Blurb:
Moby-Dick is perhaps the greatest of the Great American Novels, yet its length
and esoteric subject matter create an aura of difficulty that too often keeps
readers at bay. Fortunately, one unabashed fan wants passionately to give
Melville’s masterpiece the broad contemporary audience it deserves. In his
National Book Award-winning bestseller, In
the Heart of the Sea, Nathaniel Philbrick captivatingly unpacked the story
of the wreck of the whale ship Essex, the real-life incident that inspired
Melville to write Moby-Dick. Now, he
sets his sights on the fiction itself, offering a cabin master’s tour of a
spellbinding novel rich with adventure and history. Philbrick skillfully
navigates Melville’s world and illuminates the book’s humor and unforgettable
characters—finding the thread that binds Ishmael and Ahab to our own time and,
indeed, to all times. A perfect match between author and subject, Why Read Moby-Dick? gives us a renewed
appreciation of both Melville and the proud seaman’s town of Nantucket that Philbrick
himself calls home. Like Alain de Botton’s How
Proust Can Change Your Life, this remarkable little book will start
conversations, inspire arguments, and, best of all, bring a new wave of readers
to a classic tale waiting to be discovered anew.
Review:
The Melville humor, especially in his
daring move to name a sperm whale “Moby-Dick,” is illustrated but faintly by
Philbrick in his non-fictional explanation on why one should read Moby-Dick. However, Philbrick is a
master at moving the soul to want such a reading for its descriptive
magnificence and its depth of moral muscling. Using excerpts from the novel, he
guides his reader to the heart of Ahab’s conflict with the great white whale through
Melville’s grand ability to deliver reality on every page and achieve
perspective within the tumult of the moment. If you have never read Melville’s Moby-Dick, you will find your intellect
challenged with a great desire to do so; if you have read this distinguished
novel in past-times, you will find your heart at peace with knowing the musings
behind this great American literary classic. It will be well worth the read.
Thanks for visiting,
Rose, Julie, Donna, & Rochelle
Length: 144
Pages
