The Nutmeg of Consolation and Clarissa Oakes, by Patrick O'Brian

[rowyn]

I've finished another two Aubrey-Maturin books. I liked them reasonably well and remain profoundly addicted to the series. Last night, I was thinking "I could read this YA book I checked out three weeks ago, or any of the several unread e-books languishing on my phone. Or I could start the next Aubrey-Maturin book." Guess what book is underneath my hands even as I type this up on my phone?

Nutmeg felt more like a bridge than a book in its own right. Aubrey & Maturin were sent en route to a mission in South America back in The Letter of Marque, and they still haven't made it there four books later. I still liked it: there's a particularly stirring fight between Aubrey's Surprise and a French ship where Aubrey knows (and likes) one of the lieutenants, giving an additional personal note to a very tricky and compelling battle.

Clarissa Oakes was named "The Truelove" in USbeditions, persumably because US publishers think readers are too sexist and/or stupid to buy a naval-historical book named for a woman. 9_9. It's all aout Clarissa, though. I don't know how I feel about the book. Clarissa is a deeply problematic character in terms of background and situation, and I don't know hat P'OB was competent to write this kind of person: female characters are not his strong suit. It works, more or less, and I enjoyed the read overall. I do feel kind of conflicted about it, though.

Still, on with the series! Gosh, I only have 5 full books left in it now. D:

Comments

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Is Clarissa someone's true love? Or is that the name of another ship? n.n

[rowyn]

Arguably, yes! :)

It's the name of a ship of some significance in the last third or so of the book. Clarissa was smuggled onto the ship by a midshipman who marries her (since 'Oakes' is his last name and the one she starts with is 'Harp', this is not much of a spoiler.) She's the only woman on the ship, and this causes many very predictable difficulties. :/

[xyzzysqrl]

On one hand I feel like taking four+ books to make a trip across the Atlantic is completely reasonable given matters of scale and the time period involved, on the other hand I feel like I would be going "WOW GET ON WITH IT ALREADY" at the stack of books.

There is no way to find out without actually reading them, I imagine.

[rowyn]

There's a whole lot of other stuff that happens along the way, most of it also missions of the "while you're headed that way" variety. The books don't generally have a conventional narrative structure, which is one of their charms. :)

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

It's not even just across the Atlantic - it's all the way to the other side of the world. England to Australia and then back again, with stops in Indonesia, Hawaii, and South America (among other places). Three different ships, too! :-)

Honestly, if he'd tried to fit all that in one book, you'd feel rushed and cheated. But that section of the series is kinda weird. Vague in the stops and starts. You understand very clearly that the series is one epic tale, not really distinct stories in novel form.

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

I think Truelove works better as a title in the series, because all the other titles are something nautical/naval related. Clarissa Oakes is the only one named for a person. Mostly naval titles, ships, nautical expressions.

[rowyn]

I admit, when I first saw that the British edition title was "Clarissa Oakes", I wondered if it was a ship name. :)