipated.

Scarlett Parker