Herman Melville - Bartleby the Scrivener

"Bartlby was terrible!!
All he did was say, 'I prefer not to.'
Then he curled up in a corner, while he was in jail, and DIED!!!"


"'the office' of an previous generation"


"I know I'm supposed to like Melville because he's an American classic, but wow, this book was amazingly tedious. I know that was partly the point, but it was so good at making its point that I felt violent towards Bartleby. I guess it's good to be able to elicit such strong opinions from a novella, but I hate this book."


"Bartleby the Scrivener was an ok book. I found it to be boring, lathargic, unevenful, and in a way pointless. Rather than the only conflict being the fact that Bartleby was lazy and constantly said 'I would prefer not to' as a way of getting out of doing work, and him not leaving the office, I would have liked for there to be more INTERESTING conflict."


"This story (and I use 'story' in the loosest sense of the word) was AWFUL. There was no plot. And when I say that there was no plot, I actually mean it. I'm not exaggerating. The entire story is about a lawyer whose employee (Bartleby) slowly falls into depression and dies. Or something. I honestly didn't see a theme at all. Perhaps, as my English teacher believes, I in my youthful ignorance have missed out on a story that offers deep insight into human nature and the universe. But I doubt it."


"You can argue all you want about how good books can draw emotions from its readers. All I know is I spent most of my time reading this book wanting to kick Bartleby in his stupid lazy face, and then throttle his employers for not kicking him in his stupid lazy face and making ME do it for them. I hated his attitude and I hate people in real life that have similar attitudes. I almost wish that this hadn't been a school copy that I had to turn back in so I could burn it.

Oh, and I'd read Twilight again before even thinking about reading Bartleby the Scrivener"


"I hated this book. I'm not one for seemingly out there literature and this had absolutely no point to me. if you are one of those people who likes to disect every possiblity of what Melville had meant by each little nuance in the book then its for you. i'm someone who just reads text for text (except for narnia or other allegorys) but this hadn't a purpose to me. i'd give it less then 1/2 a star if that was possible."


"'I'd prefer not to.' ?????????? Yeah, me too, pal. Neither would the people who built the pyramids or fought in wars. Neither would Oscar Wilde, or the son on the Sopranos, or 95% of the people in jailhouse showers right now."


"This is a disappointment on numerous accounts. I am not exactly sure what the point of the novella was. Was it to thwart materialism in early 19th century? If so the point was not clear."


"I cheered when Bartleby died."