I felt mixed about Moby Dick and Billy Budd, but there were aspects of the writing I admire, and I also read Benito Cereno today and was impressed. So if I'm not a Melville fan, neither am I a detractor, but The Confidence-man had just about every aspect I do hate in the writer (other than the massi...
I tried to read it, really I did. It's just too much of a chore. Perhaps if I had a copy without all of these footnotes.