Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville (1851)

I like to say Moby-Dick is both a fiction and non-fiction novel.

We read the story of Ishmael’s adventure on the whaler ship, the Pequod. The shipmates we meet are interesting people and I thoroughly enjoyed the obsession Captain Ahab has with the white whale: their histories. I was really connected to Queequeg’s chapter and his seachest.

For a lot of the book, we dive very deep into the world of whaling: elements of the ship, tools, food, oil, and the surprising way sharks interact with the ship. These chapters felt entirely non-fiction. I appreciated the atmosphere Melville created: the nights described in what must have been entirely dark, eerily quiet, and still.

There are over 100 chapters and may be a different style of language for some, explaining why this book took me months to finish. It is definitely slow-paced, but I appreciated the learning throughout.

Out of the 135 chapters, we finally meet Moby-Dick in chapter 133. And those final 3 chapters are written and concluded brilliantly.