The general consensus seems to be that the novel seems to be more tedious of a read compared to other classics written by Poe. Indeed more most part of the book, I also felt the very same thing towards the work. The random tangents by Pym as well as the sometimes incomprehensible and improbable situations he and the mates find themselves in do tend to make the story more chaotic than it needs to be. I agree with others who suggest that this novel should have instead been published as a collection of short stories and also written with a better plot. I do believe breaking up the scenes into a series rather than a definitive work would ease the reader's mind and provide a necessary pause from all the action taking place at once.
However, it is perhaps in the character of Edgar Allen Poe to choose such a cliche literary concept and completely present the unexpected. Writing a story about mutiny, ship wreck, and a relatively improbable sea adventure I would assume follows a certain path that we would readily accept when published. However, Poe defies all forms of conventional writing in this style and presents the work in a chaotic manner. Also because we fail to recognize that a man of Poe's circumstances sees and comprehends the world and its nuances differently than we do we may be reading the book from a wrong point of view. His mind was never settled and perhaps it too went of tangents just as The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym does.
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I definitely like the fact that you point out the fact that we can really expect the unexpected from Poe. That may be the reason that I actually enjoyed reading his work in this novel. My respect for Poe that has formed throughout the years of reading his poetry did not seem to fail me by reading his only novel. The fact that Poe, as a Poet, took the courage to write something that people can spend so much time finding different meanings within is pretty powerful to me. We each take something completely different from this novel, whether we hate the writing style or not. So, I'm thrilled that you noted Poe for the great, yet strange, author that he was. I can see why everyone thinks that this novel should be split up because in short stories it could be better. However, I chose to embrace it as it is. Sure, the tangents could get boring but I found them impressive. Poe really got researching by writing this. After all, who knows that much about birds?
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