Master and Commander, by Patrick O'Brian
Oct. 3rd, 2012 07:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rowynI checked this out on the recommendation of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
alltoseek. It's set during the Napoleonic wars and follows the adventures of Jack Aubrey, master and commander of the sloop Sophie, as well as his friend and the physician on his vessel, Stephen Maturin. I have been curious about these books ever since I found out alltoseek was involved in the fandom for the series.
The book itself was written in 1970, so it's like reading an old classic set amongst even older classics. The time period is roughly when Austen was writing, and some of the language reminded me of Austen -- particularly using "cried" as an emphatic version of "said".
I started the book on Friday and got about a hundred pages into it without making up my mind whether or not I liked and/or wanted to finish it. I didn't read it over the weekend, and brought a second book to work on Monday in case I decided against finishing it. It had been slow going; I found the naval passages indecipherable even when they were not laden with jargon, and even when the author is obviously taking pains to make them clear to the reader. It's not a coincidence that my break in reading it hit when Maturin -- the character who has no knowledge of naval affairs and is therefore as perplexed by boats as the presumed reader -- is being given a tour of the sloop. "You could not explain this maze of ropes and wood and canvas without using sea-terms, I suppose. No, it would not be possible." So on Monday I figured I'd stop trying so hard. If I couldn't visualize a given scene, I'd just move on to the next one.
Oddly, reading it remained slow-going even with this, and I did find myself several times with no real idea what the heck was happening in the current scene.
You might think that if one is reading military fiction and can't follow the battle scenes, one is missing the point completely. And maybe I was, but as it turns out, I loved the book anyway. One of the things that struck me about this is how undignified the protagonists could be, especially Aubrey. It's just -- I am not used to the protagonist of a generally serious book, the captain of a ship and an effective, intelligent leader, being portrayed as rather buffoonish at turns. And yet he is. The sloop's lieutenant, James Dillon makes this observation about Aubrey, in talking to Maturin: "There are times," said James quietly, "when I understand your partiality for your friend. He derives a greater pleasure from a smaller stream of wit than any man I have ever known."
And that is really Aubrey. He makes these sad, awful jokes that no one except him thinks are funny. The initial scene is of Aubrey at a music recital: where he is described as a man so large he eclipses his seat, and he spoils the performance for his neighbor by beating out the time in his enthusiasm. It's such clownlike imagery it took me a while to believe he was the protagonist and not somebody's sidekick or goofball foil. He has a kind of social obliviousness that can be both cringe-inducing and endearing, because he's well-meaning even when he's hopelessly clueless.
Yet for all this, he really is very good at his job, at being the commander of a vessel, and that's not just taken as authorial fiat but shown in dozens of ways small and large. The portrait of the character holds together well.
Maturin is the sensible grown-up of the story: everyone in the story likes him and it's pretty much impossible not to. I don't have as much to say about Maturin, but I love him too. I especially relate to the part where he's writing in his journal about how he likes both of his friends but really wants to throttle them for being so impossible. XD
Anyway, I will give it an 8 because I don't think I can justify a 9 for a book where I so often had trouble following the action. I suspect my difficulty there was more my fault than the author's; I'm sure people for whom military and/or historical fiction is more their genre would have an easier time of it. I don't know if my adoration for the characters is going to carry me through 19.5* more books about them, but I'm looking forward to reading the next one.
* O'Brian published 20 books in the Aubrey/Maturin series in his lifetime, and passed away while writing the 21st. It was published, unfinished, posthumously.
alltoseek. It's set during the Napoleonic wars and follows the adventures of Jack Aubrey, master and commander of the sloop Sophie, as well as his friend and the physician on his vessel, Stephen Maturin. I have been curious about these books ever since I found out alltoseek was involved in the fandom for the series.The book itself was written in 1970, so it's like reading an old classic set amongst even older classics. The time period is roughly when Austen was writing, and some of the language reminded me of Austen -- particularly using "cried" as an emphatic version of "said".
I started the book on Friday and got about a hundred pages into it without making up my mind whether or not I liked and/or wanted to finish it. I didn't read it over the weekend, and brought a second book to work on Monday in case I decided against finishing it. It had been slow going; I found the naval passages indecipherable even when they were not laden with jargon, and even when the author is obviously taking pains to make them clear to the reader. It's not a coincidence that my break in reading it hit when Maturin -- the character who has no knowledge of naval affairs and is therefore as perplexed by boats as the presumed reader -- is being given a tour of the sloop. "You could not explain this maze of ropes and wood and canvas without using sea-terms, I suppose. No, it would not be possible." So on Monday I figured I'd stop trying so hard. If I couldn't visualize a given scene, I'd just move on to the next one.
