Master and Commander

'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 ta

The first in Patrick O'Brian's twenty-volume "Aubrey-Maturin" series, "Master and Commander" is both a compelling narrative and a fine foundation for the books to follow. In the first decade of the nineteenth century, British naval officer Jack Aubrey is promoted to his first command of a warship, the sloop "Sophie". He befriends an eccentric physician, Stephen Maturin, and convinces him to sail as ship's surgeon. What follows is a sort of odyssey, a linear narrative as the Sophie cruises the Mediterranean, capturing cargo ships and fighting French and Spanish warships. O'Brian has a wonderful, mature prose, a spare style that omits repetitious detail while allowing characters and events to describe themselves and leaving the minutiae to the reader's imagination. His complete ease with nineteenth century maritime affairs, from the idiom to the equipment is wholly convincing, yet never patronizing. Readers familiar with neither the sea nor the era will be swept along for the ride. Aubrey is heroic, but three-dimensional. He is flawed and sometimes unlikable, courageous yet occasionally frustratingly inept. Other characters are drawn with equal attention to detail and humanity. This is a fine book, a wonderful sea story. Norton's newly-released edition of the entire series is attractive, and the books continue to please.

I found the O'Brian series in a bookshop on Oxford Street Paddington (Sydney Australia) and was in desperate need of an excellent series to get stuck into. Well I did and I read the lot, I just hope more will be written. Master and Commander did nearly lose me in the first few chapters as I felt it was all conversation and virtually no prose but I stuck with it and was so delightfully rewarded with the story telling, character development, action and suspense that I couldn't put the book down. Now there's something you should know about me, I'm a woman in my 20's and thus a rarity when it comes to being an avid fan of Patrick O'Brian. But I thoroughly enjoyed learning about men and their way of seeing the world. I also thoroughly loved how O'Brian drew the women who came to be so important in later books of the series. So women reading this, go get this book. This series is set on a British man-o-war in wartime with plenty of action and it is primarily about men ! and there are some details that it would be easier to pretend didn't happen; it is also a story that makes you laugh at the wonderful dry wit. The observations of people and friendship aren't to be found elsewhere. I lament the fact that I've now read all O'Brian's seafaring stories and only hope at least two more in the Aubrey series can be written. So if you want a good laugh, well a series of them more like, an insight into life in a different world and into men. But be prepared to read the entire series and finding yourself buying three books ahead at a time so you don't find yourself finishing one at 10pm and running all over the city in search of an open bookshop with the next one on the self! Now I am back to trying to find another excellent author, the only problem is, my requirements are tougher than ever before, but at least I can look forward to breaking my rule about re-reading novels and get stuck back into seafaring life in a couple of years!