Not a Fail Whale

I finished Moby-Dick on April 8th. I've almost been in denial that I actually finished it. I'm serious.

I miss reading it.

The ending was pretty spectacular. Three days, three showdowns with the mighty whale, and the entire crew, destroyed. Ishmael hung in a noose made from his own harpoon. The Farsi lashed to the back of the whale. The Leviathan smashing itself into the Pequod, and the entire thing going under.

Ishmael, swept away when Moby smashed into their boat, was away from the vortex of the sinking ship.

He's saved by a buoy that's really a coffin.

And he's plucked out of the water by the Rachel another orphan for her.

I could have spent an entire blog entry on the Rachel, and maybe I should have. That chapter is one of the most poignant in the entire book. When the captain of the ship makes his plea to Ahab, to just help him for 48 hours search for his missing son... and Ahab just LEAVES him there.... Ahab got what he was coming to. The sadness of his madness and obsession and revenge... the complete and utter shock of that captain... it was heartwrenching.

Truly great stuff.

I really wish I had blogged a bit more about Moby. I really do wish I was still reading it. It was a fantastic book - one of the best books I've ever read - and for it to be finished...

I really thought the book was going to be more difficult than it was, though.

So I'm challenging myself again. Tonight, I start the beginning of Proust's epic 4000+ page novel-in-parts, In Search of Lost Time. I start with the first book, Swann's Way. Let's see how difficult this one is...

I'll be blogging about the Proustian wonders on here, step by step, as I read my copy and hopefully love it to bits and pieces.

Let My Friend Moby continue, as My Friend M. M for Marcel, that is.