Moby Dick

I would give this book zero out of ten stars, but I'll give it one star for the help it gave me on the nights I had insomnia.  I do appreciate that.  It got to a point where I wanted to finish it just to say I conquered it and read it.  I listened to the book and read along with a hardcopy via Moby Dick: Big Read. In this project, different individuals read each chapter and the site uploaded a chapter a day.  The concept for this was the only thing that kept me going.  Hearing the different voices and inflections was interesting.  If I had to sit down and read this book on my own, I don't think I would ever finish it. It probably has about twenty really good chapters that are integral to the plot. There are 135 chapters so you do the math on how many irrelevant ones exist. The other chapters read like a scientific journal about the intimate details of whales and their characteristics (i.e. the size of their skull, where their eyes are positioned, how long they grow, their swimming patterns, etc).  I didn't care for those chapters at all.  The writing is too verbose. Why use fifty words when five will do?  After reading it for some time, I finally broke down and researched why this book is considered a classic. Well, surprise! It was panned by critics when it was first published.  People hated it for various reasons, yet Melville's work eventually was revitalized and embraced.  If you are going to read a classic read Dumas or Dickens.