Man, I don't think I have the patience to finish this, i'm 150 pages in and every page I have to remind myself to keep reading.
Is the payoff at the end worth it?
I fucking loved it from the very beginning. Just stop if you dont like it man.
>>7596807
The beggining is one of the best parts.
Either you like it or you don't.
Maybe try it again in a year or two after reading some more.
>>7596807
You haven't even reached the middle section where the plot disappears for 200 pages and you get nothing but whaling anecdotes and trivia yet. If you didn't like the first 150 you won't like the rest. All the actual plot happens in the last 30 or so pages so you have a long slog before you get there.
>>7596807
top pleb
>>7596807
the Whale is S U I C I D E
>muh PLOTZ
I'm only like 40 pages in and I quite enjoy it already
>>7596807
OP stop reading, it only gets harder and even less plot driven until the last like 5 pages. Give up now and revisit it when your in the mood.
The first 150-200 pages are super comfy. The middle is a slog. The end (maybe 50-150 pages) is awesome.
In other words, 160-200 pages of trudging.
It's a boring book.
The prose and the way it was written was too basic for me, it was like something for a ten year old.
Don't let /lit/ and their memes get to you.
>reminding yourself to read as you're reading
Attention spans: they aren't what they used to be
>>7597988
>The prose and the way it was written was too basic for me
>>7597988
>The prose and the way it was written
This is basically a description for a ten year old.
>>7597988
>The prose and the way it was written was too basic for me
Can you get anymore pretentious?
>>7597988
this was pretty bad b8 honestly
>>7598060
Not for me.
For me it was more about how the mundane can be mythical. There's a lot more to it then that. Like how revenge is cyclical until the doom.
Or how a mortal may attempt to defy the gods, but must ultimately fail--how cooperation trumps selfish egotistical clashing.
I dunno, I read it like 2 years ago, but it was a GOOD book
>>7598060
It's a story about a whale. Take whatever else you want from it.
>>7598060
The middle is full of anecdotes, "facts", history and lots of philosophical mussing.
There are as many things to take away from this book as there are people that read it.
>>7596807
>the cover spoils the plot
>>7597564
>The middle is a slog.
I know what you are talking about but I disagree.
I was completely immersed in those pages, it was so entertaining. I was googling shit left and right trying to compare Melville's facts on Cetology with modern day knowledge. Watching documentaries on whales and marine life for hours on end.
I even ate sushi.
It's good shit OP.
>>7600452
What, that there are people hunting a whale?
>>7599150
>I dunno, I read it like 2 years ago, but it was a GOOD book
This is what retards, truly believe about Moby Dick
Moby Dick is a meme that you have to "enjoy" otherwise you're an idiot.
>>7600487
Are there any big discrepancies?
>>7601153
Ishmael says that whales are fish not mammals, for one.
>>7601126
I agree. The book has been so widely praised that it has achieved cultural deification and when people come to it and realize it's boring and trite, they have to convince themselves it's amazing so they don't look retarded. Op should stop reading now. He's read the only good bits already.
>>7601161
>he thinks whales aren't fish
>>7601161
>not conforming to melville's clearly superior cetology
>>7600840
that's not how it spoils the plot m80
>>7596807
honestly, OP: if you're not enjoying moby dick, just read something easier and come back to it later. as far as i'm concerned, there is no such thing as reading for some kind of "payoff", and if that's why you pickup and trudge through notoriously difficult books (yes, i know... some do consider MD to be such a book) you might not be ready for them yet.
in saying that, moby dick is one of my all-time favourite books and one that really got me into reading classics, so i might be a bit biased.
just let it rest for a bit and come back to it when you feel up for it again
>>7596807
Don't be a bitch family. My elderly disabled mother read this shit and she is in her 60s and normiee as fuck.
>>7596807
Try the audiobook version on audible. It genuinely helps. I know it sounds like a pleb thing to do, but whatever.
>>7597988
>The prose and the way it was written was too basic for me, it was like something for a ten year old.
Translation: I am bad at baiting.
>>7598060
Nope. It was Herman Melville writing from the point of view of an autistic guy on a whaling ship.
>>7601153
he also doesn't believe in narwhals
>>7602139
I bet you believe in unicorns too.
>>7596807
I read this first when I was 10, and while alot of the symbolism and esoteric language flew over my head. I read it 4-5 times over the next few years (it was a decorative book my mother kept in the parlor). I loved it every time.
I reread it when I turned 30 and I still loved it.
>>7601238
Everyone poops
>>7600452
> giant whale: the book
> "cover spoils le plot, bruh"
Isn't this one of the books they teach Americans in school?
Why is it considered such a difficult read?
>>7603141
It's not really a difficult read. There are lots of reference and allusions and if you want to understand them all you have to be decently well read.
People may say it's difficult because plebs find the philosophical musings and whaling history/facts boring.
>>7603141
It's not difficult, I think it's just a very dry read for people with little interest in whaling, but then you have to question why they bothered reading it in the first place.
>>7596807
It's really not that long. The part in the bed was my favourite part of the whole book.
>>7603141
I haven't read Moby Dick yet, but I went to high school in the US.
I don't know what it's like reading a book with a class in other parts of the world, but here a lot of the time the teacher did the reading and stopped to explain things, or we would read a set number of pages in class and then the teacher would discuss them. Unless the book is an easy read in which case it will likely be read at home. This is why 9th graders who don't care about reading can understand Shakespeare plays, at least to some extent, as explanations are given, and they usually don't even have to read, only listen to explanations.
I can't imagine a book as long as Moby Dick would be read in a high school here in its entirety. In my school we spent weeks on the Odyssey and still skipped parts, which is annoying. Most every book we read in its entirety was less than 200 pages.
>>7602205
Melville pls go
I'm about 150 pages in and just read the Cetology chapter, I actually fucking love it. Even when it's just a bunch of whaling trivia, it's written very well.Also, I swear Queequeg and Ishmael had gay sex lmoa
Moby dick is one of my all time favourites, had a great time reading it.
Saying that, I've been a sailor for over 10 years so all the nautical lingo and such was really easy to understand. Many times during my read I would think to myself "how the fuck would anyone who's never been to sea understand what the fuck Melville is going on about here"
I'm honestly surprised when people give it so much praise, because without much context I can imagine it would be extremely dry.
>>7604342
I fucking hope that spoiler is bait
>>7604406
nope
>>7604406
So things that happen at the start of books are now spoilers?
>>7604388
What are you doing on an upper class board like /lit/ then?
>>7596807
It's worth it
You'll want to become a whaler when you finish
don't give up senpai
>>7604704
It's called a spoiler because the text is blacked out. The bait is what the blacked out text says.
>>7601126
I enjoyed it thoroughly, you illiterate piece of human refuse.
Just because you hate your own pathetic existence doesn't mean you get to shit on anything that is truly noble.
Moby Dick is a GOAT book through and through and for the first time I really mean it when I say: Kill yourself.
>>7597988
That's what happens when you read the illustrated classics version
>>7601489
Fast fish and loose fish lads
>book is about a crazy guy's dedication to kill a white whale
>book requires crazy dedication from a guy to finish the big mass of white (pages)
whao
Man, I remember reading this when I was 9 or 10, I don't know if I'll be able to read it now if I tried. It's pretty sad to think I was a better reader when I was in grade school.
>>7608905
You will probably get more from it now, even if you were a better reader back then.
After reading more you will hopefully understand the references and allusions better.
Also, being more mature you will (hopefully) be able to understand the philosophical musings better and relate them to your own experiences.
ironic that a book this dry is set in a whale's vagina
