As with the Iliad, which I love for the same reasons (eye-burning splendour of language, relish of brutality, tenderness beyond tenderness), the most overlooked bits are the jokes.

As with the Iliad, which I love for the same reasons (eye-burning splendour of language, relish of brutality, tenderness beyond tenderness), the most overlooked bits are the jokes.

This might be the best review of both of these books I've ever read.
Aw thanks a bunch.
Reading this rn! Queequeg rules.
So pleased for you. It's my fave novel. Seeing it was what RSBookClub was reading atm reminded me to review it. I read it aloud to my wife (who'd never read it) earlier this year and it was just the best time. Digging the Bloom PFP.
Lol how did reading it aloud to your wife go? Hard to imagine how the chapter about cetology was received.
She liked it but needed to take it in in small bites. "Pig-fish" is now one of my pet names for her after we read it in that chapter.