book data
508 ratings,
3.77
average rating, 30 reviews
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published
December 31st 1998
by Einaudi
(first published 1855)
details
Paperback
isbn
8806140221
(isbn13: 9788806140229)
description
In the year 1799, Captain Amasa Delano, of Duxbury, in Massachusetts, commanding a large sealer and general trader, lay at anchor, with a valuable car…more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 644)
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avg 3.77
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in April, 2008
This novella takes a bit of patience to get into, but once you do, you are greatly rewarded. There's suspense, there's ambiguity (ambiguity galore!). There's much to think about, I suspect, for quite a long time after you're finished.
The reader probably understands what has happened long before the American captain (we see most of the story through him) does, but there is plenty enough in the revelation that has you paging backwards and stopping yourself from paging forwards. On...more
The reader probably understands what has happened long before the American captain (we see most of the story through him) does, but there is plenty enough in the revelation that has you paging backwards and stopping yourself from paging forwards. On...more
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Read in January, 2001
So this is one of the first treatments of slavery by a white man in America that is willing to totally subvert the whole tradition. Melville is relentless in his exposure of the injustice of slavery, and the humanity in the emotion and intelligence, of the victims of slavery. It's only novella length, so check it. There were voices in that wilderness, crying out.
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Read this while taking a "Literature of American Slavery" class and once again I found Herman Melville's writing to be difficult to get through. That being said, however, this was a fascinating story about a slave rebellion aboard a Spanish slave ship, from the point of view of a white ship captain. If you can work your way through the prose, it's a powerful work...but if you find your mind a-drifting in the sea of Melvillian wordiness, watch the Steven Spielberg movie "Amistad"...more
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I've got to re-read this, because at the time it struck me as a 5-star novel. I was so pleasantly surprised to read something by Melville that didn't induce narcolepsy (I loved my American lit teacher in high school, but I did not love Bartleby; haven't yet tackled Moby Dick and probably never will).
This book is, in so many ways, a page turning thriller, words not often reserved for classic literature. It also sparks interesting debates about race. I'm seriously considering teaching t...more
This book is, in so many ways, a page turning thriller, words not often reserved for classic literature. It also sparks interesting debates about race. I'm seriously considering teaching t...more
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Read in February, 2007
Melville's book is absolutely, positively worth fighting over. Not tug-of-war before bedtime fighting, but knock-down-drag-out, post-reading, you-think-Melville's-a-bloody-racist-while-I-think-he's-one-clever-cultural-relativist-anti-slavery-love-muffin kind of fighting. It's very likely that the fight will be internal. If it is not, and you share the fight with your friends and compatriots, bully for you all: you are probaby good, strong people, and I am impressed.
As to the 3 sta...more
As to the 3 sta...more
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Read in January, 1998
Read this for my first real college english class. This is a very powerful short book by an author we tend to this of as wordy, Herman Melville. This is a strikingly modern condemnation of slavery written at a time when that was a way to risk your very life. the depiction here is accurate enough that I suspect Melville was reading slave accounts for his sources. This is a short read and a good one, if you want to get a feel for why Melville is a great writer. Sadly, his career never took of...more
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Read in October, 2009
Had to read this for class and loved it. I thought Melville was supposed to be hard to read - it was - but I really enjoyed it. This is definitely not an easy read. It's more like an English assignment, but if you wade through it, it's rewarding. I love books that keep me guessing.
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Read in March, 2010
recommended to Jon by:
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decent enough story, but I can't help but feeling that Melville could have made this story 40 pages long (like Bartelby) instead of dragging it out. By the end of the book you just want to grab Delano by the shoulders and scream "don't you get it?!?!" Basically, Benito Cereno is a riddle, but it is too drawn out.
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Read in January, 2009
This book is very interesting and creative for its time. It's one of those books that leaves you kind of clueless until the end so you might have to go back and read it again. It can drag on sometimes, but all in all it is a pretty good read.
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Read in April, 2009
Masterfully-written and haunting -- a lament over how we cannot, when all is said and done, ever truly understand the thoughts of another, and a deep undermining of authority.
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Read in September, 2009
I want to read this book in its entirety when I have time. I was able to read all but the last 15 pages or so, but I wasn't paying terribly close attention as I read. It seems like an interesting read, though. The slave revolt and the incorrect interpretations thereof definitely seem worth reading.
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Read in January, 2006
I had to read this twice. Remarkable tale. If you are a history buff who enjoys solving puzzles you might really enjoy this book.
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Read in February, 2010
The story had me wondering what was going on from the start and kept me guessing nearly to the end. It did not disappoint.
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Benito Cereno is the most complex treatment of the brutalities of and incoherences of the human condition. Despite the seemingly conventional moral weights assumed by the point of view of the narration, Melville opens up a spaces of profound philosophical and ethical ambiguity, and, in doing so shreds any preconceptions or simple moralizing. Atlantic Slavery-that greatest of crimes-is interrogated, but in layering multiple levels of victimhood, one puts down the story asking even larger question...more
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Read in January, 1992
The only Melville that I ever truly enjoyed.
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Read in April, 2009
Extraodinarily well-written and fun to read.
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"Benito Cereno" -- unforgettable and genuinely terrifying, as gripping for its story as its ingenious construction -- absolutely knocked me out. The unrelenting suspense is so delicately-strung, and the point of view so sharp, that the reader experiences the language the way Captain Delano takes stock of Cereno's abandoned ship: with the exquisite sensitivity of vision afforded by danger. This is one of my favorite pieces of prose ever, as intricate and mysterious as the inside of a ...more
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I suppose the laborsome Moby Dick is a must read, if only because it is an important book, but if your view of Melville is that of tedious attention to (boring) detail, I would highly encourage giving Benito Cereno a chance. I haven't read a novella this riveting in a long while - is it a dark comedy? The closest thing I can relate the experience of reading this book to is watching the movie Fargo, which although seems incongruous will make perfect sense after you read it.
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Read in March, 2008
I can't stand Herman Melville. There, I said it. Sorting out so many damn clauses is like wading through a particularly muddy swamp. I could have done without the entire 60 pages of Delano's hapless theorizing, but the final twist was satisfying and made the rest of the plot retrospectively interesting (especially the shaving scene with Babo and Cereno). Still, I found it difficult to enjoy something so thoroughly and genuinely racist.
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