Moby Dick

Written by Herman Melville

Narrated by Frank Muller

Its famous opening line, "Call me Ishmael," dramatic in its stark simplicity, begins an epic that is widely regarded as the greatest novel ever written by an American. Labeled variously a realistic story of whaling, a romance of unusual adventure and eccentric characters, a symbolic allegory, and a drama of heroic conflict, Moby Dick is first and foremost a great story. It has both the humor and poignancy of a simple sea ballad, as well as the depth and universality of a grand odyssey. When Melville's father died in 1832, the young man's financial security went too. For a while he turned to school-mastering and clerking, but failed to make a sustainable income. In 1840 he signed up on the whaler, Acushnet, out of New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was just 21. A whaler's life turned out to be both arduous and dangerous, and in 1842, Melville deserted ship. Out of this experience and a wealth of printed sources, Melville crafted his masterpiece.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: May 30, 2008
• ISBN: 9781436100021

Herman Melville

Herman Melville (1819-1891) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. Following a period of financial trouble, the Melville family moved from New York City to Albany, where Allan, Herman’s father, entered the fur business. When Allan died in 1832, the family struggled to make ends meet, and Herman and his brothers were forced to leave school in order to work. A small inheritance enabled Herman to enroll in school from 1835 to 1837, during which time he studied Latin and Shakespeare. The Panic of 1837 initiated another period of financial struggle for the Melvilles, who were forced to leave Albany. After publishing several essays in 1838, Melville went to sea on a merchant ship in 1839 before enlisting on a whaling voyage in 1840. In July 1842, Melville and a friend jumped ship at the Marquesas Islands, an experience the author would fictionalize in his first novel, Typee (1845). He returned home in 1844 to embark on a career as a writer, finding success as a novelist with the semi-autobiographical novels Typee and Omoo (1847), befriending and earning the admiration of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Oliver Wendell Holmes, and publishing his masterpiece Moby-Dick in 1851. Despite his early success as a novelist and writer of such short stories as “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “Benito Cereno,” Melville struggled from the 1850s onward, turning to public lecturing and eventually settling into a career as a customs inspector in New York City. Towards the end of his life, Melville’s reputation as a writer had faded immensely, and most of his work remained out of print until critical reappraisal in the early twentieth century recognized him as one of America’s finest writers.

Reviews for Moby Dick

[viccavalli · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I listened to the unabridged text as an audiobook over a couple of months of long drives to and from work, and what struck me most was the structure of this huge book: the story of Ahab is essentially a short story which Melville has fragmented and embedded in thousands of tons of blubber! That is bold. I think it's also interesting that when this long text finally ends we're actually not quite half way through Melville's source--the sinking of the Nantucket ship Essex in 1820. Within this context, Melville's colossal text is actually a truncated and abbreviated version of his primary source! Again, wild to think of it. Because I love to hear stories even more than to read them, because the rhythms have a physical presence when read aloud, I highly recommend the text as an audiobook. That Melville would devote an entire chapter to "The Blow Hole" is outrageous in many ways, but also an interesting listen. A friend told me her professor advised her class to "not wait for the whale" as they were reading the novel. That's hard advice to take. The book is definitely a unique experience.

[clurb · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I was really enjoying this for the first few chapters, but then Melville seemed to think that rather than writing the middle piece of plot, he'd be better off splurging dry, uninteresting essays on whaling and sealife across several hundred pages. Then suddenly, a few chapters away from the back cover, I hit storyline again and took the razor blade away from my wrist.Yes, it's layered and full of symbolism and metaphor, and if you were studying this dutifully you'd get more enjoyment out of it than I did, but it's really not the sort of book that works well as a light summer read.

[eoin-311239 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The most beautiful modern edition of an undisputed masterpiece. Stranger, funnier, and more varied than I imagined, this edition literally stopped people on the street. A homeless man in San Francisco stopped and admired the book, smiling as he told me he "needed that".

[kidsisyphus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Everyone eventually comes across the White Whale in one form or another. The trick is to not keep its attention for too long.

*****

Avast! Dost thee have a five spot thou can see thyself parting ways with?

No?

Jibberjab up the wigwam! Cuisinart the poopdeck!

What's that ye say? Thou canst not make heads nor tails of what I sayeth?

Here then. Let me take this pipe outta my mouth and stop menacing you with this harpoon. Better? Good.

Huh? No, no! Ho-ho! I wasn't asking for money! I was asking if you've seen the White Whale! Ha-ha!

No?

Okay, okay…well then, do you know who famously wrote, "The world seems logical to us because we have made it logical"?

