Master and Commander - Patrick O'Brian

Published by W. W. Norton & Company Ltd: New York, London, 1990.
First published in 1970 by William Collins Sons & Co Ltd. 

This is the first book in a series starring Captain Jack Aubrey and Surgeon Stephen Maturin and their adventures during the Napoleonic era (the series is the inspiration for the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World). At the start of the novel Aubrey is promoted to Captain of the Sophie, a smaller boat than most, and makes the acquaintance of Maturin, inviting him aboard as the ship's physician after they work through some early offences with each other. For the rest of the novel we follow the voyages of the Sophie, focusing mostly on Aubrey and Maturin but also on the rest of the crew, including James Dillon - the Irish first lieutenant - who has his own complicated relationship with Aubrey.

This is an interesting, but not an easy book. It is very slow (I have been busier lately than in the past, but 20 days is a long time for me to be reading a single book without others on the go), and author O'Brian refuses to 'dumb down' the nautical lingo of the crew either, making it hard at times to understand the nuances of what the crew are doing. This seems to be an intentional choice on the author's part, made obvious when Maturin - who, like many readers, has little nautical knowledge - is given a tour of the Sophie by one of the crewmen. During the tour many of the terms are referenced again, but when Maturin asks the crewman if he could use non-nautical terms in order to help him understand, the crewman struggles, so Maturin lets him off the hook.

There are moments of interest however. The characters are complex and well-written, there are interesting battles and strategies at play, and unpredictable moments do happen.

I might read another book in the series, one day. But its not one I'm hurrying out to find either.

Completed 23 February, 2022.



(Alphabet Soup Books)


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