Customer Reviews

Master and Commander

5 star:		(92)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Over the years, I have came across a number of stunning reviews for O'Brian's books. One day when I was faced with finding something new to read, I ordered this book from Amazon.

To be honest, at first I found the book confusing and boring. The reader is faced with a number of unfamiliarities: the time period, the culture of the Royal navy, the dialect, the nautical terms, the political situations, the standards of behavior, the geography, the Royal Society with its Baconian approach to science, and state-legitimized piracy, to name but a few. I spent about 6 months reading this book ( I usually read a book in a week or two), and would put it down for awhile and read something else. After three or four chapters, I realized that there was little value in looking up all the references to various sails and parts of ships. From this point on I really started to enjoy the book, and by the time Aubrey has his first piratical adventure, I was hooked. After I finished "Master and Commander", I read the other 19 books in 11 months.

Some advice:

1. Read the books in order. Characters appear, disappear, and re-appear throughout the books. Sometimes they die, but usually not.
2. Read the second book "Post Captain" very carefully. IMHO, it is the best book of all 20. This book focuses on developing the Maturin character as a spy; a sophisticated man of wealth, background, and education; a drug user; and a nerdy womanizer - sort of an 19th century cross between James Bond and Bill Gates.
3. Unless you are compelled by an obsessive-compulsive disorder to do otherwise, ignore the thousands of detailed nautical terms. Sometimes they have some value, but generally only in the case of a nautical joke. I bought one of the suggested help books ("Dictionary of Nautical Terms") and found it to be generally useless in defining terms used in 19th century sailing.
4. Keep a general US and World history text handy. This will be useful for some quick background when Aubrey is involved in some minor war, especially the ones I slept thru in world history classes in college.
5. I looked up a lot of terms in the OED.
6. Have fun. These are easy reads. It was fun to discover a unread series of 20 great books to read at my age. It was like "discovering" the works of Faulkner, Steinbeck, Hemingway, McPhee, and Updike in high school.

When Lieutenant Jack Aubrey Royal Navy meets Stephen Maturin, physician of Spain and Ireland, in the elegant music room of the Governor's house in Port Mahon at the dawn of the Nineteenth Century and in the middle of the Napoleonic wars, a friendship is begun which is one of the most remarkable in modern literature.

For twenty books we follow the adventures of this pair, around the world, in love and war, sun and storm, battle and peace, at sea and on land. The reader who stays with them - and it is not uncommon to read all twenty books, one after the other - is in for a feast, a remarkable journey through this world of sea-captains and their ladies, spies and spymasters, politicians, convicts, bureaucrats and soldiers. Grand ladies and scoundrels, thiefs, bailiffs and bums.

But I stray. This is the first volume, and like all the others it stands alone as a story. It is the story of Lucky Jack Aubrey and his cruises in the sloop HMS Sophie up and down the Mediterranean, but chiefly off the coasts of France and Spain. There is victory and promotion, death and failure, glory and satisfaction before we get to the end.

The atmosphere is unerringly authentic. Every word is researched, every setting, every ship, every part of a ship. We are taken aloft in a square-rigger, we man the guns in a sea-battle, and we line the rails as she comes home to port. All in exquisite detail.

But this is more than Hornblower or his later imitators. This is a step up. These battles and characters, settings and seamen are far, far more than the "fighting sail" equivalent of today's technothriller. No cardboard characters here! Every one is finely drawn, acting according to their own desires and ambitions, with their own habits and mannerisms. Here is Mowett, declaiming snatches of poetry, remarkably turgid poetry that was published by the yard in those days. (Thankfully we never hear more than a verse or two). Here is Killick, bringing in the Captain's salt horse, Midshipman Babbington interested in the ladies but amazingly coy about it. Barret Bonden, Tom Pullings - a host of characters!

The humour, the gentle good humour, sets this book aside from all the others with a sailing ship on the cover. There are wonderful jokes, there is restrained word play, there are hidden treasures of subtlety, for Patrick O'Brian was a deep old file, and every now and then he sets the reader up for a prank, all the more pleasurable for being found out and appreciated at its proper moment.

One remarkable aspect is the popularity of this series amongst the fairer sex. This is not a catalogue of sea-battles and nineteenth century naval technology, but a tale of manners and relationships that would do Jane Austen proud.

We feel for the characters, suffering and smiling with them as the narrative unfolds. And we can feel the relationships folding in turn - Jack and Stephen might begin the story as mere acquaintances, but they end as firm friends, one of the best and most pleasant friendships in literature.

For, rest assured, this is literature. A most amazingly pleasant novel-series that is both fun to read and yet contains enough deep insights and discussions of fundamental themes for any university course.