Here's a hint: his bushy visage and even bushier philosophies have launched a thousand heavy metal bands.

Take your time. I'll just hone the point of this harpoon…

No again? No biggie, I'm happy to report that it is none other than one Friedrich Nietzsche.

But we know what became of that crusty old phrenologist, don't we? He went nuts. Why? Because he grew up in a house full of women, of course. But guess what? Turns out that hanging out with a bunch of guys doesn't work out too well, either.

Especially when they're so monomaniacal about Dick.

Moby-Dick.

You know? The White Whale?

Of course that's what I meant. What else did you --- ? You what?

Put away all that sophomoric homoerotic stuff, won't you? Let us turn to the thrust of the plot. The long and hard plot, whose veiny, undulating, ruminative tributaries all lead back to the all-consuming desire for globulous sperm…aceti.

I know what you're thinking, "Who the hell does this guy think he is, reviewing a canonical work like Moby-Dick? What aplomb!"

Aplomb? Really?

Who says aplomb any more? Just for that, I'm gonna tell you what happens -- EVERYBODY DIES AT THE END!

Jerk.

Yeah, yeah. You're right. I should put the harpoon back down. Sorry. I just get worked up sometimes.

Now. This is the fourth time I've read this weighty tome, and I ain't gonna lie -- I may not be able to bend spoons with my mind, but I'm not as scared of clowns as I used to be.

For reals.

You see, Melville gets me. I'm a little outta my depth arguing epistemology, but a guy who challenges the conceit that any sort of absolute truth can be apprehended already has my sympathies. Then when he opens a book of exhaustive -- and exhausting -- prose, itself like so much chanting by a humble pilgrim before his incomprehensible and terrible god, with a casual, "Call me Ishmael." Well. One thinks that he would be just as comfortable with the moniker The Dude.

What's in a name, man? It's all relative.

Fucking hippie, right?

Right!

And guess what? The hippie's the only one to make it out alive! (So I lied, everybody doesn't die.) There's a mad man at the helm of this rapacious project we call Life and you've got to be a bit of a hippie yourself if you plan on enduring it. Yet, there's nothing you can do about your participation in said project -- where would you go? Jump in the ocean?

HERE BE SHARKS.

And what's worse, what else would a guy like our mad man do than captain a doomsday machine? It's impossible for the mad man to do anything else. What? Ahab as gourmand?

"Damn thy eyes for a Cossack but if this not be the most succulent baked halibut in ten counties!"

Maybe it's a sort of inertia: certain professions attract certain types. Just look at Wall Street. Or the latest amateur video of a cop beating some innocent senseless. Or those child-molesting priest assholes.

Or clowns.

We're doomed!

Still, if you can channel your inner hippie, you might just be okay. "Oh man! admire and model thyself after the whale! Do thou, too, live in this world without being part of it." Not bad advice. The whale's lack of humanly reason isn't just dumb animalism, but is really a sort of supra-reason. The whale, like our hippie, is a wanderer that is never going to complete a journey. Welcome incompleteness! It'll ensure that you survive those brushes with the White Whale. Surrender to the idea of "Doubts of all things earthly, and intuitions of some things heavenly; this combination makes neither believer nor infidel."

To mistake that mossy crust of reason gathered on the back of Schopenhaurean WILL as the conclusion of the Self instead of mere technique available to the same is to invite what D.H. Lawrence calls the "mystic dream-horror" of Moby-Dick.

Come again? You can't wait for Hollywood to suck the last bit of marrow from America's bones with something directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Bruce Willis as Ahab? Keanu Reeves as Ishmael, George Lopez as Queequeg, and Vin Diesel as Starbuck? With the whale rendered in vainglorious CGI?

Me? Oh, nothing. Just setting the pipe so, hefting my harpoon, and ---

THAR SHE BLOWS!

[kipp15 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was suprised by how much I loved it. I was surprised by the diversity of the crew and how they were portaryed. I thought I would dread the long time spent on types of whales and how to kil a whale etc. This stuff was actually very interesting because is historical and rich. The story is powerful.

[writercity · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was 607 pages of epicness. There were a few dry chapters here and there, but altogether a well-plotted and very detailed story. I loved the chapter on cetology very much and anyone who is into that type of marine biology would benefit from that; the history of whaling that is discussed with killing and selling isn't forced.

[mausergem_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A book which is read 150 plus years after its published is almost always good. This book describes an occupation which went out of vogue some time ago. Its afirst hand experience of an whaleman. It is an in depth and comprehensive narrative of whalers. Some emotional aspects add additional flavor . All in all a good book

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I read this when I was very young, and I don't really remember it very well. Another for the list of things to reread now I'm older and wiser!

