I know I was supposed to be reading this a chapter a day, with the goal to be to finish the book on December 31, but work has been insanely busy and it's only going to get worse in the next 2 weeks, so I decided to rally and finish early. It turns out that I somehow miscalculated the number of chapters, so I would have finished a few days sooner than I had planned anyway.
But I ramble. (I think Melville wore off on me!) I have no idea what to say about this book. I know it's considered a classic of Western literature, and as an English major it should be intensely embarrassing that I haven't read it before now (and it is, believe me), but .... Melville's rambling style was not completely annoying - I actually enjoyed it when he employed things that seemed like stage directions, but the overwrought passages were a bit too much for me. I suspect that I should have paid more attention to this back in college (coughcough), as discussions of the allusions and symbols might have been more up my street in those days - I have gotten much more practical in my "advanced" years, ha ha. So I didn't hate this book, but neither did I love it. Once again I am forced to say that I would have preferred to read this in a college level class (OK, I confess, I was supposed to when I was actually in college and couldn't get past the first few chapters, and luckily was able to skate by... I'm not proud of this at all, and don't recommend it, but neither can I take it back) for the discussion it might have provoked. All that said, I would rather discuss it as an adult than the complete idiot (who thought she knew it all, ha ha) I was back in college. So I appreciated it for what it was, and I am glad I can now say I have finally read this book.
If you're a Melville fan please feel free to set me straight in the comments! :)
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