i can recognize it's an important and ornate book but reading it just makes my head spin. it's impenetrable. the norton critical footnotes make things worse, knocking the wind out of any little engagement i am able to get rolling.

the narration is out in front of everything that happens, it's written in mr krabs voice. any time something happens it's buried in a long biblically-laced rant about nothing-in-particular and is followed by a 5-20 chapter break to describe archaic technical whaling diagrams and taxonomies. extremely complicated and tiresome sentence structure. everything that happens, all the characters feel so distant and abstract for how many words are spent on them.

i cannot be assed to spend the mental cycles decoding most of this. in isolation pieces of it are beautiful and interesting but taken altogether its a homogenous slog. i feel like i am fighting the book. 25 chapters left. come shit on me in the replies and tell me what a redditor i am, how stupid i am, and how annoying my writing is

>>24562561 (OP)
>the narration is out in front of everything that happens, it's written in mr krabs voice. any time something happens it's buried in a long biblically-laced rant about nothing-in-particular and is followed by a 5-20 chapter break to describe archaic technical whaling diagrams and taxonomies. extremely complicated and tiresome sentence structure. everything that happens, all the characters feel so distant and abstract for how many words are spent on them.
This is the good stuff. If you don't like it or find it too tiresome or whatever, who cares? You don't need to like every classic or /lit/core book.

>>24562561 (OP)
Reading complicated prose (long sentences, big words, metaphors) is a skill. You have to practice it to be good at it. It helps to work your way up in difficulty. You may have started Moby Dick before you were fully ready for it, but you'll become a stronger reader as a result.

>>24562577
i honestly buy this 100%, i just dont know what im capable of reading. i liked the sailor who fell from grace from the sea. feels bad being a low stamina mental midget

fuck you janitors
fuck you 4chan moderators
fuck you for your invisible 30 minute post delays that are staggered in 5 minute intervals
i will spoon your eyeballs out with my thumbs.
yes, you. you specifically, janitor who is banning me for writing this.

>>24562561 (OP)
Ishmael is black.

>>24562608
You only know what you're capable of by trying.

>>24562561 (OP)
I think this is the value of having a teacher or at least a reading group when grappling with complicated texts. There's nothing shameful about your admissions here & I totally get it. I was blessed with being able to read Moby-Dick; or, The Whale in an independent study with a professor who specialized in 19th century American Lit, who gave it a lot of context that facilitated my understanding of the text. I realize that I may sound like I'm gatekeeping or something, but I think that this book in particular is one that needs to be read & discussed in a larger group or with an expert in the field.

>>24562561 (OP)
just keep reading, the ending is what makes it

>the narration in mr. krabs voice
baffling statement. is it just because he sounds a like an "old salt"? mr. krabs doesn't wax on wirh ishmael's prolexity about anything.

>>24562561 (OP)
>25 chapters left.
My one and only suggestion for you is to relax and enjoy it. If some parts confuse you, let yourself be confused and keep reading. There’s plenty of general human feeling in this story for you to engage with without understanding every 19th century reference on your first read. My second one and only suggestion is to keep a diagram of a 19th century ship similar to the one in the book handy so you can refer to it when he mentions sails, parts of the deck, etc.

>>24563098
Aye, the nematode. That cursed, bloated serpent of the under-soil. Not content to slither in obscurity, it rises, thundering upon me floorboards like stampeding demons summoned from Davy Jones' most oily locker. I have seen 'em, lads. I have smelled their approach on the salted breeze, heard the foul chorus of their stomachs growlin’ louder than the trumpets on the day of judgment.

>>24562561 (OP)
this may help
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq5LDSZDr2E
>>24563357
kek. fair. i guess i haven't watched much spongebob lately.

>>24562561 (OP)
Don’t feel bad even for the 1850s Melville’s prose and syntax is peculiar. Power through to the end I a guarantee you will not regret it since the ending clinches much of what came before

>>24562656
>this book in particular is one that needs to be read & discussed in a larger group or with an expert in the field
It might help some, but to say such a powerful, individual expression of poetic imagination NEEDS to be focus-grouped and drip-fed down by experts is preposterous. Are you a woman?

>>24562561 (OP)
Lots of people try to read books like Moby Dick before they are ready for them. They struggle, and manage, or don't. But they don't enjoy the thing the way they're meant to.

If it's not fun, you're not ready for it.

The best rule I have found for reading is very simple: ALWAYS READ THE BEST STUFF YOU ACTUALLY ENJOY.

Keep doing this. Don't lie to yourself. Don't tryhard. If you can't enjoy anything deeper than Naughty Nymphets Go To Paris (Graphic Novel), read that.

Don't try to rush things. At least half your reading should be re-reading. If it’s not worth re-reading it wasn’t worth reading in the first place.


When you're ready for it, Moby Dick will be there waiting for you.

>>24564312
>Naughty Nymphets Go To Paris (Graphic Novel)
motherfucker made me check

>>24562561 (OP)
I'm almost finished volume one of The Man Without Qualities and feel much the same way. I can see why it's praised but by God it just seems like a meandering mess. I don't know whether I'll bother with volume two.