Moby Dick, Herman Mieville

After my success with Blood Meridian, I decided I’ll give Moby Dick a go, which is cited as an influence.
It is one thing when you are forced to read a book at school, although I never was forced to read this particular book, with a time limit. It’s another when you are an accomplished man, and decide to read it at your own leisure, or to listen to it, in any case.
I was wondering how a book about a whaling expedition would be 24 hours long. An hour in, and Ishmael hasn’t even got to bed. I’m not sure if the book intended to be a puzzle, with all the talk of Lazarus and what not, or if the author just wanted to pad it.
Shortly after captain Ahab is introduced, and it’s 20% of the book, there’s a 30 minute long venture into the classification of whales, which isn’t scientific by any means, as it explains that the sperm whale is the largest of all the whales, and that it’s a fish.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *