posted
We start in mid-fight, and that action **continues; and goes badly for us, which precipitates everything that follows. Motivations remain hidden for some time (since none of the initial POV characters know what's going on) but yes, eventually we learn how we got into this fix.
**rather, appears to: some years after writing it, I realised the scene was actually a flashback. But readers will never notice, nor need to.
I dunno about the dude and his whaling trip either. I've read all of Melville's sea stories except this'un, which somehow turned me off... one day I got a wild hair to rewrite it, and this was what came out. Never got any further, perhaps because that would require reading the bloody novel. Posts: 782 | Registered: Dec 2010
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posted
I got as far as page 30. I really have no hankering to learn all the intricacies of whaling just at this moment.
I'm still concerned about this opening; there is no context and hence nothing is at stake to keep the reader interested. Quite apart from the fact we don't know anything about anyone. How can we become invested in the character?
posted
I remember getting as far as the preaching, but it was too heavy for me at the time & I've never tried again.
I've heard that you can get through it if you read every other chapter, and I've also been told by a friend that it is actually a very funny (as in full of humor and satire and irony) book.
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posted
Which makes me wonder about the allegedly super-high intelligence of Khan that he would use those words and not seem to "get" the irony. Maybe he didn't get to the end of the book either?
Posts: 8826 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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