Aubrey/Maturin views please

[pragmatist]

It's rare to say that we've missed out on an author, let alone a nautical one. But jointly we think we may have read 1 O'Brian between us.

So on a wet and windy Saturday I decided to find the list and set about obtaining them in chronological order - anticipating a treat.

However when I mentioned this to HWMBO he said he'd just read a letter in YW which slated them for "turgid prose and nautical inaccuracy".

Come on chaps & chapesses - if you've read 'em what's your view ?

<hr width=100% size=1>a pragmatist is an optimist with a boat in the UK - but serious about not being in the UK !

 

[Stevie_T]

Well Ive read a few of them and not in chronogol chrolnologic chromolonogi, not in the right order. I enjoyed them, but then Im thick and wouldnt recognise a turd in prose if I slipped on one.
I always wondered if there was something more in the Aubrey/Maturin relationship than immediately meets the eye, a bit like the Sherlock Holmes drug addiction, never directly stated just hinted at.
So read one or two and make your own mind up.

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[Metabarca]

Turgid prose? Nonsense! Nautical innaccuracies? Perhaps, but nothing that spoils the fun. Enjoy!

<hr width=100% size=1>Adriatic links here: <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html>http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html</A>

 

[pragmatist]

Well perhaps I worded that one a bit poorly - I'm not terribly bothered if Aubrey & Maturin have something going on ! Just wanted to know if the books were worth reading !

<hr width=100% size=1>a pragmatist is an optimist with a boat in the UK - but serious about not being in the UK !

 

[StugeronSteve]

Totaly anorak I know, but I've read the lot and in chronological order too (for extra anorak points). The whole series could have been condensed into far fewer volumes, but that would just have deprived the late author of a few bob and me a lot of pleasure from reading some well written, humourous, occasionally exciting and occasionally boring (bit like sailing I suppose) books. I am sure there are experts around who could knock holes in the historical accuracy, but then again historians rarely agree amongst themselves.

Mind you, I too am thick, so I should read a few more and form your own opinion.

Steve.

<hr width=100% size=1>Think I'll draw some little rabbits on my head, from a distance they might be mistaken for hairs.

 

[benjenbav]

I have read about half of them. Some I liked, some I didn't particularly. Interesting picture of social conditions of the day. For example, what it meant to be a half pay officer at a time when the navy was being reduced.

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[Peppermint]

Re: Not for me.

It might be that I'm a simpleton but I've never got past the first few pages of one.

I read a lot of fiction and I quite like books in a historical perspective but I like more swash with my buckle.

I thought the film was terrible tosh too.

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[Twister_Ken]

Works for me

Read the lot, chronological order, about 3 times

I give you joy of them.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>

 

[benjenbav]

I give you joy of them

Which being a relevant turn of phrase

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[Magic_Sailor]

Quite simply

The are the best books ever.

I've read the whole set twice and am currently half way through for a third time. I can honestly say that I'm getting more out of them now than ever.

I would recommend them to anyone who likes well written, finely observed novels - let alone if you're interest in boats to boot.

Magic

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[Anwen]

Re: Not for me.

I liked the film. The extra features on the DVD are fascinating - Paul Bettany and Russell Crowe actually learnt to play their instruments for the musical interludes in Aubrey's cabin. I still think there was something going on mind... sailors and all that...

I'm now halfway through the book of Master and Commander. So far, so good, but I rarely get the time to read these days, so progress has been very slow. They've just floated off the bar in Brazil and are setting off in hot pursuit!! I don't find the prose too turgid, but Ken Follett it isn't.

Jon

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[l'escargot]

I tried to read them a few years ago and couldn't get into them. I then found the "Nathaniel Drinkwater" series (14 books) by Richard Woodman. Similar in style I found these a little lighter, easier to read and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Having finished them I am now three books into the Jack Aubrey books and enjoying them this time round, although I do find they need more concentration at times.

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[bob_tyler]

Even at my venerable age I prefer Arthur Ransome!

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[whisper]

I think they are excellent entertainment - unlike myself. Oh, and it does help to start at book one though this is not essential.

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[CliveG]

Re: Aubrey/Maturin, an alternative

I have read a few of them and enjoyed them.

