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Molybdenum posted:Master & Commander scene It's one of the best things about Patrick O'Brian, his characters actually think like characters in their own time. Any other writer would have written Maturin as an 18th century Physician who has crazy ideas about cleanliness and sterilization, which the medical community mocks him for, but we the readers know he's right. I see the same thing with Jack's opinion on slavery. He doesn't really have a problem with it, but you can tell that not owning slaves, he's never given it much thought. Most writers would dance around distasteful reminders of the downsides of the time period, preferring instead to focus on swashbuckling, gentlemanly manners and a romance subplot. O'Brian shows it as it was, warts and all.
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May 17, 2013 15:39
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Haha, that reminds me of one later on. I think it's when he's having dinner with the surgeon of the Fleche after a dissection, and looks around for a knife. Finds it inside a dead porpoise, gives it a wipe.
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May 18, 2013 05:50
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Raskolnikov2089 posted:Any other writer would have written Maturin as an 18th century Physician who has crazy ideas about cleanliness and sterilization, which the medical community mocks him for, but we the readers know he's right. I see the same thing with Jack's opinion on slavery. He doesn't really have a problem with it, but you can tell that not owning slaves, he's never given it much thought. I've always taken it that he has given it thought, just not enough to put it into action. In one book, when the maid's quitting, he laments that she's the fourth one to leave that year and muses to Stephen about wanting to have "a couple of able-bodied blacks who can't give two weeks' notice". And he has a tendency to equate slavery to impressment so while he may not be committed to the idea "stock and fluke", he can see the benefits to him. Of course, in The Commodore, he encounters a bunch of slave ships and you can see how the horror of the situation starts to alter his views, but that's one of the great things. The character development. And it's nice to have a further difference between Stephen and Jack (Stephen being a raging abolitionist) and see how they can still be particular friends.
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May 20, 2013 11:32
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I've been listening to the audiobooks, and drat they're good! I've been avoiding this thread so I don't get spoiled, but I wanted to check in and praise the series. I just finished The Fortune of War, so much funny stuff in it. The bloodthirsty clerk bossing Captain Broke around, the Emperor of Mexico giving a land grant to Captain Aubrey and Doctor Maturin playing Hurley-Cricket. After I'm through the series I'll probably die from withdrawal symptoms. Is the Hornblower series any good, or the lobster Sharpe?
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Jul 19, 2013 05:49
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Hornblower's good, but sometimes he has a tendency towards being kinda emo. Drives me up the wall when it happens. Not a bad series, though, and I've read or listened to the whole series twice through. Sharpe's my guilty pleasure. It's not great literature, but it's damned fun to read. Which reader are you listening to? Vance or Tull?
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Jul 19, 2013 09:39
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I'm a big fan of Sharpe, although I wish the audiobooks were all read by William Gaminara. The ones read by other people kind of suck.
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Jul 19, 2013 13:21
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ItalicSquirrels posted:Hornblower's good, but sometimes he has a tendency towards being kinda emo. Drives me up the wall when it happens. Not a bad series, though, and I've read or listened to the whole series twice through. Patrick Tull. His French accent is something everyone should experience.
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Jul 19, 2013 18:07
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Hogge Wild posted:Patrick Tull. His French accent is something everyone should experience. His Chinese was even better. 
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Jul 20, 2013 06:50
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Patrick Tull also read some of the Sharpe books. He unfortunately passed away before he read the whole series, but the ones he got to are excellently done. Sharpe's Havoc and Sharpe's Escape are the two that spring to mind. But before this turns into the Sharpe/Tull Appreciation Station, I've got a question for those of you who have read Treason's Harbour. I've probably heard or read this book a half dozen times, but something just occurred to me. Was Mr. Hairabedian actually a French agent? I had always assumed it was just a cover that Wray and Lesueur cooked up, but after the theft of Hairabedian's effects (when one of the thieves loses a finger), Wray meets with Lesueur who says, "There wasn't the slightest indiscretion." Before now, I had always assumed that there had been planted evidence or something like that. Is my new interpretation correct?
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Jul 20, 2013 14:13
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The Tall Ship Races visited my hometown last week. Such fine sight! Walking aboard the ships and seeing a whole fleet of large square rigged vessels sailing makes the reading experience so much better. Götheborg, a replica of the Swedish East India Company's teawagon saluted with few cannons and the sound was great. The broadside of a real Man-of-war must be truly something to behold.
