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> The idea of a connected and collected story has obviously visited and abandoned its writer again and again in the course of composition. I have to agree with
by dehrmann 5y ago
> The idea of a connected and collected story has obviously visited and abandoned its writer again and again in the course of composition.
I have to agree with this. The book certainly has its merits, but story isn't one of them...which is sad because I think there could be something interesting in the vendetta story, but 90% of it was spent discussing whaling (which is interesting on its own).
- jrumbut 5y agoThis was approximately what I thought the first time I read it, except I didn't find the vendetta story interesting. On subsequent reads (and especially listening to it read aloud and as an audiobook), my opinion turned on its head. The structure reflects whaling, with weeks of discussion about ropes and navigation punctuated by relatively brief periods of excitement. Ahab and the whale are left vague because that makes them grander in the imagination than they could possibly be when thoroughly described. The whale is just out there looking for squid, it's the people on the boat that have made it out to be something different.