Moby Dick

This book taught meand showed how hard everything was back then because the sailors had to sail miles and miles getting sick and living on a ship made out of wood filled with sickness and sometimes people die and this shows me to be grateful on how travels are so much safer.

This book was extremely fascinating and I felt the suspense . I kind of got thriller ish vibes and the plot was amazing.

a classic must read book ,a whale of a story LOL. moral of the story , sometime we should just let the bad things that happen to us go because revenge can be deadly .

Best adaptation of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain I've ever read. Big props to Melville. He's pretty good.

This is an adapted and abridged version of the original. It was a very good and easy read. I found it hard reading the whale killing scenes. They are Very brutal.

Romanzo di avventura, avvincente, affascinante, molto bello.

The best part about classic novels is that it can be read infinite times. Author Herman Melville’s magnum opus novel – Moby Dick belongs to that league of timeless classics. Inspired by a true story of whale hunting, ‘Moby Dick’ is an action-packed, adventurous sea tale revolving around a fanatic captain named Ahab who is obsessed on hunting a sperm whale. His ambition of killing the sperm whale is so suicidal that he sucks all his ship mates in this mission to track down and kill the gigantic sea monster. The 2015 thrilling sea adventure movie – In the heart of the sea was based on the book written by author Nathaniel Philbrick. The sinking of ship ‘Essex’ by a gigantic sperm whale in 1820 inspired author Herman Melville to write ‘Moby Dick’. Author Nathaniel Philbrick took the event of Essex incident as his topic and penned a bestseller novel – In the heart of sea (2001).

The whole premise of Moby Dick is set in the sea. The novel opens with the introduction of the narrator – Ishmael, a teacher whose love for sea voyages intrigues him to sign up on a whaling ship. Since he loves being a sailor, he ropes in a whaling ship named ‘Pequod’ to learn about skills of whaling. On his journey, he befriends a cannibalistic harpooner named Queequeg. Initially Ishmael is scared of Queequeg’s strange nature. Later they bond well. While boarding the ship ‘Pequod’, a mad man named ‘Elijah’ warns Ishmael about the ship and its eccentric captain Ahab. Despite the warning, Ishmael and Queequeg board on the ship Pequod. On board the ship, Ishmael meets Captain Ahab and gets familiar with the captain’s crazy passion to hunt down the whale – Moby Dick.

The first three chapters are focused on Ishmael the lead character who survives to tell the story of Moby Dick. But in later chapters, the entire focus shifts on Captain Ahab’s mission of killing the monstrous whale. The real hero of the novel is Captain Ahab who will go to any extent to see the sea monster dead. Little does he realize that in his pursuit of chasing the sperm whale, he is also risking the lives of his ship mates. The descriptions of sea life are so perfect and vivid that you feel that you are really on a ship. I could actually smell the sea while reading the book. The novel ends on a thrilling yet tragic note where no one survives in the ship sinking except Ishmael. Ishmael survives the dangerous ordeal and lives to tell the story of mad captain Ahab and the sea monster named ‘Moby Dick’. The action scenes in the book are so thrillingly written that you can actually feel the splash of water on your face. The waves, the storm, the collision of the ship and the whale’s gigantic entry: All these sequences leave goosebumps. This is one of the best sea adventure novels I thoroughly enjoyed since ‘Twenty thousand leagues under the sea’. It is not just a racy page turner, but a glimpse at the hard sea life of sailors on board the ships. They have to face hunger, storms, cyclones, heavy rainfalls and even mutiny within the ship. Reading Moby Dick was a cinematic experience on paper. It was like seeing a Hollywood movie on IMAX Screen. I had brought Moby Dick book back in 2002. But due to conflicting work schedules, I was unable to read this classic. Today I when read this book in detail, every moment of Moby Dick was worth the time.

Through Ishmael’s character, we visualize all the events in front of our eyes. Written in first person narrative, the novel also introduces us to other characters – Starbuck, Stubbs, Flask, Tashtego, Daggoo and Fedallah. The book ‘Moby Dick’ reminded me of another sea disaster – Titanic. It constantly kept me reminding of movie ‘Titanic’ and the star-crossed lovers – Jack and Rose. The sea adventure novel – Moby Dick was adapted in movie countless times. Actor Gregory Peck portrayed Captain Ahab in the 1956 movie adaptation. The 2011 TV movie featured actor Ethan Hawke as Starbuck the shipmate who opposes Captain Ahab’s dream of catching the whale. Director Ron Howard adapted author Nathaniel Philbrick’s book as the script for his movie based on the tragedy of Whaleship Essex. The book ‘Moby Dick’ is equally magnificent as movie ‘Titanic’. Even Steven Spielberg’s movie – Jaws was highly inspired by Moby Dick. While movie Jaws was based on a shark, Moby Dick was story of a monstrous sperm whale. If you love adventurous novels, then I highly recommend reading Herman Melville’s masterpiece novel – Moby Dick.

Gave it 3 stars only because it’s an abridged version. But for a youngster, it’s a good read of a classic!