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Jul 22, 2013 07:11
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ItalicSquirrels posted:But before this turns into the Sharpe/Tull Appreciation Station, I've got a question for those of you who have read Treason's Harbour. I've probably heard or read this book a half dozen times, but something just occurred to me. Was Mr. Hairabedian actually a French agent? I had always assumed it was just a cover that Wray and Lesueur cooked up, but after the theft of Hairabedian's effects (when one of the thieves loses a finger), Wray meets with Lesueur who says, "There wasn't the slightest indiscretion." Before now, I had always assumed that there had been planted evidence or something like that. Is my new interpretation correct? That's how I always read that, especially the bit with the Chelengk (that's in that book, right?) How are the Sharpe books? I haven't read them but had the impression they were a little more juvenile-oriented than Patrick O'Brian's stuff. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 16:45 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 22, 2013 16:37
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:That's how I always read that, especially the bit with the Chelengk (that's in that book, right?) Yeah, that's the right book. Huh. I figured the chelengk was either just greed or got planted (somehow). Looking back, I have absolutely no basis for thinking what I did. Makes me wonder why I thought that.
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Jul 22, 2013 16:45
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ItalicSquirrels posted:Yeah, that's the right book. Huh. I figured the chelengk was either just greed or got planted (somehow). Looking back, I have absolutely no basis for thinking what I did. Makes me wonder why I thought that. These are books where there's so much wealth of detail that you're likely to always miss something and find something new.
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Jul 22, 2013 16:55
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:These are books where there's so much wealth of detail that you're likely to always miss something and find something new. Every book, every re-read, always stumble on something new. Which is really strange since O'Brian uses such sparse prose.
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Jul 22, 2013 17:29
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Aug 20, 2013 19:03
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Reading The Far Side of the World right now and loved the MacBeth/MacDuff throwaway joke. O'Brian's humor is getting more refined, needing less setup to make his jokes, as he gets deeper into his series. "I am an urinator," from Treason's Harbous was also a classic.
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Aug 21, 2013 22:03
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Hogge Wild posted:The broadside of a real Man-of-war must be truly something to behold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0Cn-btAkeI
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Aug 22, 2013 05:12
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Hah, I love how it sets off the car alarms.
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Aug 23, 2013 02:44
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Finished #6 The Fortune of War, great novel. I looked up some of the events like the battle with the Constitution in the novel and appreciate how much O'Brien can weave Jack & Stephen into historical events without making them front and center. I can get really involved into what I'm reading and I kept putting down the novel when the french agents were trying for Maturin - it was pretty harrowing. His casual coup de grâce of Pontet-Canet with his surgical knife after hitting him over the head, christ! It was good seeing the spy side of him, a stark contrast to the bumbling doctor on the ship. I went through #5 & #6 at a good speed, I'll read a couple other things before going back to this series, but I think I've enjoyed these last couple novels more than the ones before. This time I didn't have to look up nautical terms nearly as much as I had with the previous novels  Also I've been re-watching the Horatio Hornblower tv mini-series (movies?), makes me really wish there was something comparable with the Aubrey-Maturin novels. It scratches that itch though, and looking up youtube videos someone actually posted it all online if anyone here is interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKa05Liidqg
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Aug 26, 2013 02:57
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Yeah, the movie was great, but it would be nice to have a miniseries like Hornblower (which rules, btw).
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Aug 26, 2013 03:28
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PatMarshall posted:Yeah, the movie was great, but it would be nice to have a miniseries like Hornblower (which rules, btw). Because of the film that's how I picture Aubrey & Maturin in my mind, as Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany; though where I'm at, a heavier Russel Crowe.
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Aug 26, 2013 17:47
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I always picture Russell Crowe as being about the right weight. Aubrey is frequently described as tall and muscular. I definitely can't haul Stephen's 9-stone (126 pounds) up the lubber's hole 1-handed, but I'm definitely not fat. I'm 5'7 and 190 lbs (13.6 stone). Aubrey goes back and forth between about 14 stone and 16 stone, depending on if he has a French cook aboard. In my mind, he's hardly fat. Dude just has a bit of a belly and gets picked on by Stephen and Henneage because they're both small, slight guys. Definitely don't picture Stephen as Bettany, though. He looks more like a pale-eyed, Spanish Pete Postlethwait in my mind. Short, spare, black haired, kinda ugly. Definitely wish they'd do a series, though!
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Aug 26, 2013 18:03
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Yeah I thought Crowe was perfect casting. Having read the books after seeing the film, I didn't mind Bettany, but definitely not what he should look like. I always took Stephen's ribbing of Jack as him being skinny, and a philosophy from a physician's standard that everyone should be as emaciated as he was.
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Aug 26, 2013 18:17
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Crowe and Bettany both played their parts perfectly. They had wonderful chemistry, and physical descriptions aside, I had no problem picturing them as Aubrey and Maturin.
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Aug 26, 2013 18:27
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I don't disagree with that at all. I guess it's more that I picture Maturin from the book as being more Catalonian, whereas Bettany is obviously more Irish.
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Aug 26, 2013 20:07
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One bit of casting I wasn't crazy about in the movie was Billy Boyd as Barrett Bonden. I'd always pictured Bonden as a big, burly guy, and not a Hobbit.
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Aug 27, 2013 02:45
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Buttonhead posted:One bit of casting I wasn't crazy about in the movie was Billy Boyd as Barrett Bonden. I'd always pictured Bonden as a big, burly guy, and not a Hobbit. Yeah, same here. Killick was perfect, though.
