Moby-Dick [adaptation]

by Jan Needle (Adapter), Herman Melville (Original author), Patrick Benson (Illustrator)

Jan Needle abridges Herman Melville’s epic to focus on the intensely dramatic story of Captain Ahab’s ill-fated quest for the white whale, while Patrick Benson’s powerful illustrations evoke the lost world of whaling
in enormous detail.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Adventure, Childrens, Graphic Novels, Picture Books, Literature

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Jan Needle has written more than forty books, including novels for adults and children and literary criticism. He also writes plays for stage, TV and radio, including serials and series like Grange Hill, The Bill and Brookside. His first novel, Wild Wood, is a retelling of The Wind in the Willows with Toad, Rat, Mole and Co as the ‘villains’ - a sort of undeserving rural squirearchy – and the stoats and weasels as heroes. A new version was brought out recently by Golden Duck, with the original wonderful illustrations by the late Willie Rushton.

Although he is currently working on a film of perhaps his most celebrated children’s book, My Mate Shofiq, Jan has recently been concentrating on historical novels about his first and most enduring love, the sea, and a series of extremely gritty thrillers. His aim has always been to transcend standard genre writing, which has sometimes brought him disapproval. The ‘hero’ of his first naval fiction, A Fine Boy for Killing, is a borderline sadist, and life on the frigate Welfare undermines almost every heroic myth popularized by earlier writers. Loved or hated, his novels refuse to be ignored.

His thrillers are also firmly in the ‘noir’ spectrum. The most recent is The Bonus Boys, which features a hard-as-nails investigator called Andrew Forbes and his Scottish lover Rosanna ‘the Mouse’ Nixon, who first appeared in Kicking Off, a chilling warning about the fissile state of Britain’s crumbling prisons. More are in the pipeline, as are additions to a series of novellas about crime, the 18th century navy, and the secret world of spies and spying. Even the possibility that Napoleon escaped from his exile on St Helena is examined. Like many ‘mere conspiracy theories’ it uncovers some extraordinary possibilities.

Jan also attempts, in conjunction with Walker Books, to widen the readership for certain classic novels. They include so far Moby Dick, Dracula, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Woman in White, all aimed at a young adult audience . In his spare time, he sails boats and plays a variety of musical instruments.

Reviews

[Samuel Helms · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite book ever and I read it six times thus far. It is mixed with seriously deep plots and symbolism but also great humor. My favorite line is "Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian."

[Wayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prelude:
This series, Walker Illustrated Classics, is supposedly for children!!
But why let them have ALL the fun???!!!??
I've been buying multiple copies of their superbly illustrated (by Inga Moore) "Wind in the Willows" for my adult friends who don't have to have "adult" covers on their 'children's' books to read what they love in public.(Pooh on Harry Potter!!!)
This one has been "cut to the bone" to quote Jan Needle(male)who did the cutting for children and for adults like me who wonders whether he has long enough to live to read Melville's genuine Opus Magnus.
But I do have time to read this and relish the superb illustrations by Patrick Benson.
Walker's Classic Poetry is selected by Michael Rosen, a stalwart, and Paul Howard has done more surpassing illustrations.

Post-Prelude to come!!!

THE REVIEW:
Begin a Ten Week series of lectures on American Literature at the Art gallery of New South Wales, Sydney on Friday 11th March 2011.Happily the lectures are spread over the next 4 months, so one has time to read EVERYTHING!!!...or so we hope!!!

The first lecture deals with Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" and Melville's "Moby Dick".

This is a heavily illustrated abridged children's version, if such a thing is possible.
The illustrations are very informative re the times and whale hunting.
The text from the original so one gets the real flavour of Melville.
Abridged,so one has the time to get an overview when a literature course is breathing down your neck.
I have the original, which is as big as a whale, and hopefully, appetite now whetted,I will find time and motivation to tackle the adult version and sink my teeth deeper into its mysteries and profundities
and philosophical turns.
Somewhere I read that the novel is really an encyclopedic entry on whale-hunting dressed up as a novel.
If so, I found both genres beautifully blended.
The archaic spelling, language and punctuation just added to the flavour as true spices and sauces should.

