Eli Bendersky's website I got far less impressed from "Moby Dick" than I expected. It's one of the "must" books on each serious' reader's list (including that top 100 list I'm trying to follow), and I understood that in many schools in US it's required reading in high schools. True, it's quite nice sometimes, but most of it bored me.
First, a good portion of the book is about whales, academically. Seriously, if you're very interested in whales, read Moby Dick, because it surely contains much more information about them than any single encyclopedia. The problem is when you're not really that interested in whales, at least not to this level of detail.
Second, most of the book is philosophy. The plot could be wholly told in about 15 pages, none ommitted. The rest is philosophy and whale-encyclopedia.
The book also lacks developed characters, something that often annoys me. For instance, it starts with the story-teller and his newly acquired "buddy" queequeg. But soon after they go on board of the Pequod, they nearly dissapear. Not more than a few paragraphs feature them. That's just weird.
The last few chapters of Moby Dick are pretty good, however. The story there is both entertaining and features some moral dilemmas that are interesting to read... for instance Ahab is presented (at last) as a human being with normal feelings (though eventually he gives in to his whale obsession).
All in all, as this review clearly shows, I didn't like the book. At times it's nice and entertaining (and the writing style is truly unique), but mostly it is boring, in my opinion, and isn't worth a read (unless you're *really* into whales).