The first 15 chapters or so were five stars all the way! Loved the prose and the descriptions, and the plot with Queequeg. The next third of the book was half interesting, half a bit of a slog, and took me over a month to get through. I felt the star rating start to go down. But even through the dry chapters about knots or whale anatomy, or harpoons, there was a bit of wit and humor. I didn't really understand why all of that stuff was there but it was new enough to me that I was interested enough (and least now I can't say I don't know anything about whaling!). But by the end, I was blown away. The last 5 or so chapters were amazing, and contained so many references to what we learned in the previous parts of the book that it made the whole thing worth it. E.g., I knew exactly what was at stake, because I just spent 400 pages learning about just how dangerous the whole whaling expedition can be. I can see why this one is such a staple in western culture.