Moby Dick, Again. What Was I Thinking?

In a previous post, Top 10 List of Books That I Would Read A Second Time, My number one pick was Moby Dick, by Herman Melville. Recently, I did read it again, and all I can say now is, “What was I thinking”?

I realize that this is a classic, and I deserve to have my knuckles rapped and my library card revoked for even thinking such literary blasphemy, let alone committing it to writing, but Moby Dick is one long, difficult and boring read. How could I have forgotten the drudgery of getting through this book?

The answer occurred to me as I was finishing it this time. The first few chapters, the ones where we meet Ishmael, the young narrator of the story, and learn how he meets his best friend, the harpooner, Queequeg; where we are introduced to Starbuck, Stub, Flask, Ahab, and the rest of the interesting and international cast of characters; where we learn of the Pequod and what it takes to prepare a ship for a three year journey, and where we are offered the promise of south seas adventure; it is these chapters that are so compelling that they keep the reader slogging through chapter upon boring chapter of seemingly endless description of whales and whaling, that nobody outside of a nineteenth century whaler could possibly want or need to know, to the final few chapters. These last chapters, those that cover the confrontation with the white whale, are so exciting that the book goes from, “oh my God, I don’t know if I can pick this up again” to “I can’t put this down”.

When I finally finished the book, I heard myself saying to myself, in my head, ‘that was good, I could read that again’.

“Aha”. I suddenly understood, I had forgotten all but the great parts. If I could forget two weeks of torture in a single evening’s reading there is no way I would recall it after thirty plus years.

This got me thinking, perhaps I could do something with Moby Dick to make it more accessible. Maybe something similar to what Thomas Jefferson did with the Bible, or what Readers Digest used to do with books all the time (perhaps still do), condense it.

To be clear, I am no fan of condensed books, nor do I believe myself worthy of rewriting Herman Melville – I figured I would put this out there before the hate mail starts – but I think, at least for me, that if I kept the first few chapters and the last few chapters, then condensed all the chapters in the middle down to one or two, this would be a good, and much easier, read. More of a Novella.

Or, perhaps I could take a cue from Seth Grahame-Smith, and spice it up a bit by rewriting it as, Moby Dick and Zombies.

Of course, both of the above suggestions are in jest. Moby Dick is a classic that has managed to survive 170 years, and it is not for my unhallowed hands to alter it. Also, I still believe it is well worth reading, once.

Cheers!

Stephen