Oddly, reading it remained slow-going even with this, and I did find myself several times with no real idea what the heck was happening in the current scene.
You might think that if one is reading military fiction and can't follow the battle scenes, one is missing the point completely. And maybe I was, but as it turns out, I loved the book anyway. One of the things that struck me about this is how undignified the protagonists could be, especially Aubrey. It's just -- I am not used to the protagonist of a generally serious book, the captain of a ship and an effective, intelligent leader, being portrayed as rather buffoonish at turns. And yet he is. The sloop's lieutenant, James Dillon makes this observation about Aubrey, in talking to Maturin: "There are times," said James quietly, "when I understand your partiality for your friend. He derives a greater pleasure from a smaller stream of wit than any man I have ever known."
And that is really Aubrey. He makes these sad, awful jokes that no one except him thinks are funny. The initial scene is of Aubrey at a music recital: where he is described as a man so large he eclipses his seat, and he spoils the performance for his neighbor by beating out the time in his enthusiasm. It's such clownlike imagery it took me a while to believe he was the protagonist and not somebody's sidekick or goofball foil. He has a kind of social obliviousness that can be both cringe-inducing and endearing, because he's well-meaning even when he's hopelessly clueless.
Yet for all this, he really is very good at his job, at being the commander of a vessel, and that's not just taken as authorial fiat but shown in dozens of ways small and large. The portrait of the character holds together well.
Maturin is the sensible grown-up of the story: everyone in the story likes him and it's pretty much impossible not to. I don't have as much to say about Maturin, but I love him too. I especially relate to the part where he's writing in his journal about how he likes both of his friends but really wants to throttle them for being so impossible. XD
Anyway, I will give it an 8 because I don't think I can justify a 9 for a book where I so often had trouble following the action. I suspect my difficulty there was more my fault than the author's; I'm sure people for whom military and/or historical fiction is more their genre would have an easier time of it. I don't know if my adoration for the characters is going to carry me through 19.5* more books about them, but I'm looking forward to reading the next one.
* O'Brian published 20 books in the Aubrey/Maturin series in his lifetime, and passed away while writing the 21st. It was published, unfinished, posthumously.
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no subject
Date: 2012-10-03 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 12:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 01:37 am (UTC)Sometimes people start with the third book in the series, HMS Surprise, which has much less of the nautical jargon, and LOTS of fun adventure and romance and excitement of all types, plus the characters, and many fascinating supporting characters as well. There is a section set in India (lots of traveling in nautical fiction :-) that is both lovely and heart-breaking.
Patrick O'Brian works with such timeless elements in his characters and plots that the setting is just that - he could have written these works set in any time, he just happened to pick the Napoleonic Wars (out of personal interest and the built-in audience of folks who can't get enough). However, if historical fiction really isn't your thing, I can understand giving it a miss. O'Brian's is so thoroughly researched and well written that you really feel like you are there - very immediate. But it's not the type where the author's just shoving all his research in your face; or worse, the ones that have a veneer of history but really there are too many anachronisms or the plot just feels rootless - not really set in its time. The Aubrey/Maturin series just feels natural.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-03 06:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 12:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 01:26 am (UTC)Also Jack is tall and Stephen short, but in the movie they have it the other way round. Also int he books Stephen always wears a wig, and is not particularly pleasant-looking, but they have gorgeous Paul Bettany play him with his own lovely hair - a dramatic departure from the authenticity which otherwise rules the movie.
In other ways, Bettany and Crowe do an excellent job of bringing the characters to life. It's really worth watching, but you can wait until you have read more of the books. Or watch it now, either way :-)
no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 01:19 am (UTC)Yes! Yes! You have to! :D
The sections with all the nauticalisms and jargon you can just kind of skim over if you are not into that sort of thing.
But while Maturin is being given the grand tour by an enthusiastic and detail-oriented midshipman, he is also mulling over in his mind some serious interpersonal issues of his own. The writing is wonderfully filled with multiple layers like this :-)
no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 02:08 am (UTC)You have captured it very well - the whole new-to-Aubreyad experience :-) Your frustration with the nautical jargon is shared by many many other fans of the series. If you persist in the series, you will find the most common terms start to come easily; and if not, you always have Stephen Maturin, who remains a determined landlubber, unable to tell starboard from larboard (later in the series he will come out with nautical analogies and expressions on occasion, that he may even get occasionally correct, and he is so cute in his pride in them! :-)
Stephen and Jack are the perfect foils for one another. Their relationship drives the whole series - it's quite remarkable.