I must confess I am biased. I read Hornblower as a schoolboy and began reading his imitators - Bolitho, Ramage and the rest. I'd buy each book as they were published but as time went by I perservered with only one author, and the annual wait for the next Patrick O'Brian seemed to stretch out to double or triple the time. I have now read them all, for Patrick O'Brian died as the Twentieth Century ended, but I still read and re-read them for the sheer pleasure of the reading. And I am a busy man, with piles of wonderful books stacked high on my bedside table, but there is nothing in fiction quite so pleasant as to return to the dear old barky, hear the strains of Locatelli from the great stern-cabin, spy Killick waiting by the door with coffee and toasted cheese, and a cheery voice from the Gunroom cry "Rouse out another bottle there - can't you see we've got a guest?"

O happy meeting, and happy voyage in this first of a great novel series. Dear reader, do yourself a favour and plunge into this wonderful world. ...

I note that one or two reviewers have given this book a poor rating. I too, at first, could not 'get on' with Master and Commander despite being a 'Nelson nut' and enthusiastic about this era. Then someone suggested I should read 'Post Captain', the second in the series, then return to 'Master & Commander'. I took this advice and have never looked back. I am now a confirmed O'Brian enthusiast.

My particular interest is the interplay of character, the human interest, the authentic recreation, in every aspect, of a fascinating period in European history. O'Brian is totally in command of the period - language, custom, philosophical preoccupations, naval tactics, contemporary events. Some may find the tehnicalities of sailing, which O'Brian narrates in detail, to be off-putting. The trick is not to skip but to read these passages as a non-musician listens to music, not attempting to understand every note but to catch the mood. You will be swept along by the beauty and power of O'Brian's writing, and you will follow the narrative through the reactions of those involved.

So, for anyone unable to finish 'Master & Commander' I would say, 'Don't start here'. Follow my advice, and you will certainly return.

As I write this review, "Master and Commander" has been commented upon by 100 other reviewers; how is one supposed to weed through the criticism? I suggest reading the few one-star reviews. From them, you will learn that if you require a numbing series of Clancy-esque action passages to entertain you, this book probably won't. Second, some people detest being challenged by the subject matter of their fiction; if there is going to be anything that can remotely be described as esoteric, the author should carefully connect the dots to avoid any suspicion that he might be talking down to his readers. O'Brien is particularly annoying to those with such concerns, because he has no qualms about targeting the 19th century groves of academe as his readership. He appears to presume that we all have a working knowledge of botany, entymology, biology, geography, socio-economic theory, classical music, the British navy, and sailing ships (each as it existed in the Napoleonic era) as we read. That may indeed be somewhat arrogant. It's also impressive and highly entertaining for many who might find their interest in these various subjects piqued by the many references to them.

This book and the many that follow it in the series do not play well to the lowest common denominator; for example, the protagonists Captain Aubrey and Doctor Maturin are not always sympathetic; each has fundamental flaws that sometimes make them difficult to like. All of this being said, "Master and Commander" is accessible to any patient and thoughtful reader who doesn't demand comic-book simplicity in his or her fiction. The book is uproariously funny in certain passages, but it is the kind of humor that only becomes apparent three pages later. The delight in the joke itself is magnified by the joy in discovering it.

O'Brien won't patronize you, and you may feel comforted by piling several reference guides around you as you read, but this book's pleasures are exponentially greater than the cheap payoff from a formulaic potboiler. If you don't mind actually exercising your brain as you read, if you like tightly drawn characters and have even a passing interest the glory years of the British Navy, you'll probably love this. I suspect, however, that even you will not be able to read this book in less than a few sittings. This type of prose is meant to be slowly chewed and digested, which is why the fast-food types just don't relate.

What a happy surprise to find that I simply can't stop reading this series. I had long heard fans of this series sing its praises, but I was always put off by the thought of reading a seafaring military saga. My few attempts at historical "sailing" novels made me believe that the genre was chock-full of misogyny and slow plot-lines. After reading "Master and Commander" I have revised my estimation of the genre and have resolved to continue reading this series in its entirety (I am now on the third Aubrey/Maturin book).
I agree wholeheartedly with the recommendations by the reviewer from Charlottesville -- in particular, skip trying to figure out all of the sailing jargon and just go with the flow of the novels. They move along at great pace; you'll never be bored. I do keep a dictionary by my side to look up some of the more arcane and obsolete vocabulary used. (Indeed, the OED would be a great choice if you have access to it.) And that's half the fun of reading these novels -- immersing yourself in a bygone age of such different morals, manners, language, knowledge, and priorities. Of course, the other half of the fun is getting to know Aubrey and Maturin. O'Brien's ability to draw these characters so rich in their complexity is nothing short of amazing.
As a relatively young female reader who never thought she'd see the day that a seafaring tale would hold her interest, I highly recommend this series.

