Rating: 
Summary: An awesome book
Review: Moby Dick is a very long, difficult book to read with Herman Melvilles unique writing style. His descriptions of places and people are pages long, it takes alot of patience and attention toward the book. It dragged on at the beginning when he meets Queqeg and spends the night with him. He created realistic characters who brave through tough times (meeting Moby Dick.) Though it over 410 pages to finally get to Moby Dick, it was a very adventurous story of a young sailor meeting the whale who took the leg of his captain.I really liked this book even though it was slightly boring at first. I thought it would be like that all the way through, but it soon picked up pace and got exciting. I like his writing style but at times it was hard to understand what he was saying. He used alot of Old English, which was pretty cool. Overall, I think the book earns 2 thumbs up. Its a must read!
Rating: 
Summary: The American Classic
Review: No doubt the basic story of Moby Dick is familiar to the majority of western civilization. Whether a lack of interest or intimidation by it's size or 19th century linguistics, the majority of people leave Moby Dick off of their reading list. I never had any interest in Moby Dick until several months ago, when I passed by an attractive-looking copy of the novel in a local bookstore. Intrigued, I decided to read it. Ignoring the intimidation by it's size and my own disinterest and disgust with whaling, I decided to give it a go. After the first few pages, I was hooked. There was no putting it down for me. Melville's characters are warmly and vividly depicted. Landscapes, action sequences, and background of whaling-life are all described in the minutest detail with beautiful prose. Despite these amazing features of the novel, none surpasses the exploration of the human psyche. From the obssessed Captain Ahab to our narrator Ishmael and his harpooner companion Queequeg to the sermonizing priest who appears in one chapter only, humanity and the fragility of the human psyche- in all of it's greatness and potential evil, is explored. Moby Dick is truly a masterpiece: a captivating story, flowing prose, rich character detail, and profound insights into not only those characters, but mankind as a whole. Don't pass up the oppurtunity to read this amazing novel!
Rating:
Summary: Difficult But Worthwhile
Review: The Story: The title refers to the name given to an enormous albino sperm whale who is being hunted by Captain Ahab, the ruthless, single-minded, driven master of a whaling ship. Ahab hunts Moby Dick because, in a previous hunt, Moby Dick amputated Ahab's leg in a failed attempt by Ahab to catch the white whale. The story is told in retrospect by a crewman, Ishmael, of the ship, who was a young, somewhat naive man at the time. This is not a novel for everyone; it takes a patient and persistent reader to tackle the rich but complicated writing style of Melville, as well as the author's penchant for going off on detailed, descriptive tangents. However, the writing style almost becomes poetic at times, and symbolism and metaphor abound. The closest things to Melville's style I've found amongst contemporary writers is Gene Wolfe ("The Book of the New Sun", "The Book of the Short Sun", "The Book of the Long Sun"), or John Bly's "Iron John". Wolfe also borrowed from Melville the device of telling the story from the viewpoint of young, naive observers, who report what they see with little bias or editorializing, which leaves the reader to interpret the story on his/her own. To me, this story is a detailed and adventurous tale of obsession verging on insanity. Ahab is so focused on catching and killing Moby Dick that he loses sight of his own welfare and the welfare of his men. He never questions his own motives; he is out after revenge for losing his leg, as well as out to redress the insult of a simple beast not accepting the dominion of Man. Moby Dick's defiance of Mankind's superiority and sovereignty is seen as an outrage, a matter of honor for Captain Ahab to resolve. But, why did Moby Dick bite off Ahab's leg in the first place? Ahab sees it as an act of war by the whale, a refusal to bow down to the Master of the Earth (Mankind). Might it not just as easily be an animal naturally defending itself against a predator (Mankind) invading his (Moby Dick's) domain? Jay Nussbaum wrote a book called "Blue Road to Atlantis" which is a gem of a story that retells Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" from the fish's point of view. Mr. Nussbaum could make quite a story out of Moby Dick's point of view of this puny maniac who keeps harassing him and trying to kill him.
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