I finished reading Moby Dick last night. I don't know how long the voyage of the Pequod was, but I'm certain it was nowhere near as long as it took me to read the book. I added it to my Goodreads account five years ago. I'm not sure if I added it because I had started reading it, or because I wanted to. Regardless, it's been a long, long time since I started that book.
Recently I became more and more adamant on completing my quest. I was three-quarters through that book and the eponymous whale hadn't even made an appearance yet! I was beginning to become more and more suspicious that the whale NEVER shows up, and that only two people ever had gotten to the end of the book where Melville writes, "Shhh! Let's have a big laugh at everyone and never let them know that Moby Dick doesn't actually appear in the book."
I think I wavered between Ahab's determination to finally confront the Leviathan and Starbuck's insistence that they just pack up and go home. On and on I read. 92% done my Kindle said. 93%... 94%, and this exhaustion came over me. A very real exhaustion. My eyes were burning, and I couldn't make any sense of what Melville was writing anymore. The words, difficult enough to understand when I was lucid, were becoming a mangled pudding in my head. I slumped off to bed, and my headrush literally brought me to my knees before I could make it there.
I had a short nap but was then awakened by Buck, our little pip of a dog. Maybe he was nervous because Jen had left and he felt alone, but maybe he was telling me I had to finish before all momentum was lost. I picked that Kindle up again, raised sail once again if you will, and plowed on just as the Pequod plows forth to its fate.
I won't tell you how it ends. Maybe the whale makes an appearance. Maybe he is never seen. Is the whale the devil? Is Ahab? Maybe Melville himself is. Was it worth it? "Hours of entertainment," I told Jen. "For free."
Recently I became more and more adamant on completing my quest. I was three-quarters through that book and the eponymous whale hadn't even made an appearance yet! I was beginning to become more and more suspicious that the whale NEVER shows up, and that only two people ever had gotten to the end of the book where Melville writes, "Shhh! Let's have a big laugh at everyone and never let them know that Moby Dick doesn't actually appear in the book."
I think I wavered between Ahab's determination to finally confront the Leviathan and Starbuck's insistence that they just pack up and go home. On and on I read. 92% done my Kindle said. 93%... 94%, and this exhaustion came over me. A very real exhaustion. My eyes were burning, and I couldn't make any sense of what Melville was writing anymore. The words, difficult enough to understand when I was lucid, were becoming a mangled pudding in my head. I slumped off to bed, and my headrush literally brought me to my knees before I could make it there.
I had a short nap but was then awakened by Buck, our little pip of a dog. Maybe he was nervous because Jen had left and he felt alone, but maybe he was telling me I had to finish before all momentum was lost. I picked that Kindle up again, raised sail once again if you will, and plowed on just as the Pequod plows forth to its fate.
I won't tell you how it ends. Maybe the whale makes an appearance. Maybe he is never seen. Is the whale the devil? Is Ahab? Maybe Melville himself is. Was it worth it? "Hours of entertainment," I told Jen. "For free."
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