Have you tried the Ramage books by Dudley Pope.
Good stories and good naval history as well.


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[peterb]

Re: Not for me.

That must be the "Book of the Film". Master and Commander is the first of the series, and is set in the Med.

For my money the series is the best bit of literature covering the navy of that day. Yes, there may be a few technical slips, but generally everything is pretty accurate. Certainly I rate O'Brian as well above Pope or Kent; I'm not so sure about Forester.

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[StugeronSteve]

Re: Not for me.

If my recollection is correct the Brazil episode came in "Far Side of the World". Funny how the "baddie" in the film was French, rather than the American frigate of the O'Brian novel aint it. A little bit of the "War on Terror" allegiances seeping into Hollywood story lines?

<hr width=100% size=1>Think I'll draw some little rabbits on my head, from a distance they might be mistaken for hairs.

 

[Nickel]

This will probably end up as a long poast.

I read the first when O'Brian was only half way through the series. I rapidly read every one that was then published. Every time a new one came out I would read the whole lot from beginning to end again. I've, therefore, read the early books something like nine times.

They do not diminsh at all, but rather mature and improve. There is a majesty to O'Brian's writing that is hard to find anywhere else - the ability to transport you so completely in time and space; the baility to immerse you in a world so utterly alien to the one we actually live in, that it's a wrench to come away; the ability to sit in the Great Cabin with Aubrey and Maturin while they play music and watch the sun set over the slow wake of the Surprise; the ability to make you laugh with a humour that is at times as intelligent as any you will find, and at times as slapstick - Preserved Killick[!].

O'Brian's mastery for creating both character and environment are almost beyond compare - for a contemporary author, I think they are beyond compare. Aubrey is an eighteenth century sea captain; professional and naive; heroic and childlike; complex and simple, a master of his skill, an imbecile on land - absolutely loveabel to the core; Maturin is the product of his times; a United Irishman, coming to terms with such complexities as the failure of the 1798 rebellion, his revulsion for Bonapartism and everything it has done to crush the ideals of the Revolution, and his, through poverty, ending up serving in one of His Majesty's ships.

To the criticism above: There is absolutely no hint of homosexuality in the Aubrey Maturin relationship - to suggest so is not to have read the books - Diana for God's sake!
Do not watch the film unless you can pretend it's not called 'Master and Commander', and the characters are not called Aubrey and Maturin. It's a sea romp, but it's a travesty of the books.
As for 'turgid prose and nautical inaccuracy' - I'm sorry whoever wrote that has lost the plot entirely. A couple of years ago, a Cambridge English don wrote, ' I don't really know what makes great literature, but if you want to find great writing, I can do more than suggest you open a book by Patrick O'Brian at any page, and start reading'.

I would shed blood and tears to be in your position, because I know the potential pleasure that awaits you!

I'll be reading the lot for the tenth time some time in the coming year, and I'm looking forward to it already!


<hr width=100% size=1>Nickel

Being paranoid simply means - having all the facts.

 

[pragmatist]

Firstly many thanks to all of you, and particularly Nickel, CliveG and l'escargot - if I can minimise the day job it looks as though I have a very pleasant winter's reading ahead ! I shall have to find YW and see who it was who defamed O'Brian (HWMBO tends to bag the mags and squirrel them away as I've mentioned in fury on these fora before !). The article in YM on O'Brian and his cruise in the Med I believe had a similar quote to Nickel's one here.

Now I know what to ask for for Xmas ! And with 20 in the O'Brian series alone, next Xmas too ! And then there's Pope and Woodman too. Have got an Alexander Kent in the bookcase and will re-read that - recollect it as good but not brilliant.

As a small return - re-read Adlard Coles "Close Hauled" recently and was totally gripped so if you haven't read it I'd recommend it highly. Made me think carefully about depths in the Baltic though !



<hr width=100% size=1>a pragmatist is an optimist with a boat in the UK - but serious about not being in the UK !

 

[Samphire]

I think they are great,but read in order as they are set in an order dictated by historical events.I believe (but am no expert) that both historically and factually they are pretty authentic ,although fictional.Once I started I coulden't stop.

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