Master and Commander

Rating:
Summary: not easy, but rewarding
Review: 'Come, sir, cannot I prevail upon you to go to sea? A man-of-war is the very thing for a
philosopher, above all in the Mediterranean: there are the birds, the fishes--I could promise you
some monstrous strange fishes--the natural phenomena, the meteors, the chance of prize-money.
For even Aristotle would have been moved by prize-money.... '

'A ship must be a most instructive theatre for an inquiring mind....'

'Prodigiously instructive, I do assure you, Doctor.'

-Jack Aubrey convincing Stephen Maturin to ship out with him (Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander)

Like most, I first learned of Patrick O'Brian's excellent series of naval adventures in the pages of the New York Times Book Review. There, on January 6, 1991, Richard Snow wrote that the Aubrey and Maturin books were : "...the best historical novels ever written." This statement is not as jarring now as it was then. We've grown accustomed to seeing rows of O'Brian's books on store shelves and millions have joined what was once an exclusive cult, but at the time Snow was writing the novels were still a well-kept secret, despite the fact that O'Brian had then been writing them for over twenty years. At any rate, like any good little trend-sucking dilettante, I rushed out to find the first book in the series, Master and Commander, read it as quickly as possible, and was well and truly stumped.

I liked the characters, found the detailed portrayal of life aboard ship to be extremely interesting, and enjoyed much of the humor of the book. But there was something really curious and elusive about the storytelling. In the first place, the heroes are mere observers of the climactic sea battle, having been captured earlier, which seemed especially curious for an adventure story. Even more disconcerting was the sense that I lacked much of the background information that the author expected the reader to bring to the novel. It seemed as if O'Brian expected you to already be familiar with much of the early 19th century naval terminology, with the intricacies of the Napoleonic Wars, and with the culture, customs and language of the day. It was like listening to a comedian and only understanding one out of every two or three jokes--you titter nervously and you can follow along thanks to context, but it's a tad humiliating. I did like it enough to read the next though, Post Captain, and as I did, the joke finally dawned on me.

Patrick O'Brian writes these novels so that they could be read, understood, and enjoyed by the characters who populate them. The reason that they so effectively transport us to another time and place is because they seem to have been written there and then. His mission here is not to explain that epoch to us, but to present it for our consideration, nearly unadorned by modern sensibilities. He writes as if he were actually a contemporary of his heroes and the books have the quality, not of historical novels at all, but instead of classic tales newly rediscovered. Thanks to this unusual style, O'Brian is more often compared to Jane Austen than to C. S. Forester.

I don't mean to mislead anyone; the books aren't for all tastes and, even if you love them, O'Brian's manner can be frustrating--you sometimes wish you had an interpreter. But once you figure out what he's doing, if you accept the technique, you're in for a real treat. The writing is outstanding. The setting is endlessly interesting. Aubrey, the bluff and hearty sea captain, and Maturin, the vulpine doctor and spy, make for a classic pairing of steadfast opposites, in the tradition of Holmes and Watson. It is not easy reading but it is rewarding and once you read a couple, you'll be hooked. And be warned, before he died earlier this year, O'Brian had completed twenty novels in the series, so you'll be hooked for a good long time.

GRADE : A+

Rating:
Summary: absolutly fanominal
Review: what a great sea-story, perhaps a little hard to get into due to the old english style of writting, but well worth the effort to understand. this book take one from there world, and places them seemingly right on the deck of sophie as she sails the medeterainian in shearch of prize ships. o'brians style of writing makes one long to be back in those days with his very detailed descriptions of all that goes on in the RN of the day.
very good reading if you like sea-stories

Rating:
Summary: A ripping yarn
Review: Okay, first of all, four stars because: while I enjoyed this book immensely, had nothing but admiration for the research that must have gone into it, and the author's ability to project his imagination back to 1800 and to induce, from what must have been the careful perusal of a lot of dry documents at the Public Record Office at Kew, a whole way of life and mode of speech - still, still, still, something at the back of my mind is nagging at me that O'Brian's novels might not, in fact, be a sort of really good airport literature.

Who knows? Maybe that means they'll survive longer than a lot of "proper" literature - perhaps, in centuries to come (if there _are_ any centuries to come), people will regard O'Brian as one of the great late 20th century novelists and David Foster Wallace or Bret Easton Ellis will be forgotten. Shakespeare hardly ever set a play in his own time and place ("The Merry Wives of Windsor" is the only one I can think of.)

