Having remained popular over the course of 170 years, I expected great things of this book. However, it was an absolute trudge. I’d heard it was the story of a man’s monomaniacal and ultimately doomed quest for revenge, well that probably makes up about 10% of the book, enough for a decent short story. The rest is a slog through tediously detailed descriptions of whaling in the mid-19th century. If that’s what you came for, you’re in luck. If you were after characters and an engaging plot, I don’t think this is the place.

I recognise that this is pretty popular, so there’s clearly something I’m missing. But if you’re 100 pages in and hoping it gets better, put it down, it doesn’t.