Should I persevere with Moby Dick?

[PlentyOfPubeGardens]

It had been sitting on my kindle unread for about 2 years so I thought I would give it a try. I'm about 1/3 of the way through now and it still isn't grabbing me, although I have been a bit drawn in by the odd beautiful and perceptive passage.

On the one hand, it's a classic and I feel like I ought to have read it and can't have a proper opinion of it until I've finished it. Also, it must be a classic for a reason and I'd hate to miss whatever it is that makes it special.

On the other hand, I'm finding the language on the whole tediously frilly, not much is happening and it's very blokey. Also it's a long book and life is short.

I'm really keen to hear from anybody who has read the whole thing and can tell me what I'll be missing if I give up now. I'm not worried about spoilers, I've read a synopsis

The end is good, but bloody hell it was a long trudge to get there.

I think the biggest problem is that classics were written for the readers of the time and not for us as readers.

Moby Dick was has lots of long descriptive passages (as far as I'm aware from others, I've not read it) which in a time where reading was the form of self entertainment would have been welcome - longer passages, more time filled. We have TV, computers, radio etc. all distractions to fill our day.

Also they are written in the language of their time, which is different from everyday language today, then if a classic is wiritten in a high standard of the language of the time ut can mean it's a bit of an effort to read and understand. Dickens could be an example here.

I think the difference in life style now and then makes an impact in the sense that when I read Pride and Predjudice I felt how utterly tedious sitting around talking about other peoples behaviour is, and that being what the Predjudice part of the book meant I had feelings of tedium throughout. I didn't find the actual book boring more it envoked feelings of boredom.

Probably shouldn't attempt Moby Dick should I!!

Oh yes it is amazing, I would also recommend 'In the Heart of the Sea' and 'Why Read Moby-Dick?' by Nathanial Philbrick. Having said that I also watch Whale Wars avidly so it might be part of some weird whale obsession!

I really, really love it (it's my second favourite book after Good Omens) and IMO it does get better in the later stages, but if you're not enjoying it at all 1/3 of the way through then I don't think it gets better enough to bother persevering if that makes sense.

I found all the parts about the taxonomy of whales immensely dull and skipped those when I re-read it - I can appreciate the importance of a first-hand historical account in theory, but if I'm reading it it's for all the romantic descriptions of the high seas and whatnot, not a ten page discussion on the shape of whale flukes in contrast to sharks'

Is there an audio book version? I find boring books that I feel like I should have read are much more interesting if someone's reading them to me! If I ever win the lottery I shall pay Reginald D. Hunter to read all the classic literature I can think of. I might discover a hitherto undiscovered love for the "classics"...

Oh dear Laurie, you have just confirmed what I feared, I found whale flukes fascinating! To me it is a comfort read, a book to turn to when I need reassurance etc. I also love the symbolism and the political tragedy of it. I read it first at university and it is one of the few texts I studied I still enjoy.

Haha Trying! I am actually a biologist so I always feel a bit guilty skipping those parts, but I tell myself it's just because the rest of it is so damn good that I want to get back to the story

'In the Heart of the Sea' is excellent.

Laurie Anderson was so taken with it as a USian cultural artefact that she made a performance piece of it. She's more pro-whale than Melville. I listened to a live broadcast of it from the Barbican in 2000, headbangingly frustrated not to have the visuals. There are bits on youtube. I found this which seems to be the whole thing to download, but after a long attempt to make Last.fm work, I'm going to bed. If anyone has the secret, please tell me here.

I've gone back to it and I'm really enjoying it now. There is indeed lots of darkness and blubber. I'm totally freaked out by the weirdness of sperm whales not having a face!

I have a question about this passage for anybody who has studied it -

Squeeze! squeeze! squeeze! all the morning long; I squeezed that sperm till I myself almost melted into it; I squeezed that sperm till a strange sort of insanity came over me; and I found myself unwittingly squeezing my co-laborers' hands in it, mistaking their hands for the gentle globules. Such an abounding, affectionate, friendly, loving feeling did this avocation beget; that at last I was continually squeezing their hands, and looking up into their eyes sentimentally; as much as to say,- Oh! my dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish any social acerbities, or know the slightest ill-humor or envy! Come; let us squeeze hands all round; nay, let us all squeeze ourselves into each other; let us squeeze ourselves universally into the very milk and sperm of kindness.

Did Melville mean to be so rude? (well, it is Friday )

The author of The Year of Reading Dangerously (forgotten his name) writes about it. The chapter is very interesting.