Captain Aubrey is the impulsive, boyishly-jolly captain of the Sophie. His best-friend is the nerdy doctor Maturan. When Aubrey is assigned to the Sophie he convinces Maturan, a doctor in private practice, to enlist. Together they have many excellent adventures. This is the first in the series.

I listened to the unabridged audio version of this novel, and was VERY impressed. The narrator manages to capture Aubrey's good nature and Maturin's cheerful introspection quite well.

This series is very detailed. I learned plenty about the life of British sailors and the relationships between the characters is charming and at times sad. In particular, I liked Aubrey. He has an almost cheerfully optimism that is quite infectious. Doctor Maturan is funny, but at times I wish he were more assertive.

Overall, an excellent book. Well narrated. Five Stars.

I have listened to all of the tales of Jack Aubrey and company. However, I have never read them. They are a difficult read but a delight to listen to on tape or CD. My favorites are the unabridged books read by Patrick Tull. They take about 15 hours each and are perfect for listening to on a commute of 1/2 hour or more. I used to dread the drive, now I look forward to it. If you tried reading one and got lost or confused, try listening to one instead. Also, make sure you start with Master and Commander, the first volume. It lays the foundation for the other 12 volumes.

I'll limit myself to two points, other reviewers having done handsomely.

__First versus later:__
This opener novel in the series is more packed with action than a full three of the later novels. In a sense, it's like riding a nervous horse. Full of excitement, but a bit giddy, a bit dizzying. In later novels, O'Brian becomes more assured, so that by the time of the amazing 'The Surgeon's Mate,' there's more room for sweeping politics, history and above all comedy.

The point is, O'Brian is an amazingly funny writer. With astounding erudition, natural as well as philosophic knowledge, broad comedy is the last thing you'd expect. 'Master and Commander' doesn't quite do justice to O'Brian's wit, and of course, neither does the film. But be of good cheer: the comic heights of Jagiello wooing a Parisian shopkeeper are only a short way off.

Finally and foremost, Stephen Maturin doesn't have as much to do in this first novel. Two or three books later, he's developed into maybe the greatest intelligence agent in literature.

__The nautical detail:__
Significant detail is everything in fiction. While on the one hand, a love of immersive detail leads O'Brian to spare us no nautical terms, it also leads to wonderful acquaintance with the world of the early nineteenth century. In later books we marvel at such things as the importing of fully dressed dolls from Paris to keep Londoners aware of fashion, the existence of a 'keeper of the cranes' in the court of an Ottoman official and the early days of ballooning. If need be, let the nautical terms go. There's infinite richness to get to.

And there is always the companion lexicon.

I always prided myself in finishing every book that I started no matter how bad. Patrick O'Brian managed to give me an Ol' Broadside. I just couldn't finish it. I tried but I realised I was wasting too much of a short life. I was hoping that these books would be like a "Sharpe at Sea" type series. Alas it was not to be and reading this left me in the "Doldrums".

Although I am not a sailor nor am I very knowledgeable about the navy, I do get a charge out of historical naval fiction. I read the Hornblower series by C.S. Forester with gusto, and was rather disappointed when I finished, because I thought that I had read the best books and there was nowhere to go but down.

Soon after, I saw a review of a Patrick O'Brian book and though he looked promising. I bought "Master and Commander" and started on it. I quickly realized that this was no Hornblower book. I slowly struggled 3/4 of the way through it and decided it wasn't worth the effort. I just couldn't adjust to O'Brian's style: where Forester was straightforward and simple, O'Brian's writing style gets very involved, and sometimes his sentences take half a page. I dropped the book and forgot about it for several months, but for some reason I decided to give O'Brian another try. I started on a later book in the series, and found myself caught up in the story and enjoying the complicated prose. O'Brian's fascinating character development, not to mention the intense battle scenes and occasional bursts of subtle (or not) humor, was captivating. When I re-read "Master and Commander" I couldn't believe that I had been so obtuse on my first perusal; I LOVE this book now, and I know the book didn't change!

I know why a lot of people never really got into O'Brian (I was almost one of them), and I don't blame them. He is not easy to read, at least not at first. But when I got into the groove, so to speak, I found that I wouldn't rather have it any other way. I like the way O'Brian makes the reader work a little, and in the long run I think the payoffs are greater than in the Hornblower series. I know, a lot of people won't believe me, but I cannot tell a lie. O'Brian is better.