First published 1851
The whaling ship Pequod sails the world's oceans under Captain Ahab, a man consumed by vengeance against a massive white whale that previously maimed him. Every sailor aboard becomes entangled in Ahab's ruthless pursuit, transforming a standard whaling expedition into a dangerous personal vendetta. As they track the elusive Moby Dick across vast and treacherous waters, the crew risks everything—their lives, their futures, their sanity—to satisfy Ahab's monomaniacal quest. Narrated by Ishmael, a young sailor seeking adventure and meaning, the voyage becomes a primal confrontation between human rage and nature's indifferent power. One obsession will determine the fate of an entire ship.
Genres: fiction, adventure, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: man-vs-nature, monomaniacal-quest, unreliable-narrator
Period: 19th-Century
720 pages · Paperback · Penguin Classics