The bite-sized addicted and instant gratification people on Goodreads will have declared this Magnus Opus "BORING", as they usually do.
Thankfully you will ALL be dead when Melville's book will still be swimming on.
A delightful vision.

Now on to the unabridged, illustration-lacking, much shorter pot-boiler of Mr Nathaniel Hawthorne.
I've already begun and it ain't bad at all!!!

[Rehan Abd Jamil · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Oh! Ahab," cried Starbuck, "not too late is it, even now, the third day, to desist! See! Moby Dick seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly seekest him!"

[Ebani · Rating 1 out of 5]

ahab it's just a whale

i just couldn't get into this book... a bit too dense for me

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book of mixed intertwined threads, some I found amazing reads, some really heavy going. And yet I persevered to the end, and the struggle was well worth it. It was several chapters in that I picked up the secret to this book, its chapter lengths.

Moby-Dick is built up of short chapters, a style that gives it a modern feel, and a style that carried me through the heavy chunks.

As a professional seafarer, my perspective is perhaps different from many readers. I am one of those lucky few who has wandered the Southern Oceans,and visited its deserted, rusting remains of disused whaling stations. As an insight into this lost industry Moby Dick is an amazing book. However, for insights into the interplay between man and the sea I still feel Conrad is the master of the craft.

http://navsbooks.wordpress.com/

[Cameron Hobson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very interesting book! I believe it will challenge the reader to a higher level of thinking. The book is l very elongated to the point of frustration. Also, the book has very risk gay parts. Literally I am talking two men in bed talking about how warm and comforting it is being close to each other. There are areas in the book that talk about trival things that are not nessary to the story line. The book has interest story topic that can't be copied. The vocabulary will help those looking for harder diction. But the Scarlet Letter and Good Earth are both better books. I say this hoping readers understand I dislike the Scarlet Letter.

[Bryce Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This abridged version of the classic tale engages in little too much hand holding in the first few chapter summaries ("Here are the themes, and this is what all the foreshadowing is about!") but this flaw is more than made up for by this gorgeous and evocative illustrations and the meat of Melville's whale tale. Captain Ahab is mad, certainly, and his lust for revenge appalling, but the reader can't help but paddle alongside him to his next encounter with Moby-Dick. The supporting cast is varied and interesting, with their own fully realized fears and motivations, and the titular whale consistently drives the story forward without becoming supernatural. Read it, ye land lubbers.

[Mof · Rating 3 out of 5]

A whale of a tale

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has one of the best drum solos ever!

[Alvaro Alcocer Sotil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tierno cuento que relata la vida de una ballena

[Scott Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

classic

[Rene Low · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the idea of an edited version of Moby Dick with beautiful illustrations to read to my 12 year old son. I remembered finding the original book a slog, especially when Melville detoured from the main story to expound upon what he believed he knew about whales, but I found this book lacking in some way. My son never got drawn in to the story as he found Ahabs stupidity in chasing the massive white whale so confounding as to be impossible to believe. It was also hard to become invested in these characters as they were so foreign in their actions and thoughts and he asked me at one point why we were hearing about all of these other characters if this book was about Ishmael. He, like me, would have preferred to hear more about Ishmael. I remembered liking the main story of Moby Dick when I had read it despite being frustrated that there was too much unnecessary blubber that was wrapped around that main story but somehow this rendering of the story missed the mark a bit.

[Neal Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

This edition has been abridged effectively, with verbatim sections from the original text being linked by paraphrased summaries. And the illustrations are imaginative and powerful, drawn from all points of view including the depths of the ocean looking up, although for some reason Moby Dick’s jaw looks disjointed and feeble.

This isn’t a young child’s book: the subject matter is brutal from start to finish, even apart from the main themes. For example, the narrator points out that the ship (Pequod) is named for a tribe that was wiped out by European settlers; the crew members’ favourite pastime is knife fighting; and a boy crew member is driven mad when the ship sails off and leaves him in the ocean as punishment.

[Ruth Paszkiewicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally a version of Moby Dick that I could get through! - It is very much "cut to the bone" of the story, as Jan Needle says in his introduction, so in essence hes done away with the endless pages on the prduction of whale oil, and stuck to the actual action. Some character development is lost in this process, although where there are large gaps in the presented excerpts, Needle has filled in his own summary of what is missing, as well as context and commentary.
The pictures are dramatically rendered, bringing the drama to life, and filling in for some of the characterisation which seems to be missing.

