My 2017 Big Damn Classic as voted by YOU, the readers, (thanks a lot)! I started listening to this in September 2017 and finished last night.
Librivox says this was only 24 hours long but, lordy, it felt longer sometimes. Stewart Wills is a fantastic reader so if you do dive into this book, find his version on Librivox.org.
So let's get into this, hmm? I'll admit that it took so long to listen to that the beginning of the book is a bit foggy but overall we are met with action and long descriptions. We are met with deep views into people called Savages and into savage people. At the heart of this, Melville delves into the people. I laughed that this was a book with 133 chapters learning about the characters and 2 chapters watching them die. It was actually a terribly sad ending.
Call me Ishmael.
One of the most famous opening lines leads us into Ishmael's narrative about trying to get a job on a whaling ship in Nantucket. He arrives at the Spouter's Inn and is forced to share a bed since they were full. He ends up with Queequeg (or Hedgehog as people kept calling him, which made me laugh harder than it should), a heavily tattooed pagan cannibal who is also an excellent harpooner. Ishmael and Queequeg quickly become friends and soon head to the Pequod to try and get work. Queequeg is a given based on his ability with a harpoon. Ishmael gets in reluctantly.
Ahab is the ship's captain and isn't seen for a long while after the ship has sailed. Chief Mate Starbuck handles everything in the Captain's absence. Second Mate, Stubb and Third Mate, Flask make up the main crew. After the ship is on it's way, Ahab gathers the crew to tell them their goal is to find the white whale, Moby Dick. He offers up a reward for anyone who helps capture and kill the whale. Here we know that, technically, this ship is set for whaling in general. Ahab has now made this voyage his personal vendetta against the whale that took his leg.
Not everyone is pleased with this. The longer the voyage, the less pleased they are with Ahab's direction. At one point, Ahab's death was on the mind of his Chief Mate but, alas, nothing came of it.
In the end, Moby Dick is spotted and, for 3 days, Ahab orders his men out to try and kill the whale. Moby is an angry whale. He wreaks havoc on Ahabs crew: destroying the whale boats, sinking the Pequod and killing everyone on board and finally killing Ahab and everyone in the whale boats.
Except for Ishmael. Who is found days later, clinging to a buoy in the middle of the ocean.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that vengeance is bad. Ahab was cold and heartless towards everyone around him. He was laser-focused on his revenge against the white whale that nothing else, and no one else, mattered. Even when the men of his crew begged him to stop this chase so they would live to see their families, he turned a deaf ear.
There is so much more to this story that my summation doesn't do it justice. Is it worth reading? Yes, I think so. Some chapters nearly killed me but now I know the skeletal anatomy of a whale so there's extra trivia knowledge. I did enjoy meeting the characters and was truly saddened at their demise at the hands of Ahab's fury.
Firstly, there are movies, of which I have seen none:
In The Heart Of The Sea (with Chris Hemsworth, no less) Based on the true story of the Essex being rammed by a sperm whale
Moby Dick with Gregory Peck
And because this is funny!
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