Moby-Dick

Herman Melville

Nov 2003 · Sold by Bantam Classics

About this ebook

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

First published in 1851, Herman Melville’s masterpiece is, in Elizabeth Hardwick’s words, “the greatest novel in American literature.” The saga of Captain Ahab and his monomaniacal pursuit of the white whale remains a peerless adventure story but one full of mythic grandeur, poetic majesty, and symbolic power. Filtered through the consciousness of the novel’s narrator, Ishmael, Moby-Dick draws us into a universe full of fascinating characters and stories, from the noble cannibal Queequeg to the natural history of whales, while reaching existential depths that excite debate and contemplation to this day.

Ratings and reviews

this book is so boring, and stupid! All it's about is a stinkin' whale named Moby Dick! It's so dreadful! A book is supposed to interest the reader! Please DON'T get this awful book! THIS IS THE MOST BORING BOOK I'VE EVER READ!! I HATE IT!!!! :(

I choose to read this book for a summer assignment, and I am only mildly regretting my choice. While the book is old, the language is dry, and the plot is all over the place, it is a good book. I see Moby Dick as a book about whales and whaling, with an exciting story as a bonus.

This is a great piece of American literature. Those seven year olds who were forced to read this stop posting,and the thirty year olds who were kicked out of college get a degree in literature then say it sucks.

About the author

Elizabeth Hardwick (1916–2007) is the author of many books and essays, including Herman Melville (Penguin Lives), American Fictions, and Seduction and Betrayal: Women and Literature.