moby dick by herman melville

"call me ishmael" ... or call me unimpressed. i struggled with this book for an unnecessarily long amount of time, suffering page by page to make sense of the maritime language, the varying structure, the lengthy pointless paragraphs, the long stretches of nothingness. waiting for something good to happen. waiting for moby dick to actually show up. i get that this is a monumental book, full of symbolism and allegory. i get that. but i don't care. i hated it. i wanted character development, and i wanted a voice for women. i was grossed out by the detailed descriptions of hunting, killing, and tearing apart the whales. predictably, by the time moby dick finally came on the scene and dominated, i was so thankful he wiped everyone out, so i could just be done with it. i only wish he would've taken ishmael down with him. is that bad?

...

i was talking about the book with my mom after i'd finished it and she said "you know, you don't have to read the whole thing. it's not like you're in school. no one's grading you. if you hate it, put it down."

i guess it's an integrity thing. if i really dislike a book, i think i need to get to the end, to make sure i really know what i'm talking about. i can't say "well, i only read 1/3rd of the book, but it sucked." that gives me no credibility to speak about it.