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Avast, you grog-faced villain! March 30, 2004
The other day I finished reading Master & Commander by Patrick O'Brian. If the title sounds familiar, you may be thinking about last year's movie staring Russle Crowe. I liked the movie quite a bit and had heard good things about the books upon which it was based. It was also a new genre for me, as I'd never really read anything about life and adventures on the seas as a member of the British Navy circa 1800.
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I'm really only lukewarm on the book. Its strongest point was definitely the interactions between the characters, particularly Captain Jack Aubrey and the ship's doctor, Stephen Maturin. This is also true of each man's relationship with James Dillon, the ship's second in command. The interactions between these men are fun to follow, and O'Brian uses them to reveal subtleties about each of the three characters. We get to see, for example, how Captain Aubrey steps into the role of leadership without really abandoning his own, sometimes wreckless disregard for authority and his essentially naked ambition.
But while the players are interesting, their actions are not. For a book ostensibly about adventure on the high seas, it failed to thrill or capture me. While reading, you may come to a ship-to-ship battle sequence that you feel is going to be a grand climax to the plot, only to have things cut short right before its peak, jump startlingly into the future, and have its conclusion dryly narrated as Captain Aubrey writes a letter to his superiors.
In fact, the entire book is essentially plotless and unstructured. Things just sort of flop from one situation to another, with only the cast of characters tying them together. To the extent that this is all that's required of a historical novel, this is fine, I suppose, but it really detracted from my enjoyment of the book. It's almost like O'Brian was trying to imitate the style of novels published during the setting of his own, but he falls short.
On balance I'm glad I read the book. Indeed, I've already started on the sequel, Post Captain. But I'm hoping that as things proceed O'Brian gets a better set of literary sea legs underneath him and manages to keep what's good about this first one while achieving a bit more in terms of structure and pacing.
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Posted by Charles Kiddell on September 2, 2005 4:33 PM:
You astonish me. The structure and pacing are that of a work of literature. If you don't like Jane Austen, C.S. Forester, or English novels in general I suggest you read Stephen Coonts.
By the way, it is spelled "reckless."
Posted by fatchowmein on March 16, 2006 7:57 PM:
Great series. I'm reading in chronological order and am currently on The Far Side of the World. I thoroughly enjoy the characters, the background, the fighting, the language, and the historical context. However, there are chunks of the series that drags.
Still luv'n it, tho.