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Aug 27, 2013 12:35
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These books always sat on my to-read list, but I never got around to them. I picked up the first one based on the first page of this thread, and I'm totally hooked - I'm about 3/4 of the way through it, and it's great. I'll be back to post some more when I've read a few more of these without dealing with spoilers. O'Brian's descriptions of the ship and sailing are absolutely wonderful, and the humour is really well written. The part where Jack gets drunk and makes an rear end out of himself at a party had me actually laughing out loud. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 13:36 on Aug 28, 2013 |
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Aug 28, 2013 13:33
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AlphaDog posted:O'Brian's descriptions of the ship and sailing are absolutely wonderful, and the humour is really well written. The part where Jack gets drunk and makes an rear end out of himself at a party had me actually laughing out loud. So true. Just about any time Stephen has to get aboard a ship I know I'm in for a good laugh. My favorite was when one of the lieutenants sees him being rowed over from shore, and starts making preparations to dry him off.
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Aug 28, 2013 17:06
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I very much enjoyed Master and Commander but didn't care for the Jane Austen adventures of Jack Aubrey in the second book. Now I'm up to Jack debauching Stephen's sloth in the third book. I love O'Brian's style and humor. I do a lot of driving for work and have a few accumulated Audible credits, how are the audiobook versions they have?
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Aug 28, 2013 21:41
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Luigi Thirty posted:I very much enjoyed Master and Commander but didn't care for the Jane Austen adventures of Jack Aubrey in the second book. Now I'm up to Jack debauching Stephen's sloth in the third book. I love O'Brian's style and humor. The Patrick Tull versions are the standard by which all other audiobooks ought to be judged.
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Aug 28, 2013 22:20
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Luigi Thirty posted:I very much enjoyed Master and Commander but didn't care for the Jane Austen adventures of Jack Aubrey in the second book. It will all come together though, and the characters and storylines introduced in the second book will be as dear to your heart as the ships and voyages. Edit: Fixed the quote Nektu fucked around with this message at 21:22 on Aug 29, 2013 |
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Aug 29, 2013 07:12
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Luigi Thirty posted:I very much enjoyed Master and Commander but didn't care for the Jane Austen adventures of Jack Aubrey in the second book. Brace yourself, it pops up plenty more in future books. Luigi Thirty posted:I do a lot of driving for work and have a few accumulated Audible credits, how are the audiobook versions they have? Colonial Air Force posted:The Patrick Tull versions are the standard by which all other audiobooks ought to be judged. This is quite true.
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Aug 29, 2013 17:06
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Reading Patrick O'Brian is what taught me to enjoy reading Jane Austen novels. They're both fundamentally about the same thing: 19th century manners and social conventions. Theres more blood thrown in for sure, but the series relies heavily on the interactions and misunderstandings between social classes, to great comedic effect. I love how the crew thinks the Doctor is a lecherous, short tempered alcoholic.
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Aug 29, 2013 17:21
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Raskolnikov2089 posted:Reading Patrick O'Brian is what taught me to enjoy reading Jane Austen novels. They're both fundamentally about the same thing: 19th century manners and social conventions. Same here. I'm sure I had to read something or another by Austen back in high school, but it never made much of an impression on me. But after finishing the Aubrey-Maturin books and hearing somewhere that she was such an influence on O'Brian, I went back and read Austen as an adult, and found myself really enjoying her.
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Aug 29, 2013 17:36
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I'm reading Pride & Prejudice for the first thanks to the Aubrey-Maturin novels.
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Aug 30, 2013 18:47
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Raskolnikov2089 posted:I love how the crew thinks the Doctor is a lecherous, short tempered alcoholic. Not only that, but they *love* him for it. That and the trepanning. When Stephen brings Mrs. Fielding onto the ship and all the crew are like, "Yyyyeah nice."
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Aug 30, 2013 19:36
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Halfway through the second book now, I can't put this poo poo down. The English countryside thing was a bit of a jarring departure from the first book, but it's hilarious and then depressing and just really well written. Pissed-up Babbington driving the carriage has been my favorite part so far. There's less land-based stuff in future books, right? It's well written and interesting, but the stuff at sea is so much better. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 13:58 on Aug 31, 2013 |
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Aug 31, 2013 13:55
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In terms of page length there are very few books with as much time spent on land as Post-Captain. I think The Reverse of the Medal takes place entirely on land, but it's a short book and so engaging odds are you won't even notice.
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Aug 31, 2013 20:06
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AlphaDog posted:There's less land-based stuff in future books, right? It's well written and interesting, but the stuff at sea is so much better. Yes, but you have to remember, even as the story progresses throughout the series the entire thing becomes more about the lives of Jack and Steven than anything else and that is the beauty of it all. We get to experience more than fifteen years of their lives and what a joy it is. The naval adventures are just the icing on the cake.
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Aug 31, 2013 20:47
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