I remember having the same feeling about Jack in the first scene - this is the protagonist? No way! Must be some kind of intro scene-setting scene, and later the real main characters will come in (because in that initial scene Maturin is not so very appealing, either). But after the hot chocolate, furiously whipped, I was sold. Couldn't pry me away! But then I came for the ship stuff anyway :-) I still think Sophie with her little quarterdeck break, is the true hero(ine) of the story :D
SO ANYWAYS...
We embarked on a community read of the whole series not long ago, and just finished the first book. Coincidentally! :D So October 12 we start Post Captain. You should join us! We read a chapter a week. I know you read voraciously - it's fine to read ahead, and then discuss just the one chapter at a time. Most of us have already been through the series once or twice (or 3 or 4 times :-) before.
On dreamwidth: mandc_read.
JOIN US! We need more fresh eyes on the text! :D
He has a kind of social obliviousness that can be both cringe-inducing and endearing, because he's well-meaning even when he's hopelessly clueless.
YES! You have it exactly. Amazingly, he does mature over the series (they both do, but subtly, so when you come back to read the first book again, you are struck by how young they are :-) but he remains ever Jack. The character development over the series is really well done. So natural and believable and gradual, just like real life. Their essential natures never change, but the outward expression does, and they are definitely shaped by their particular experiences without being defined by them, or having key aspects of their personalities suddenly changed.
YOU MUST JOIN US AT THE READ! The kind of insight you show here is what we really like to hear
And for some reason I am really wanting to post your review over at
no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 12:38 pm (UTC)I made a dreamwidth account (I'm Rowyn there too) so I could join MandC_read, although yeah I am not going to be reading at a rate of one chapter a week. Not as soon as the library gets it to me, anyway. For one thing, I'll have to return it eventually! :D
I loved the way Jack and Stephen apologized to each other the next morning. It made me laugh and yet it seemed so perfectly sensible too. You could see why they became fast friends, and the way that Aubrey is so very difficult to alienate.
Aubrey's relationship with Dillon was just heartbreaking, though. The way Dillon could never forgive Aubrey for something that wasn't even Aubrey's fault, and the way Aubrey could never understand what had happened. I kept hoping that Dillon would get over it. And then he dies instead. </3 And it's touching that Aubrey grieves for him, despite Dillon having been generally a jerk to him through most of their acquaintance. Aubrey come across as this great big friendly puppy to me. Yes, of course he's a military man and he's quite willing to fight and kill in war situations, but in his personal life he tries so hard to get along. And then makes the most asinine possible comments and doesn't understand what went wrong. 'No need to hurry, ladies, they won't be offship until evening!' XD I think the real reason I loved the book is that it kept cracking me up. I think I laughed more reading this than I do at the average Pratchett novel. Oh man, Babbington's letter home where he has no idea what to write and asks after everyone and thing in town, including the hall clock. XD
no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 02:44 pm (UTC)And Jack is exactly a great big friendly puppy, and like most puppies he tries to interact with everyone else like they are also great big friendly puppies, and gets confused when he hurts them by accident, or they don't actually like being jumped on and pawed ;-)
The innuendos (well, more like outright statements!) to the ladies at the rout were from drunkenness and high spirits. In his sane moments he would now that was a Bit Not Good. The next morning he doesn't quite remember what he said but thinks it didn't do him any good :-)
POB is the master of working in the comedic moments. That's another aspect of his brilliance - the books aren't just action, or just drama, or just tragedy, or just romance, or just comedy, but all those things all wrapped up together. Like real life.
Jack up on the chair when the snake comes to say hi in Stephen's room! And Stephen so teasing to him! :D
You might like this: http://perfect-duet.livejournal.com/292477.html
And these vids: Master & Commander part one and Master & Commander part two
Comedic fanwork gold! :D :D :D
no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 03:45 pm (UTC)The M&C summary was funny, even if it did miss the pivotal moment in the Aubrey/Dillon relationship:
James: I had to choose between bretraying my countryman and betraying the navy and I betrayed the navy. I hate Jack FOREVER now.
Stephen: ... You know Jack had nothing to do with any of that, right?
James: FOREVER.
Jack: What's James mad about now? I thought we were buds.
James: Also, you're a coward, Jack.
Jack: You didn't really say, that, did you? Because then I'd have to duel you and that's not going well for me whoever wins.
Stephen: KIDS. Please try not to wreck the boat because there's 77 others of us on it INCLUDING ME and we want to live.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-05 02:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-04 12:39 pm (UTC)