But I've read a few of the Aubrey/Maturin series by now and while I still enjoy them hugely, I think I'm beginning to pin down their appeal. They read like the Regency novels we never actually got to read. These guys are, if you like, the barely-glimpsed romantic nauticals in Austen's "Persuasion", except this time it's from their point of view. O'Brian, writing in the 70s/80s/90s, can use swearwords with impunity (and does - the f-word only ever gets spelled out when it's used amongst equals, the rest of the time being represented as a hyphen, in canny pastiche 18th-century manner). There is a prodigal scattering of jargon (his diction is infectious, as you can see) which makes us modern readers feel pleasantly ignorant and lubberly. There is a largely unquestioned respect for military prowess and a certain lack of curiosity about the ends to which this prowess is put.

I say "largely" because, for a sceptical left-winger like me, the presence of ex-United Irishman Stephen Maturin is what saves these books from just being gentlemen's club entertainments. Maturin is the more worried, worrying character than his friend Jack. Jack does the heroics, fer shure, but Stephen is the one who gets to reflect on what's going on, and here O'Brian's irresponsible creative power subverts his Old Tory instincts. Maturin gets to criticise the government - albeit privately, in his diary, and his public actions remain staunchly loyal - but still, he is the main focus of dissent and reflection in the whole series. Sorry to reduce it all to politics, but this is a book I thought I'd never enjoy - some very stupid people have praised it and I'm trying to reclaim it for my own side. But then, I haven't read all twenty-odd books in this series so perhaps it gets more complicated.

Part of the pleasure of these books is of course the chance to escape into an utterly different world, and O'Brian is brilliant at creating that world. They talk a bit different, they shamelessly drink humongous quantities of alcohol, they make crap jokes, and it's all very clubby and fun. And there's nothing wrong with that. These books are superb entertainment, and in their scrupulous attention to historical detail they are deeply interesting and conscientious works of art. But, in terms of story, they fall down. They are really fictional chronicles - things happen, the main characters bowl along, and they keep on doing so for twenty volumes. But as for the moral power of story to make us reflect on the characters, I don't see a lot of that going on. It's sort of Naval Soap. (Again, I haven't read all the books so perhaps I have yet more to learn.)

O'Brian's death means that there'll be no more. It's perhaps a shame that he never got to write a single, classic, consummating volume - that he never got to write the "War and Peace" that he always seemed to be threatening to do. But in the meantime, they're great fun. I'm just not sure that their ease and dash makes them better books than some more knotty, contemporary writing I could think of.

Rating:
Summary: Where is Hornblower?
Review: One must be a romantic nature to purchase a book like this. Eighteenth century frigates sailing in splendor, grim, determined men of war, pirates, naval battles, an era of tumult and heroism.
This is why the reader starts feeling uneasy after the first fifteen pages. The story seems to be taking place entirely on land and no adventure of any scale seems to be developing. The story seems to be revolving around Captain Jack Aubrey's anxieties and doctor Maturine's indecisiveness. The reader has to endure close to a hundred more pages of inaction before anything of the slightest interest happens.
This is the first - but by far not the last - thing that is wrong with this book. The most maddening of these is that the book has already been written! Nearly thirty years before Mr. O'Brian "saga", C. S. Forester wrote an amazing saga of ten books or so with the adventures of Horatio Hornblower, a British naval officer during the Napoleonic wars. Patrick O'Brian borrows the same setting and lifts some episodes from the Hornblower tales. His character, Jack Aubrey, is something like an anti-Hornblower. Horatio Hornblower is quick, intelligent, civil, diplomatic, and modest. Jack Aubrey on the other hand is completely unremarkable. He is on the heavy side, unintelligent, rowdy, and lacking in social skills. For some reason, he is the hero whose path through glory the reader is supposed to follow with undivided attention.
To get to the point, the story evolves slowly and is mostly uninteresting. There are only a couple of battles and a handful of sea adventures delivered without any particular literary talent. The rest of the book is made up of pointless conversations, endless descriptions, and a weak and unsuccessful attempt of the author to create some sort of dynamics between the main characters: captain Aubrey, doctor Maturin, and Lieutenant Dillon. Halfway through the book the reader guesses that these so-called social dynamics don't go anywhere and ends up being right.
Bottom line: If you want good naval stories in the Napoleonic era, read the Hornblower saga. If you've read all of Forester's books (I did) and you are looking for something similar (I was), Patrick O'Brian's uninspired attempt is bound to disappoint you.

