Joanie’s Reviews > Moby-Dick; or, The Whale > Status Update

it's like i haven't updated at all but life has been so busy and moby-dick has been the only book i've been reading on my spare time. i've been consumed with this for weeks now. this re-read's been great even if i haven't been at a pace i want. the prose!!! oh, melville's just showing off. i'm slowly getting more people on board to commit to this.

I keep getting interrupted but I'm nearing the end! btw the pg count for this edition is way off. like, a good 50 pgs too many, I think? trying to estimate but not check bc I don't want to spoil myself. getting nervous.

'For whatever is truly wondrous and fearful in man, never yet was put into words or books. And the drawing near of Death, which alike levels all, alike impresses all with a last revelation, which only an author from the dead could adequately tell.' (p. 686) NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. nope. n. o. p. e.

'...for there is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.' (p. 556) a chilly day out so i'm getting a lot of reading done with chores in between it all. also snuck a glance at an edition w/o illustrations and it turns out the book is under 600 pgs. I'm really glad I got this one w them though.

sometimes I get to the end of a line or a paragraph where Ishmael is gushing hard about whales, namely, the Sperm Whale, and I have to be amused. this is a lot more comedic than its rep would have you believe. too tired to read more tonight.

chapter LX: The Line just ends so beautifully. I've really taken to all the detail. every detail about the whaling process. the weekend is here so I expect to get some lovely early morning reading (!) done soon. M-D is not satisfying in short bursts, though the chapters being so small at times keeps me reading on like how you snack on chips thinking: 'just one more.' bam! countless chips later.

like the crew of the Pequod, I haven't made much progress today. that's fine, it's been nice to have a few diversions. I do enjoy the random whale chapters. I can practically see these depictions, so fastidiously are they described. onwards, tomorrow!

This is such a feat of storytelling. sure, I never would want to go to the sea for more than hours at a time but I'm very much on board with reading about this mission. really feeling the passage of time here. wondering when ol' Ahab's here gonna hit paydirt. I kinda like Starbuck and Stubb so I'm not rooting for M-D to demolish them all but well, we'll see.

'Besides, he thought, perhaps, that in this business of whaling, courage was one of the great staple outfits of the ship, like her beef and her bread, and not to be foolishly wasted.' (p. 164) so I just read the Cetology and it did drag a bit but I survived! from the reputation of this book I thought I'd be ensnared for a good 1/4th, jeez. I wouldn't mind be rewarded with both cod and clam chowder though.

'that one most perilous and long voyage ended, only begins a second; and a second ended, only begins a third and so on, for ever and for aye. Such is the endlessness, yea, the intolerableness of all earthly effort.' (p. 87) the illustrations in this ed paire w the text is reading like a DREAM. this one I'll read just before bed, off to the sea when the house is all quiet.