Moby-Dick; or The Whale

This book's hauntingly great opening resonates over 100 years of literature and echoes the personalities throughout the novel...

"Call me Ishmael."

Character:

That first line gives us a personality and hides us from one. Ishmael is a great sailor who witnesses Queequeg's descending into madness first hand and even at one point, thinks he's killed himself. A brilliant opening that still, after so many years of reading it, brings tears to my eyes; Herman Melville creates a beautifully poetic tone from the first line - preparing us for a character who is emotive, perceptive and evocative beyond our wildest imaginations.

Themes:

A brilliantly airy and poignant theme of perception and reality is found in this novel to those who seek things below the ocean's surface. Small phrases that change the tone ever so slightly, as if Ishmael wants us to know something - but then retracts, conceals, or debunks the information/theory that you have. Perception - is greatest when we see Queequeg at his worst and we witness the solidarity of Ishmael first hand. The isolation blended with the need for compassion and requirement of morality only makes our perceptions greater, more profound and raises questions evermore. 

Storyline:  

I don't want to reveal too much of the novel, as I want you to read it. But this novel's premise is upon the ocean - making it a multi-layered morality check for the characters and a wide open space in which Melville composes a grand masterpiece on an international scale. This novel's storyline intertwines the lives of humans and whales - putting them in a hierarchy as they move ever closer to becoming one of the same - we question a monstrosity and they question ours in return. Whoever they are eludes us until the very last line of the novel. But, from the beginning, we must trust a man who tells us to: Call (him) Ishmael. A line that we can only assume, reveals his honesty in a world seeking shelter from liars and betrayers alike. A world where honesty is a dangerous and elusive thing tossed about undignified - we cannot make top or tail of who we believe portrays honesty, but seeks compassion in his solidarity.

Verdict:

I give this book 9.

100% for characters: 

"Call me Ishmael." - Needn't I say anymore? 

100% for themes:

A perceptive glance at the world through the eyes of the man who is still trying to figure out his own existence. We get a first hand incite into a world packed full of philosophy and existentialism as if we were witnessing someone else's death and rebirth in their own lucid dream.

100% for storyline:

A brilliantly simple storyline woven around human and sea relationships. We know that land is not enough for humans and that we must have more than we can handle - but maybe the Nantucket bit off more than they could chew in this tragedy of morality and passion as they move as one towards an elusive and artistic design based around madness and descent.