A while ago, I started reading Moby Dick, because it’s a classic. I’m not a quick reader.
It’s a famous book about one man’s monomaniacal quest to kill a particular whale for revenge.
Moby Dick was talked about a lot before they met him, but after a while, I decided to bookmark the place where the Pequod* first meets the whale. Here it is:
* For those who don’t know, that’s the ship that’s hunting the whale.
Sally Kellerman (RIP): “Don’t you ever read?”
Me (**): “Read. Who has time? I grab the condensed book. I’m in and out in two hours.”
http://www.spinnerpub.com/Moby-Dick_A_Picture_Voyage_files/Moby%20Dick%20Sample.pdf
**Channeling Rodney Dangerfield as Thornton Melon
The only time I ever read MOBY DICK is the CLASSIC ILLUSTRATED version.
The FIRST COMICS series that was beautifully drawn by legendary artist: Bill Sienkiewicz.
Short and abridged. 😉
That may be the best way to enjoy it. 🙂
I love that book. First read it when I was around 30, I think I have read it 3 or four times total.
Also a fun read when you are drinking.
Melville knew the importance of delaying the encounter with the Big Bad and not overusing his villain. Look at how infrequently Dracula is in the novel named for him.
I get the importance of building up tension. Dracula, iirc, worked well – though it’s been a while since I read it. (Coincidentally, I have Phillip Glass’s score to the Bela Lugosi version playing right now.)
Most of the book before those last twenty pages (or so), though, were filler. Things like a couple of (two-page) chapters on whale art through the ages.