Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/01/07/documentary-about-moby-dick-de.html
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How would you make the case for somebody with a reading list already longer than they could possibly read in this life, to place Moby-Dick near the top? I think it was on our reading list in high school, but I never did read it.
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I can’t believe I read that entire post and I still don’t know whether these fans refer to themselves as “dick-heads”
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Let’s eat!
Some of the best Kabobs around!
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I did exactly that, some years back.
It was good.
It was not the best book I ever read. I would not read it again. I would not read it aloud, even for a very good paycheck. I would not hang out with the Moby Dick fans, listening to their lame-ass whaling puns.
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I don’t know if I will re-read it but I sure enjoyed it the first time in my 40’s.
It’s so funny.
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Are we meeting in a bar? Because I might… Lord knows I’ve enjoyed a drink or two while baseball fans argue about how Babe Ruth would fare against modern pitching. It can’t be worse than that, right? (and I say that as someone who loves baseball)
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I was thinking maybe the less inflammatory, “Moby-Dorks”. 
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Ishmael waking up to find Queequeg sharing his bedroom really made me giggle.
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Try the humpback!
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I can’t help but think back to the planing of the bench by the innkeeper right at the start.
But there are more funny bits than not, in my estimation.
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Mostly what @Boundegar said.
I think it is worth reading and I would probably read it again. It rambles here and there but it is an interesting meditation on being human.
That said I don’t think it is required reading for everyone and I definitely don’t like it as much as the folk in this film.
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Perhaps read a few of his shorter novellas like Benito Cereno or Billy Bud first. The time commitment is short they’re great in their own rights and you can get a sense of Melville. Personally, I love Moby Dick but wouldn’t suggest that everyone should read it, however I might suggest that more people would enjoy it than might ever give it the chance.
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I just came across this author recently:
About Drew Williams
Drew Williams has been a bookseller in Birmingham, AL since he was sixteen years old. Although he got the job because someone had called in sick the day he applied, working with books became a vocation. It is full of amazing moments like arguing with coworkers about whether Moby Dick is a brilliant encapsulation of the human condition (it’s not) or an overlong, over-obvious metaphor for futility (it is.)…
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REALLY miffed that these so-called “documentarians” snubbed me for their film. I never even got a call!
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As a sailor, this is sort’a a bible for us, or at least one of them.
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Gah, Moby Dick. Why some people are so besotted with it is beyond me. If I need a refresher on obsession and human futility, I’ll go watch Curse of Oak Island for a couple hours. At least there’s schadenfreude to keep me entertained. And Canadians.
Could be worse… could be Faulkner
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