For a few semesters, I taught Melville's 'Moby Dick.' No matter how hard I tried, this was not a novel I could get my lit students to enjoy. It probably came through that I didn't love this bloated ode to whaling, whaling vessels, cutting up whales, though there's a small bit of a decent plot somewhere in this 400-page novel.

It was with a certain amount of hesitation that I approached 'Daywork,' a novel regarding one woman's pandemic-inspired fixation on learning more about Melville, his relationships (particularly his friendship with Nathaniel Hawthorne), and other inspirations for MD's creation and writing, but 'Dawywork' wasn't much more interesting. I get going down a rabbit hole of researching and especially during the pandemic, but it's still the Moby Dick thing I cannot connect with. Also, Melville's letter correspondence with Hawthorne better illustrated their relationship and was published years ago in 'The Divine Magnet.'