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up to have an idea of an abridged-ish version and it wasn't too bad. I appreaciated the illustrations but the only thing I would say is not to read this unless you know the story/ending of Moby Dick because the adapter gives away the ending of the whole book in the first page of this version.

[Sarah M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very glad that I read the abridged, illustrated version of Moby Dick because I may not have finished it otherwise. Very nicely written, easy to read and learned a few bits about whales, definitely worth it!

[Sara]

a clasic nothing to add or can add

[Sophia]

It's so good. The last paragraph gave me shivers. Would definitely recommend this book

[Mathangiee · Rating 4 out of 5]

great. wish i understood more of it though; t'was quite old timey. need to read the unabridged version one day.

[Zane Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughters gave up 2/3rds the way through but I loved it.

[Tracy Hager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic illustrated story of Moby Dick, which is a perfect companion to the book.

[Dana Salman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, I may not have read this exact edition, but who can tell with classics these days? I wonder if years from now there will be a hundred different editions of the Harry Potter series. I doubt it.
I first discovered Moby Dick at my elementary school library. I used to love white animals (still do really) and I loved whales (that's the impression that 'Free Willy' rubs off on you) so I checked it out. It was a large graphic novel, meant for little kids. It started out with the famouse first lines 'Call me Ishmael'. It described Moby Dick as being hump-backed with a 'crooked jaw'. At the end he is killed by captain Ahab who is stabbing his back 'like a madman', spouting black blood.
The edition I recently read did not start out as 'Call me Ishmael'. Moreover, Moby Dick did not die at the end, which gave me a satisfaction, although in this edition captain Ahab was not so much of a revenge-driven killer as I'd thought he'd been, so I felt sorry for him. I liked Queaqueg (however you spell it) but in this book there was no mention of his death, although of course Ishmael is the only survivor at the end.
Stories like this have these little changes. I get kinda annoyed sometimes because sometimes I would like to know I'm reading the original unedited.
All in all, Moby Dick is a good read when you feel in the mood for sea life.

[Eyzo Stouten · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had some great expectations of this book but did not like it that much. The main story line is well written and interesting. Unfortunately the story is interrupted with trivia about the whaling business and other topics which start to feel like filler after you have encountered enough of them. They are not always interesting by themselves and quite frankly pissed me off when trying to find out what happend next. This made reading it a bit of a chore to me, but in hind sight could also be interpreted as an interesting feature of the book. This wandering of the mind, long strokes of nothingness and boredom represent the day to day live at sea so maybe it is brilliant (on purpose?). I did like the book, not an easy read but a classic story of struggle.

[Emma Monfries · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely not a book for children, illustrations or none. I had forgotten how harrowing this story is. The plight of poor little Pip actually kept me awake at night, not to mention the whales. That said, this was an excellent way to revisit a classic that I would not have reread in its entirety. It is a great tale, and one that most certainly echoes in subsequent literary works. Rich with symbolism, the whalers are depicted as a society quite apart from the rest of the world, whose uniqueness is in their lack of the prejudices of the mainstream of the time. The setting was savage and awful, a world unto itself, where a coffin might just be your saviour after all. Recommended to fans of the classic who aren't quite willing to go the whole hog with the original text.

[Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked how they made it very realistic and how, you think of it, that if you don't read it, it seems like it couldn't happen - but when you read it, it makes it seem like it really happened and reasonable. I like how they used symbols for things happening for different reasons. They really give a little picture in your head.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This edition did a really good job of shortening the book and making it more understandable to a modern reader (I loved the glossary). But, the language is so hard for a kid. Campbell got the main ideas, but I know a lot of the details were lost. Still - it served its purpose and now he has some idea of what Moby Dick is all about.

[Dzanis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terribly boring book with almost no story progress and minimal character development. Some reviewers are calling it similar to Shakespeare. I can only agree.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but it does contain a lot of long passages about whales and such!

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read to compare notes with Ahab's Wife. This is Ishmael's tale.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good condensed version, with some helpful commentary.