[bookconcierge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Digital audiobook performed by Anthony HealdThis is a re-read … sort of. The first time I attempted this book I was only 11 years old, in 7th grade, and participating in a “great books” discussion group. I gave up and relied on the Cliff’s notes and watching the movie with Gregory Peck as Ahab. Some years ago, I read Nathaniel Philbrick’s excellent In the Heart Of the Sea, a nonfiction account of the whaleship Essex, which was the inspiration for Melville’s tale. I found it fascinating and commented “Almost makes me want to read Moby Dick.” Well I didn’t forget that urge and decided to give the audiobook a try. I’m glad I did.Yes, Melville writes in great detail – ad nauseum – about the intricacies of whaling, the various species of aquatic mammals, the arduous and dirty (even disgusting) job of butchering the carcass. But he also explores the relationships developed among the crew, the sights of new ports, the weeks of tedious boredom broken by a day or two of exhilarating chase. And then there is the psychology of Ahab. A man tortured by his own obsession and need for revenge. That was the most interesting part of the book for me and I wanted much more of it. I struggled with my rating and ultimately decided on 4 stars for the enduring quality of the work; despite its flaws and the things I disliked about it it’s a work that will stay with me. Anthony Heald was the narrator of the audio book I got from my library. He did a fine job of the narration. He read at a good pace and brought some life to a work that frequently bogs down in minutia.

[jonfaith · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read this in tandem w/ friends, a full spectrum of opinion was thus established. My friend Roger Baylor left an indelible smudge on his own critical reputation for his hapless remarks. I tended to the ecstatic edge of said continuum. I did find the novel's disparate elements an obstacle at times, but, then again, I had to temper my velocity anyway as it was a group read: there's been sufficient snark from my mates for a decade now about plowing through a selection in a weekend. There was such a foam of detail and philosophy. The terrors of thunder and the groan of salty timber abounded. The stale breath of morning would often freeze upon the very page. The majesty of Melville's prose was arresting, it held, bound -- it felt as if one's focus was being nailed to the mast like Ahab's gold. Moby Dick is such a robust tapestry, epic and yet filigreed with minor miracles and misdeeds.

I do look forward to a reread.

[borg6mx5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Many consider this The Great American Novel. It is most assuredly one of the more challenging reads. Moby Dick is many books in one. It is history, it is prose, it is an action adventure novel, it is a deeply spiritual book. It is a retelling of Paradise Lost. Moby Dick is about whaling and the quest for vengance. Captain Ahab wishes to avenge himself on the massive white whale that took his leg. He seduces his crew into this flawed quest and ends up destroying all but one. The one who tells the tale. One should at least attempt to read Moby Dick. Modern literature has no equal.

[soylentgreen23 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another of those books I read when I was breaking out of my Star Trek shell; Khan shouts the last lines at Kirk and so I was hooked. When I finally arrived there, at that moment with Ahab and the white whale, I was moved in a way that rarely happens - the same way I was moved by those last lines of Dickens's in "A Tale of Two Cities."The book itself is extraordinary. At times it reads more like an encyclopedia of whaling, and for that I'm actually grateful. Certainly it would have been easier for me to just have read about Ishmail, Queequeg, Ahab and all those concerned with the hunt for Moby Dick, but the extra depth Melville goes into never feels like mere padding - the weight of the book is alive with the spirit of a time surely lost forever.

[danrebo_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read Moby for an independent review project in 10th grade and fell in love with the non-fiction aspects as much as anything. After reading some lit. crit. about it I also began to appreciate the fiction's symbolism, but I have always enjoyed being awed by the real world of non-fiction and never have been truly convinced by literary arguments that somehow fiction is somehow "more real" or even more fun or free.

[jacobseifert-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had no idea 19th century whaling was so interesting. I can't imagine sailing around in a boat, almost aimlessly, hoping to come across a gigantic animal to then row out in a boat and stab it to death! And then there's the whole process of harvesting the usable materials from the carcass--which is both gruesome and awesome. In my opinion, just learning about the days of whaling past is enough reward for reading Moby Dick. Ishmael, Queequeg, and Ahab are like icing on the cake--granted I wish there would have been more icing, lots more icing. The characters in this novel are incredibly enjoyable. I would guess only about half of the content is devoted to them, the other half explains the logistics, history, or whathaveyou of whaling. A bit more time with these interesting characters would have been appreciated. The writing, however, was beautiful at all times. The ships the Pequod came across were some of my favorite passages. And Ahab was impressive but pathetic, powerful yet weak, all at once. It's a monster of a book, but I think it's worth the time. Using an annotated version may be a good idea. While Ishmael does explain a lot of things, there is quite a bit he takes for granted that the readers knows.