Rating:
Summary: Superbly crafted!
Review: If you want to be picked up and plopped down on a British Navy Sloop during the Napoleon wars, then pick this book up and get ready! O'Brian writes and convincing and detailed novel about Captain Aubrey and his friend, the physician, Stephen Maturin. This was a superbly crafted introduction to what I expect will be a long and enjoyable series. You don't need to know anything about boats or sailing (I sure don't!) to enjoy this book. Stephen Maturin knows as little as anyone, and through his experience we are educated about the workings of the ship, from the topsails down to the lowest holds.

There is a very good story here about the maturing of the Captain and the relationships that are tested when thrown together in tight confines for lengths of time. I highly recommend this book and I can't wait to move on to Post Captain.

Rating:
Summary: You have been warned
Review: Be warned. This is the first in a series of twenty books. Initially, you will settle for the paperbacks but eventually you will want to own the series in hardback. You will, in your enormous enthusiasm, lend your copies to people whom you thought were your friends, until they fail to return them. There will be massive expense, bitter recrimination and much strife in the family home. Your spouse will say to you, on a regular basis, "Surely you're not reading those books again?"
He/she may doubt your sanity. You may doubt your own sanity as you drone on about being born two hundred years too late. You will feel anguish as you come towards the end of the series. You will acknowledge the lesser volumes. (there are one or two low points) You will rue your lack of general knowledge as the author ranges effortlessly far and wide through myriad subjects and languages. You will come to know the characters like your own family. You will celebrate with them in victory and tremble and weep with them in defeat. And you will be an addict.

Rating:
Summary: If you're interested
Review: In the topic...this is the best series. If you're not interested in the topic...you should be...if only to have the priveledge of reading this series.

Rating:
Summary: What a fantastic book!
Review: This book is just simply astounding! Halfway down the first page I thought, "well, that's a neat trick;" by the time I'd finished it I knew I was in the hands of a master.
Frigates! Guns! The Royal Navy and Spanish booty! An upright, straight-shooting newly minted captain, and an absent-minded, slightly flawed physician who fancies himself an amateur naturalist, and their unlikely adventures together upon the high seas!
Who cares! This book is a BOOK, readers - this is why trees are chopped down, sliced thin, and put between two covers! If you didn't know how good a novel could be, read this one - and prepare to be slapped across the face
I came to this book a couple months after finishing 'Two Years Before the Mast', and I can't imagine a better primer - but not necessary. If you like to read a book - if you like people at all - if you ever learned to read English - then I can't imagine that you won't absolutely love this book.
Yes, it's that good.

Rating:
Summary: Hoist the Mainsails!
Review: If you're a complete landlubber and you wanted to know what a jib or a mizzenmast is - this is the book for you. O'Brien shamelessly lays the naval details on thick in this fictional acount of the English Navy during the Napoleonic War years. At times the jargon and the language are trying, but the payoff is grand. I'm a big fan of historical fiction and rarely do we get the details of life as richly as in this novel. The action and the charachters make it well worth the effort. Also great are the charachters themselves. His Captain Jack is hardly the suave, handsome stereotype of Hollywood, but rather refreshingly - a tall, heavy man, light on social graces who is second to none in his lust for battle and knowledge of seamanship. Maturin is likewise bookish and wise, yet still courageous in his way - though at times his medical practices remain a product of his era. I can't wait to read the next book in this series "Post Captain".

Rating:
Summary: Not Necessarily for Guys Only
Review: This is the first in an excellent, utterly addicting and always compelling series that chronicles the exploits of Captain Jack Aubrey and ship's doctor Stephen Maturin, taking us on a lively tour of their lives, loves and adventures over the course of many years. When my sister first suggested that I read this book I was skeptical -- isn't it a "guy book"? But I was coming off a Jane Austen fix and one of Patrick O'Brian's favorite writers was Austen...so I gave it a try. I read the entire series, back to back, while pregnant with my son.

O'Brian fills his books with such incredible period detail and wonderful Austen-esq characterizations that I was immediately and incurably hooked. You will be astounded how much you learn about the post-Regency Period and life at sea because you will be so busy being deeply engrossed and throughly entertained.