Reviews for Whaler's Dictionary

The average rating for Whaler's Dictionary based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-02-05 00:00:00 Kelly S Hinds beachy-quick goes out of his way to say his book, like the attempted whale-dictionary in moby-dick, is by its very nature a failure, both humble and audacious. sort of an irritating note to start with, but i'm into the premise: beachy-quick, a poet, couldn't stop reading moby-dick for ten years, according to this self-mythologizing. one of the ways he wrote himself "out" of moby-dick was to write a bunch of little fragmenty essays, which sort of stand alone and sort of don't. they're smart and sharp but also ... boring and haughty and very stiff. this is a cool project in the abstract. but in practice it is not at all my bag. he says not to even think about reading the book straight through, but to flip through until some part of it grabs you. so i left it on my toilet tank for a month and picked it up a few times a week and wandered around the apartment reading. it definitely isn't fun to read straight through, i'll confirm that much.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-05-11 00:00:00 Tom J Quaglia Neither a true dictionary, nor quite a book of literary criticism, this strange collection is guided by wonder, and thus a worthy companion to Moby Dick. By the author's own direction, it is not meant to be read cover to cover, but picked through as feels right.