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Melville is undoubtedly a genius but he is a genius of the minutiae. Each sentence of Billy Budd lasts a full half of a page. It is not that they are not artfully crafted; no, it is that they are simply boring. Fleshing out characters, for Melville, seems to be very difficult work and it shows.

Melville said that Budd is the embodiment of mankind’s innocence while other critics sense a homoerotic element at work in the character (I can see it in the way Claggart envies and hates Budd; one doesn’t both envy and hate unless one knows they cannot possess the object of their attention). Melville lauds the “peacemaker who fights� but I found Budd to be rash, boyish, and utterly stupid in the face of shame and embarrassment over his speech impediment! What “innocent� lashes out in a dialogue even he is facing a hard accusation—Mutiny!—without even trying to stammer his way to a defense? I say Budd may be innocent but he sure is ridiculously stupid.

Despite the length of “Billy Budd, Sailor,� the actual events leading to a quick hanging take only a few pages. If you are a native speaker, this is worth reading just to feel like English is your second language and you have really worked those neurons out. Pat yourself on the back and grab a reward for yourself before you toss this book in the donation bin.