Eureka Book

Okay, Melville, I give up. I read about 250 pages of this, enjoying very little of it, but now I have to stop. Your verse is mostly vague, forced, unrhythmic, and overly verbose. It doesn't seem possible that a contemporaneous poetic account of something as epic, tragic and fascinating as the Civil War could be boring, but somehow you managed it. Your fiction - challenging but often rewarding - may not have brought you the fame and fortune you desired during your lifetime, but you should have stuck with it. Because you were certainly not a poet.