I'm cruising through the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin series which comprise a mighty set of enjoyable, well-researched yarns set at sea during the Napoleonic wars early in the nineteenth century. The connecting thread is the career of a John-Bull archetype, Captain Jack Aubrey, in the company of his best friend, ship's surgeon and an Admiralty spy, the cerebral, physically Gollum-like Stephen Maturin, obsessed with the study of nature and physiology, and woefully unlucky in love. The pair regularly play music together in the captain's cabin and occasionally share confidences, but more often co-exist separately while pursuing their own dramas, sometimes but not often as rivals. Jack's an extrovert, a plain speaker and an adventurer, never more at home than in hand-to-hand ship-to-ship combat or trimming and breaking in a vessel to its maximum possible speed and battle efficiency. Stephen is more introverted, eccentric and obsessive, a widely-read intellectual and a loner prone to murky moods. This review will serve for all the books. (And a tip: don't be prejudiced by the -- in my opinion -- flawed Peter Weir effort at capturing the series for the big screen in Master and Commander: the leads were badly miscast and the O'Brian magic was missing, though there was a certain amount to commend.)As in all series, a structural pattern emerges. On entering each story we'll find the pair on land yearning for an assignment, and the author skilfully paints their social, financial and practical ineptitudes off-water. Then a ship is given them, accompanied by a mission, with Stephen usually charged with certain duties of Crown espionage. The ship, as it's shaped to Jack's sailing and fighting tastes, usually becomes one of the story's characters, whereby Jack always wants to take an enemy or privateer because therein lies his fortune: spoils and booty. O'Brian has researched every aspect of Regency naval life including its conventions, politics, systems and flaws, and weaves his knowledge deftly into his plots. After some period traveloguing, there'll be a battle and a victory or a loss, propelling us into the next book.The prose is always more than workmanlike, the suspense supple enough to keep you in. Characterisations are lively and vivid, if rarely passionate, though Jack, refreshingly, exhibits plenty. The tales don't quite rollick, but come close: the author is a sanguine spirit, occasionally cryptic, a habitual dry archness sometimes demanding the reader extricate events from between lines, but never irksomely so. He's (was) Irish and enjoys a little irony.Where the books soar is when the ships sail. No one has written boats at sea better: you feel every droplet and you swoop with every gust that fills the sails. He has no patience for ignorance, you have to keep up with the terminology, but there's a handy diagram of a ship as the frontispiece with every sail labelled. The sailing bits and the battles are exhilarating, founded in meticulous and engaging informative preparation within the narrative, and comprehensive elucidation about every pivotal character caught in the conflicts. The series is worth reading for the author's love of the sea, and his gift for rendering it incarnate with words and paper. Grab one of these books if you see one, they're grownup fun.
A delight as usual to dive into this 4th in the wonderfully addictive series about the British navy during the Napoleanic Wars. I gave myself the treat of coming back to this, which stands out as one of the best in the set of 16 that I read most of the distant past. Half or more of the pleasure comes from partaking in the special friendship between boyish and brave Captain Jack Aubrey and the more intellectual surgeon and spy, Stephen Maturin. The other reward lies in O’Brian’s portrayal of the special community that exists among the sailors aboard these floating extensions of the British empire. Of course, the quest of taking virtuous naval action against the forces of Bonaparte’s tyranny is part of the hedonic equation, a chance to experience a more adult version of the heroic adventure tales of Hornblower that sustained my youth. Here Aubrey has the mission to take a small squadron to face the marauding French frigates which are devastating the trade of England with India around Cape Horn. The series of engagements covered in this tale involve a wonderful chess match of shifting odds which recapitulate the actual history of how the islands of Mauritius and Reunion off the east African coast were wrested from the French in 1805. Unlike the cat and mouse play between individual ships and commanders in previous books in the series, this one puts Jack in the position of leader of a campaign. As a commodore, his challenge is to harness and inspire his captains, each with a different set of strengths and weaknesses. He also has to coordinate with British army forces and local militia and judiciously risk Stephen to on intelligence gathering trips ashore. Much of the narrative comes from Stephen’s reflections, which provides a fascinating perspective on the manners and morals of the time, critical views on British imperialism, and much comparing and contrasting of Aubrey with other officers. As usual, he is frustrated in his hunger to satisfy his naturalist avocation in exploring the flora and fauna of this remote geography. Still, we get to share his ecstasies over experiencing his first aardvark and manatee. His ruminations on human nature and medicine provide a satisfying backdrop to the story. And, as usual, the interludes of music and of humorous banter with Jack are icing on the cake. For example, at one point Stephen asks Jack whether he can learn anything useful from distant observation of the French ships:“Of course,” said Jack a little impatiently. “What a fellow you are, Stephen. Any sailor can tell a great deal from the way another sailor sets his jib, or goes about, or flashes out his stuns’ls, just as you can tell a great deal about a doctor from the way he whipped off a leg.”“Always this whipping off of a leg. It is my belief that for you people the whole noble art of medicine is summed up in the whipping off of a leg. …”
What do You think about The Mauritius Command (1991)?
Even though this was based on a real historical naval engagement, there was more telling than showing compared to the previous novels. I also missed the Aubrey/Maturin conversations as the two were often apart. Jack, also being a Commodore, was forced to be more distant to his crew due his rank. I missed his relationships with his sailors/crew when he was a Captain on a frigate.Still, this had the best quote I have seen so far!Jack: the coffee has a damned odd tasteStephen: this I attribute to the excrement of rats. Rats have eaten our entire stock; and I take the present brew to be a mixture of the scrapings at the bottom of a sack.Jack: I thought it had a familiar tang
—Jennifer
I've recently discovered Patrick O'Brian--I had picked up H.M.S. Surprise at a used book store or a garage sale about three years ago and finally read it a couple weeks ago. I have a friend who describes Patrick O'Brian as "Jane Austen for boys." I've long since exhausted my first reads of all Jane Austen, so it is nice to have a score or two of new first reads. Also nice to read what may have been happening on the other side of all that crossed correspondence that drives Austen's domestic plots.I was a bit distracted by some errant misogynistic bits in this novel, though--granted, haven't read 1 or 2 yet, but I didn't feature Jack Aubrey as a character that would harbor such blatant disappointment over ahem, TWINS, even though they were girls. Particularly when he can take the loss of all but two of his ships around chapter 8 with such equanimity. But perhaps I'm missing some characterization at this point--Stephen Maturin in particular is getting more complex. I'll give O'Brian at least three more novels to correct this before I give up on the boy's Jane Austen.
—Betsy
I listened to this story twice and I cannot figure out what I want to say about it. It is just as well written as the others I listened to and as well narrated, but different. Jack is elevated to the rank of commodore and is in charge of a fleet of ships trying to capture French ships. Some new characters are introduced, none of them really stellar, but they have an impact on the story. It was an interesting study of ship captains and how they treated their crews and how Jack, as the commodore, had to manage them all. Stephen is a political consultant and away from the ship much of the time working with the locals.
—Cherie
