From the Bookshelf of What's the Name of That Book???…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
melville! in a melville house edition!
crazy, right?
this is a nice taut little thrill-ride of a book. okay, it's got a lot of description of boat-architecture, so it isn't a complete thriller - melville does tend to go overboard (GET IT??) with the descriptions sometimes, but regardless, it is more emotionally engaging than, say, that book about the whale. and i haven't read a book more full of seamen since reading Torn.
to a modern reader, the situation is pretty apparent from the get-go, but th ...more
crazy, right?
this is a nice taut little thrill-ride of a book. okay, it's got a lot of description of boat-architecture, so it isn't a complete thriller - melville does tend to go overboard (GET IT??) with the descriptions sometimes, but regardless, it is more emotionally engaging than, say, that book about the whale. and i haven't read a book more full of seamen since reading Torn.
to a modern reader, the situation is pretty apparent from the get-go, but th ...more
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.
...more
This was just a good the second time around. Basically it is just the discourse between two sailing captains and the dark undercurrent, which becomes increasingly more apparent to the reader if not to the American captain who narrates the tale.
Jan 12, 2017
Philip
marked it as to-read
