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The Reverse of the Medal (Audio Cassette)

by Patrick O'Brian (Author), Simon Vance (Narrator)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Audio Cassette
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks; Unabridged edition (August 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786144734
ISBN-13: 978-0786144730
Product Dimensions: 16 x 10.9 x 7.1 cm
Shipping Weight: 318 g

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Product Description

From Amazon.com

Ashore between cruises, Captain Jack Aubrey is persuaded to sink some money into an investment scheme. Soon this innocent decision enmeshes him in various criminal and even treasonous enterprises, which threaten to destroy his entire career. Bad luck? A deliberate plot? Read this latest installment of the Aubrey-Maturin saga to find out. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description

Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of their beginning, with Master and Commander, these evocative stories are being re-issued in paperback with smart new livery. This is the eleventh book in the series. The Reverse of the Medal is in all respects an unconventional naval tale. Jack Aubrey returns from his duties protecting whalers off South America and is persuaded by a casual acquaintance to make investments in the City on the strength of supposedly certain information. From there he is led into the half worlds of the London criminal underground and of government espionage -- the province of his friend, Stephen Maturin, on whom alone he can rely. Those who are already devoted readers of Patrick O'Brian will find here all the brilliance of characterisation and sparkle of dialogue which they have come to expect. For those who read him for the first time there will be the pleasure of discovering, quite unexpectedly, a novelist of unique character. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews

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5.0 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Reverse of the Medal, Mar 12 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Reverse of the Medal (Paperback)

One of the ways in which O'Brian was a great writer was his ability to create characters in whom one sees something of oneself. In Reverse of the Medal, Aubrey's financial innocence leads him into a trap. When he points out that he wouldn't have known *how* to commit stock market-related corruption, let alone have wanted to do it -- I think any modern reader ever plagued by stocks, taxes, and/or abusive collection agents can sympathize.

So, also, may readers in this age of downsizing and demotions sympathize with the humiliating and painful experiences which follow. I won't post a spoiler for the pillory scene, but it's powerful. I cried.

O'Brian's other strengths of historical verisimilitude, dialogue, and setting all are in evidence as well in this, one of the series' high points.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, Feb 25 2002

By	richard_t "richard_t" (Overseas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Reverse of the Medal (Book 11) (Aubrey/Maturin Series) (Hardcover)

The eleventh installment in Patrick O'Brian's excellent series of naval adventures finds Aubrey and Maturin back in Britain as their journey to the Pacific, begun in the previous book, comes to a conclusion. Aubrey, always a minnow among land sharks when he has money in his pocket, finds himself innocently ensnared in a complicated stock exchange scam that may have been set up by Maturin's enemies in the intelligence game. The complex case and courtroom scene, O'Brian assures us in a note, are based on a real case. The pillory scene is powerful, as Bonden gruffly clears the square of all but sailors, and officers and seamen of all stripes come to show Jack their love and respect.

After several books at sea, "The Reverse of the Medal" brings readers back to the Admiralty in London with its complicated and layered intrigues, back to Ashgrove and Sophie, and back to Maturin's espionage machinations. As always, O'Brian's wonderfully intelligent prose and satisfying grasp of historical nuance captures the reader in little pockets of 18th-century Britain. The entire Aubrey/Maturin series is great, and this installment is no exception.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Dear readers -- do yourself, and your soul, a favor...., Sep 28 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Reverse of the Medal (Paperback)

After years of encouragement from my father, I finally began to read the Aubrey/Maturin series last winter. As I finished each book, he would say "wait until you get to Reverse of the Medal." Now that I have just turned its last page, which came all too quickly, I know what he meant. "The Reverse of the Medal" is heartbreakingly heroic and one of the best stories I have ever read.

Several reviews here give praise to the ending. I will go further and say it rivals the best 50 pages to be found in any masterpiece you could put forth. When Aubrey is led to the pillory, to be publicly humiliated, his spiritual rescue by his fellow Naval officers and his devoted crew is tense and extremely moving. I could hardly believe I was reading a modern writer. Great books and movies are defined by certain moments that fulfill a yearning for the triumph of Spirit or Truth or Love. The emotional cheer at the pillory and Stephen's subsequent meetings with Duhamel, the French agent, are two of these perfect artistic moments that say to anyone ready and open for the experience, yes, this is what life is about and what friendship for your fellow Man should be.

This is what great literature, great art, does. It changes you. So do yourself a favor: ignore the multitude of self-help books. Pass by the latest celebrity biography or expose. Dismiss the soon-to-be-a-major-motion-picture-or-mini-series pulp.

If you read one thing during the rest of your lifetime, let it be these novels by O'Brian. It will alter your molecules, your view of life itself.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A suspenseful yarn by the master of square-riggers

The late Patrick O'Brian had absolutely no peer when it came to sea stories. He knew his subject inside and out. Read more

Published on Jun 17 2000 by Joseph H Pierre

5.0 out of 5 stars It almost caused a wreck!
I'm an Aubrey/Maturin devotee who has read all in series up to this point. I must say that this book rivals Master and Commander, which was my favorite up till now. Read more

Published on April 25 2000 by Susan in Tennessee

5.0 out of 5 stars An awsome tale.
With an accurate depiction of English 19th Century justice and politics as a backdrop, O'Brian creates a riveting, absolutely spell binding adventure of intrigue and secrecy that... Read more

Published on Sep 29 1999 by heavypen