[kylekatz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sublime. In this day and age it is awesome to slow down to the speed of this story and remember what it was like before the internet, before even radio, to be out upon the vast sea for years awhaling.

[iaia852 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Moby Dick is an American Classical Novel that shows us how whaling was in the 1800's of the USA. It vividly depicts the actions of the main character and of the whale. It will get maybe tiresome sometimes and boring but definitely worth the read. I will give Moby Dick 3 out of 5 stars.

[versor-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I can't imagine that any paltry review I should write would do justice to this Leviathan, over which so much ink has been spilled these many years. E'en so, I shall endeavor to offer my thoughts, though they be incomplete, and insufficient, and nigh forgotten.

I delighted in the style and progress of this book. I can see how many would find it distasteful, and others a source of ennui, and still more a drab and distraught description of a dreary occupation. But I reveled in the work, in the detail, in moments both of focus and of bleary-eyed dedication to the craft.

Yet now I wax poetical, and I digress. The book is a monstrosity, like its final subject, the Leviathan - but in the same way, as Melville describes that creature as noble, even divine, his masterpiece warrants the term. I only wish that I could get away with such writing - indeed, that I could come up with it at all. I enjoyed this book immensely.

On the other hand, it was not perfect. That selfsame style, which I so enjoyed, creates a lackluster performance in the moments of greatest stress. The chase, the hunt, and the battle are as afar-off, distant, and vague. We observe the most thrilling events as one might observe liquid pigmentation exsiccating. Don't misunderstand: I loved the detail; but it lent itself to exceeding dullness, when things ought to be most exciting.

Furthermore, Melville tells the tale from the perspective of one Ishmael, a sailor who signs on with the Pequod, the ill-fated ship of Captain Ahab. We follow Ishmael, and his friend, Queequeg, for the majority of the book. Indeed, the book that purports to tell the tale of Ahab neglects to speak a word about the man for pages and pages on end. A huge swath of the book passes by without even a mention of the dreaded monomaniac.

To be fair, though, Melville mirrors this neglect at the other end. As we near the finish of this tome, perhaps around the hundredth chapter, we seem to have completely forgotten Ishmael and any sense of perspective. We hear from Starbuck, the first mate; we hear from Ahab, from Pip, from Fedallah, but nary a word from old Ishmael, our first and last narrator. Perhaps Melville meant it this way, so he could close with an epilogue where he details Ishmael's escape in brief - but it seems more like Melville himself got caught up in the tale of Ahab and his monomania, completely forgetting the original perspective of his story. It seems, to me at least, a shortcoming.

There are other failings. Melville's notions of nobility and divinity in the whale hint at a blasphemy that does not end there. While the author condemns the Satanism, the violent dedication of the villainous captain, he carries on - through Ishmael - an unpleasant trust in paganism and pantheism. Abandoning the Christian values he at times espouses, he embraces a universalist idea, that pagans and barbarians and Christians all worship, in earnest or in vain, to their own salvation or damnation. In short, his religious views are weak, and flagrantly oppose good moral sense and piety.

And yet, all told, the book is a boon and a delight. You may disagree; you are so allowed. It would not surprise me. But I am better for the reading.

[dbsovereign · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Though descriptions of the types of whales, whaling, whaling implements, etc. can take up most of this novel (and bore one to tears), there are sections of the book that are absolutely sublime. Ultimately it can be read as a book about perceptual bias and how people are notoriously narrow-minded and way too biased/focused/obssessed for their own good. The whale's eyes, on the other hand, see two different worlds simultaneously...

[juliabeth · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is not the easiest read. The format of the book constantly changes and rambles; it goes slowly, and wraps back around itself. However, if you have the energy to put in, it is an important and worthwhile project.

[axelp_384971 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event--in the living act, the undoubted deed--there, some unknown but still reasoning thing put forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask. If man will strike, strike through the mask! How can the prisoner reach outside except by thrusting through the wall? To me, the white whale is that wall, shoved near to me. Sometimes I think there's naught beyond. But 'tis enough."

