The Captain's Wife: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Amazing adventure
Review: All right, I'm the type of reader who prefers fiction to fact and sci-fi/fantasy to all other types of books. However, I picked up "The Captain's Wife" mostly because my voice teacher recommended it. I was hooked by the end of the first chapter. It was one of the best books I've ever read, and that's saying a lot because I usually don't enjoy anything based on a true story. But this book was wow...just wow. It was so cool to think that a girl just two years older than me was in control of a ship during one of the most dangerous crossings ever.
Read it...you'll be glad did.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Read
Review: I enjoyed this blend of fact and fiction which is woven into the enjoyably readable tale of Mary Ann Patton's voyage from New York to San Fransisco on her husband's clipper ship. Although few facts are known about Mary Ann Patton, I wanted to believe that Douglas Kelley's account has filled in the missing pieces of this fascinating character's story. I was left wanting to learn more about Mary Ann after her remarkable voyage. An excellent read for those interested in the resourcefulness of historical woman in the 18th century.

Rating:
Summary: Fact and Fiction Fusion Failure
Review: I never expected this book to be as good as it was. It was not what I expected, but after the first two chapters, I was hooked, and kept reading until I was nearly done. Well drawn, realistic characters and based on a true story. The author has done a great job, and I normally don't like this kind of book.
Bravo!

Rating:
Summary: Predictable plot. Enjoyable story.
Review: Mary is the 19-year-old wife of a merchant ship Captain named Joshua. Mary has traveled with her husband at sea once before and she enjoyed the freedom and the adventure of seeing distant cities. Joshua's upcoming trip is from New York to San Francisco and Mary decides to join him. In the 1850's, the fastest route was to sail south from New York around Cape Horn at the tip of South America and back north to San Francisco. As the Captain's wife, Mary has no duties and much free time. Boredom causes her to seek the knowledge of navigation and her husband obligingly teaches her to use a sextant to determine the ship's position and plot the ship's course. This skill becomes necessary when the Captain falls ill over 100 pages into the book. The difficult First Mate cannot perform the duty and the Second Mate doesn't have the knowledge or experience. Mary navigates and nurses her husband and the journey becomes a bleak and depressing ordeal rather than the happy free time Mary had hoped for. She must also face the possibility that her husband may not recover and cope with the emotional and physical consequences of her first pregnancy as the ship struggles to get through winter storms and a avoid a sea of icebergs trying to reach it's destination and medical help.

Nothing in the plot is terribly surprising and the turn of events are even expected based on the synopsis and reviews. However, I wanted to continue reading because I enjoyed the gentle introduction to the sailing terms and Mary's perspective regarding life on a long voyage at sea. Mary's character is not too deep, but I found her likeable and her reactions plausible, if understated. It feels as if the author has not taken great literary license and he tries to stick to the facts even though very little is known about this actual historical trip.

Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Predictable plot. Enjoyable story.
Review: Mary is the 19-year-old wife of a merchant ship Captain named Joshua. Mary has traveled with her husband at sea once before and she enjoyed the freedom and the adventure of seeing distant cities. Joshua's upcoming trip is from New York to San Francisco and Mary decides to join him. In the 1850's, the fastest route was to sail south from New York around Cape Horn at the tip of South America and back north to San Francisco. As the Captain's wife, Mary has no duties and much free time. Boredom causes her to seek the knowledge of navigation and her husband obligingly teaches her to use a sextant to determine the ship's position and plot the ship's course. This skill becomes necessary when the Captain falls ill over 100 pages into the book. The difficult First Mate cannot perform the duty and the Second Mate doesn't have the knowledge or experience. Mary navigates and nurses her husband and the journey becomes a bleak and depressing ordeal rather than the happy free time Mary had hoped for. She must also face the possibility that her husband may not recover and cope with the emotional and physical consequences of her first pregnancy as the ship struggles to get through winter storms and a avoid a sea of icebergs trying to reach it's destination and medical help.

Nothing in the plot is terribly surprising and the turn of events are even expected based on the synopsis and reviews. However, I wanted to continue reading because I enjoyed the gentle introduction to the sailing terms and Mary's perspective regarding life on a long voyage at sea. Mary's character is not too deep, but I found her likeable and her reactions plausible, if understated. It feels as if the author has not taken great literary license and he tries to stick to the facts even though very little is known about this actual historical trip.

Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A very good read you won't soon forget.
Review: Nautical tales, I have read many; O'Brian, Forester, Pope, etc.
They don't measure up to this one. I had to restrain myself from jumping ahead to learn the ending. I also especially enjoyed the explanations of the workings of the ship. I wish the author had other writings.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: The Captain's Wife is a treat to read: it's fast-paced and authentic, with lots of adventure and drama. It's got strong characters, and Kelley is adept at describing life at sea--sometimes too adept, to tell the truth. I sometimes got lost in all the seafaring jargon, but never enough to miss out on what was going on.

Kelley also does a great job portraying Mary Patten and her role aboard ship. The Captain's Wife never becomes a "girl power" novel; by the same token, it's not a boring "life at sea" novel, either. It can easily appeal to males and females alike, unlike perhaps Ahab's Wife (another stellar novel, but one that seems to appeal more to women than men). The only thing I wondered about was Kelley's treatment of Mary's pregnancy. I'm pregnant myself, and I can't imagine, even in the midst of all the calamities going on at the time of the novel, being as unemotional toward the new baby as he portrays Mary. Perhaps unemotional is the wrong word; whenever the pregnancy is mentioned, it's mentioned as a joyful, wonderful thing--the problem is (for me, anyway) that it's hardly ever mentioned, like Mary forgets for whole weeks at a time she's even pregnant. Still, that's not enough to mar his characterization of her or the novel as a whole.

I was a little disappointed with the editing of the book--there were several typos and plain old mistakes, which I found disconcerting, but I know that sort of thing bothers me more than it does a lot of people.

Overall, I'd say this novel is well worth a read. It's inviting, engaging, and above all, entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: A new perspective on seagoing tales
Review: The Captain's Wife is about a woman who travels to sea with her husband. As a way of staying busy she learns to use the sextant. That turns out to be fortuitous because on a voyage from New York to San Francisco--the voyage upon which the story centers around--her husband falls ill and is confined to his cabin in a comatose state. The first mate is unavailable (I won't spoil it) and the second mate doesn't know how to navigate. It's up to her to get the ship around the horn and on to San Fran. It's a good story and a quick read.

The book isn't as technical as other historical novels or non-fiction maritime narratives, but you still get a good feel for how clippers were sailed. I enjoyed the new perspective as most narratives are from that of the sailor or capitain but rarely of the captain's wife.

Rating:
Summary: We need more writers like Kelley
Review: The characters in this book are neither flat nor predictable. Kelley writes an excellent book that makes even the complexities of sailing easy to understand. It's a clean wonderful read, and I highly recommend it. One of the better books I've bought in a LONG time.

Rating:
Summary: Courage Defined by Love
Review: This book gives the reader a real feel for life aboard a clipper ship during the 1850's. It also shows the devotion the captain's young, newly pregnant wife, Mary Patten, holds for her husband, Joshua, after he falls ill and the ship is threatened by a mutinous crew. With the help of Timothy Hare, a young, illiterate sailor, she rallies the crew to complete their treacherous journey from New York to San Francisco round Cape Horn.

Douglas Kelley obviously enjoyed the years of research he spent in order to tell this story of a wife's devotion. His language is lively and lovely, two qualities necessary for a love story at sea.