Ah, the classic tale of revenge. Or obsession. Actually, it's a book about whales. I'm not kidding about that, fully half of the book is a scientific look at whales. Categorizing them and then separate chapters on each part of the whales physiology. This makes the job of cutting the book down for abridged versions very easy.
The story itself is quite interesting, if so well known that there are few surprises. The narrator (let's call him Ishmael) wants to go whaling. He meets a south Pacific islander named Queequeg and they become great, if unlikely, friends. They sign on to a ship commanded by Captain Ahab. After they get out to sea, he informs the crew that he's searching for a white whale, Moby Dick, who cost him a leg on his previous journey. The ship makes a regular whaling trip, asking every other whaler that they find if they've seen the famous Moby Dick. Finally they track him down and a battle to the death ensues.
I really enjoyed this book. Melville writes interesting dialogue and narrative. Even the scientific asides are interestingly written. It was a surprisingly good read. (Relatedly, I can also recommend 'Bartleby, the Scrivner', a Melville short story of some note.) 'Moby Dick' is sometimes considered the greatest American novel and I can see why. A great book.
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