[tadad_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I will concede that this is an American classic...even the American classic...only if, in return, I get dispensation from having to finish it.Seriously though, I found the book exhausting and gave up after 250 pages. I think that I needed to be reading this under the care of an expert—say, a college course—or, at least, in a heavily annotated version. I was half-overwhelmed by symbology, usually only dimly perceived, thinking I was being taken on a journey through Christian faith toward atheistic rationalism but never quite being able to appreciate fully the scenery along the way. I did enjoy the humor when I encountered it, but did not enjoy the slog through wordiness in between. And...I certainly reached my limit on whaling-ology, a subject I find myself less interested in now than previously.To date, my Melville comprised only Billy Budd, which I did not enjoy. I felt the need to attempt his classic but can now say with reasonable certainty that I am not a Melville fan.

[benkaboo-51322 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The author writes in long sentances that drip with poetry. Personally I think they sound/feel a bit like shakespear. There appear to be more words than are needed, but at the same time they have a musical quality that forgives the excess.

Chapter 42: The Whiteness of the Whale: Oh golly, I can't believe how this chapter drags as the author spends 9-10 pages making an argument for why the color/hue white should be menacing versus calming (assuming you thought it was calming in the first place).

Chapter 43-44: Really nice writing that continue to build the sense of menace and foreshadowing of the plot. As much as I was dragged through chapter 42, I really like the pacing of these chapters which refresh me and keep me in the story.

There is quite a bit of foreshadowing, lots of references to dark and dangerous things he will need to tell you in the future.

[egrant5329 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I finally got around to reading this book. The book was a little hard to read due to the more complicated sentence structure used in 1851 when it was published. The book had a lot of potential, but the story was diluted down by all the information on whales. The info was interesting, however, it distracted the reader from the story. I found it odd how one chapter would be "normal" writing, then the next would be older style English, which I didn't like to read. The book could have easily been trimmed by 200 pages and much more character dialogue added to build the story.

[schmerguls · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

On June 28, 1949, I said: Reading Moby Dick. Pretentious and--curse of curses--mid-19th centuryish. On July 1 I said: Reading Moby Dick. Should be something of an expert on whaling when I'm finished. Tis loaded with purely descriptive chapters. Of course, I will say that Melville does write somewhat entertaingly if stiltily. On July 9 I said: Finished Moby Dick today. It had a good ending and wasn't really so awful though it had pages and pages of intrinsically non-interesting stuff. I ought to know all about whaling now, but I don't know that I do. In the end, Moby Dick sinks the whole ship "Pequod," only the narrator of the story surviving!

[jimmaclachlan · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Wrong edition. I've read a couple over the years. The full version kind of sucks because the middle third or so was just plain boring. Probably realistic, but I don't want to be a whaler. Later I read an edited version & found it much more palatable.

[joye_22 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have to admit that I faked reading this book in high school because I wanted to impress a boy who assured me that I would "see God" after reading it. There: I said it. I am a phony.I did read this voluntarily in college, though, and after struggling through what I thought would be never-ending sections about the infinite uses of whale fat, I did love the book. I do love it. I thought the characterization was beautiful and elegant, and I did almost glimpse a deity.

[leli1013 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've been reading this for about ten years now and I am determined to finish it. Melville's writing is incredible. There is a rhythm to it that is almost soothing and that might be the problem. This is the book I read to help me fall asleep and I think that is why its taken me so long to finish it.

[gregorio_roth · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great book that is so much more than just a hunting of a whale. Or an obsession towards an objective truth. This book is truly one I would take with me on an Island and read and re-read again. The power of the whale is worth the great white hunt?" Its also worth all the background material on Whales. For the background gives the amazing quality that whales held on Nantucket and New England at one time. One can not get to the heart of Ahab's folly without the heart exposed of a great white whale. "I watched last night, on Nova, Scientists attempting to find the Wolverine, an elusive animal, that dodges, darts and hides from man. I recalled Ahab's search for Moby-Dick. The scientists held the same type of fanaticism to find their wolverines." This book will be read again and again, and is part of my essential library. I also enjoyed the "Big Book Project" from the lads across the Pond in Plymouth U.K..

[ironmike_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There's a cartoon where a writer goes storming out of a publisher's office screaming, "You fools would have rejected Moby Dick!" And after he leaves, one editor turns to the other and says, "Actually, we did."Well, were I an editor, I would have rejected it too. Three times I have tried reading this book. Each time I get a little further, but I've decided that my ambition in life has little to do with knowing whale anatomy. Maybe I'll just skip to the ending. Melville wrote Bartleby The Scrivener, which I liked very much, so I have nothing against the guy. But if I have to be an admirer of Moby Dick in order to be considered educated, I guess I'll just settle for being a dunce.

[jbd1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've read this several times, and each time I hit a different level of what Melville was going for. It's one of those books that could be read year after year and never be the same twice.