Moby-Dick, or, the Whale is much, much better in my personal opinion, HOWEVER, you can see from these novellae a hint of maybe where Herman Melville got his ideas from. (I may be a biased commentator since that was my very first big thick novel. I got it out from the library when I was the littlest of girls, and I looked up every single word I didn't understand.)
I just hung up the phone from discussing these three books which Library of America combined into an omnibus.
I don't know if I am glad that publishing company did or whether I would have preferred if they would have split them into separate tales to consider individually...

What I liked most from this text was seeing some of the GRE vocabulary used in different contexts than how my study books offer.

The names Melville came up with are inventive as well. In the context of the 19th century, there are some really bizarre nouns in there to consider.

So, Typee is the monologue of a lost sailor among the people he labels as "savages."
Omoo has some basic illustration but I didn't get to contemplate it or Mardi fully in time before this book had to return to the library, so I will come back to it later because I do like the premise (and learning the words better). Honestly, it was from Melville that I first learned the convention of summarising what I meant to accomplish in a chapter before going about it, rather than any writing teacher.

I mean to come back to this one after done taking my test.

Forget Typee and Omoo, they are mere travelogues. Read only Mardi, Melville's prequel to Moby-Dick.

I haven't read this book (though now I'm curious). Have no idea how this got here!

Typee--adventure story only read because Melville did better later. Here are the basics: jumped ship on Pacific isle, horrendous idols, savage cannibals, and half-clad nymphs. Titillation and adrenalin for the 1800's. And speculations on the good life, too (good life = piles of breadfruit, nymphs, and bananas).

October 5, 2006 - Typee:

Sure he took some liberties with the story - that's why it's fiction and not a "memoir". And yet, the great themes he would wrestle with forever are in here, waiting to be explored in greater depth later. A little sluggish at times, but a great first attempt.

May 30, 2009 - Omoo:

Clearly "part two" of his great south seas adventures. On the one hand, you can see him growing weary of the strict non-fictional narrative (paving the way for the more overtly "fictionalized" Mardi). On the other hand, since he jumped ship again in Hawaii before eventually making his way back to America after being at sea for 4 years, you rather wish there was a "part three".

as for the book itself, it drags a bit in the second half, as he tries to relay factual data about Tahiti, and you can see Melville struggling with some sort of arc for his story. but, as with Typee, you can see the great themes here - civilized man v. natural man, truth, honesty, morality, religion. all waiting for him to expand upon.

January 5, 2013 - Mardi:

In "Moby Dick" Ishmael says that "A whale-ship was my Yale College and my Harvard"; Mardi was Melville's. The book is - and i say this as a fan of Melville - an unorganized mess in which you can see a writer learning how to write, falling in love with language, experimenting with forms and structures, and discovering what really interests him and how we can explore it. It is far more ambitious than "Typee" and "Omoo", a type of story that he was clearly bored with during "Omoo" and which he begins this book with and abandons about a third of the way in - but it absolutely outstrips his ability at this point and thus is, at times, almost unreadable as he struggles to keep up with his dreams.

If you love Melville, it's worth reading. If you're interested in watching a writer try to find himself in real time, it might be worth digging into as well (though at nearly 700 pages you might want to see if there are other similar exercises elsewhere that are shorter). If you're not interested in either, you might want to go elsewhere. And that's from someone who, as i said, considers himself a fan.

Not Melville's best work, but these three early novels provided a flavor of the novelist he was to become.

Omoo - *** See my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Typee - *** See my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Interesting book based on fact of man in 1800's, early visitor who abandoned his ship and flees inland. Ends up staying with the Tyee tribe renown as cannabals. Explains his journey inland, finding the tribe and living with them for approx 4 months where they refuse to let him try to leave, but feed and treat him with respect. Very interesting to read about this type of culture who at that time had rarely seen white English or French men. He observes and explains many customs, waits, religious practices and also touches on the cannabalism.

Finished Typee and Omoo, now onto Mardi.

If you like this type of writing, you will enjoy it. Not as good or interesting as Moby Dick, but a good set of stories from the era.

Many years ago, a man I really respect told me I should really read Moby Dick. For many years, I tried, and just couldn't hack it. I decided towards the end of last year that I'd try again, but adopt a different approach. I'd read all of Melville, starting with his first novel. I'm not sorry I decided to do that.

Typee was wonderful, light and diverting. Omoo offered lots of food for thought, but the sprawling expanse of Mardi thwarted me for a while. I picked it back up this year, and just breezed on through. Once you catch your stride, it's really an easy read. I found it to be challenging in the sense that I just couldn't process how all the pieces fit together, and I really can't offer any theories at this point. Perhaps the best thing to say is that when I finished Mardi, I felt the strong urge to start again and read the 800+ pages all over again to figure out what I missed along the way. That, in my mind, makes for a fine book.

This is volume 1 in the Library of America series, and a great edition of these books. Highly recommended.

Four stars for Typee and Omoo, one star for Mardi. That one was an absolute drag.