Master & Commander

The wild thing about this book is that it is chock full of jargon about early 19th century naval warcraft that I understand absolutely none of and yet I easily got the gist of what was happening and enjoyed the hell out of it. This is is strange writing alchemy and I don't know how O'Brien pulled it off but it's very impressive. I recommend reading an overview of the Napoleonic Era and maybe looking up the odd naval term or pictures of ships or uniforms, but otherwise simply let the seafaring lingo wash over you. It's just a lovely buddy adventure story at its core and I can't recommend it enough.

A British naval officer receives his first command towards the end of the French Revolutionary Wars and takes charge of a small but worthy ship and its crew, scouring the Mediterranean for Spanish and French targets. Among his crew members is the especially valued Maturin who is more than qualified to serve as ship doctor. The novel presents an unusual mix of propelling action that kept me turning the pages along with difficult vocabulary that had me googling a definition every now and then. Books for kids ought to be written this way.

Most historical fiction uses dialogue that would not sound out of place in my living room. O'Brien fills his novel with speech that only works in the time and place he's portraying. That's really going show more the extra mile, and it sometimes demands a bit more while reading to grasp what's being spoken about and expressed. When this was published in 1969 that probably would have presented more of a challenge than it does now with the internet at my fingertips. Many of the definitions I looked up began with saying "An archaic term that means ..." It's nothing I'm likely to hear on the street today, but it was essential knowledge if I was a crew member in the early 1800s British navy.

O'Brian was either amazingly conversant with nautical terms and deeply knowledgeable or was very good at appearing so. I'm not inclined to fact-check every detail of his work so he might call a thing whatever he likes. This is probably the Star Trek fan in me that accepts any amount of technobabble so long as it sounds authentic. Some things about the British navy do stump me as they are portrayed. If I'm a captain charged with safely escorting a convoy, but a ship in that convoy is captured by pirates and all hands killed before I can recover it - I can then declare it a prize and draw income on its sale? Sounds like I'm being rewarded for failing in my duty!

I'm no sailor but the relationships among the crew, O'Brien's skill and generosity with action sequences, and the depth of setting all encourage me to read more of this series. show less

Brilliant for what it is, an immersive historical fiction that does not halt for any audience member less than willing to roll along with its period jargon and nautical terms. I absolutely loved it, but I love the period of the Napoleonic Wars and I love letting myself sink into a time period even if I do not understand what the author is talking about for pages at a time (though the frontispiece map is very helpful for finding out the difference between a topsail and a royal, for example). If you don't enjoy either of those things, I'm not sure why you'd pick up this book at all. If you do, you will likely also love the bluff narrative perspective of Jack Aubrey, the generally non-toxic relationship between men that is surfaced show more throughout, the oddball characterization of Maturin, and the delightfully true-paced sea battles. This whole series has a very specific reader; you'll know quite quickly if you're one of us (and no, it's not just dudes, I swear). show less

Is this book for everyone? No it is not. Does it have a very specific tone that might be very off-putting to some readers? Yes it does. Is there way too much boat jargon in it? Depends on your perspective but imho, yes it does. Is it still fun and full of fun and interesting characters? Yes, which was its saving grace for me since that’s what I signed up for.

Also SO MUCH HAPPENED in this book, it was wild. I saw the movie first, and thought that had too many things going on, and this had all of those things AND MORE. It does mean the pacing is bonkers—sometimes those big events that happen seen to just fly by and then you’ve got like forty pages of them sort of just going along on boats, keeping an eye out for other ships. And show more that may be intentional, to like reflect what life is like on the boat, but I can definitely see it being a Problem for other readers.

But I did like it? I had a fun time; like I said, the characters are fun even if I can’t keep track of all of them, and there were especially cute moments with Stephen. And I’m going to read the next one so consider me sucked in! show less

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Well this is a book that took me a hot minute to work through (almost two months, which is extremely rare for me), not because it wasn't interesting, but rather because its incredible use of jargon was a bit difficult to comprehend. I grew up reading the books of R.M. Ballantyne and G.A. Henty , so I am casually familiar with reading nautical fiction in the general sense. I was not expecting Master and Commander to be more believable and authentic than both Henty and Ballantyne. Not only was Master and Commander more authentic, it was also considerably more nuanced, realistic and invigorating. Hands down this was the best historical fiction I have ever read. In short, Master and Commander was an enjoyable show more slog.

As a kid, all of the nautical jargon in the books I read went way over my head and I didn't want to replicate that with *Master and Commander*. Alas, I read fiction for pleasure, so I gave up trying to understand what everything meant. The nice thing is that, if you can let it go, you only need to understand the general gist of a the movements to appreciate the plotline. While the jargon must be immensely pleasing to the enthusiast, the casual reader can appreciate this book with just a basic understanding and keep reading. Yes, this means that portions of the text will make little sense, but I found these to be generally of non-pivotal importance. There was (is?) a fandom surrounding the Aubrey-Maturin series that has thankfully compiled guides and dictionaries to help you understand more if you're interested. I ended up reading this on my Kindle because having the dictionary on tap was just too convenient. The book contains a lot of foreign words and phrases not to be found in the dictionary, and if you're curious as to what they mean, you can look them up in this fantastic document

The highlight of the story is, surprisingly, not the Navy or the battles that take place. Rather, the relationships between Captain Aubrey, his superiors, crew and paramours is what drives the plot. I cannot help but enjoy this quote regarding Aubrey's dalliances which get him into trouble

"there are times when it seems to me that nothing short of a radical ablation of the membrum virile would answer, in this case." (Yes I have the humor of a teenager).

What makes Master and Commander stand out is twofold. Firstly, O'Brian's mastery of nautical knowledge, especially for a person living in the 20th century. Secondly, the surprising liberality that O'Brian gives in handling subjects such as race, homosexuality, imperialism, nationalism, and religious melodrama. The authors I mentioned above, Ballantyne and Henty are renowned for their racism (which was remarkable even for the time in which they wrote), jingoism and delight in extolling imperialistic evangelical-protestant Christianity. Aubrey harbors none of that at face value, but handles those same subjects in a delicate yet not unrealistic fashion that maintains a veneer of authenticity for the time period in which the book is set.

Dry humor abounds in the book. For example:

Ever since Stephen Maturin had grown rich with their first prize he had constantly laid in great quantities of asafetida, castoreum and other substances, to make his medicines more revolting in taste, smell and texture than any others in the fleet; and he found it answered – his hardy patients knew with their entire beings that they were being physicked.

All in all, this book was good, in fact it was too good for a person like me who was in search of casual entertainment. This is hands down the best historical fiction that I have ever read. If you want to read it, gather some nautical jargon manuals, break out your charts and set sail.

You can find additional resources for comprehension's sake here show less

Just read this for the third time (Audiobook - Patrick Tull reader) There's a reason I've given this book three readings. It's just that good. I find it to be a delicious sampling of all of the tropes that are to follow in the next 19 volumes, but heightened by the fact that we're seeing them for the first time. Jack is young and more naive than usual, and so gets into scrapes with Captain Harte's wife Molly. He can't pull off being discreet, so he just plunges ahead wherever his appetites lead him. There's a lot of combat in this volume, and we see here the ruse du guerre of setting out a false light to trick a Frenchman into following the Sophie's ghost, letting her escape. This is also the home of the famous Cacafuego attack, with show more the Sophies taking on a far superior enemy and winning. We have a good number of longstanding favorites that will later mature into larger, more interesting characters, although for this book they are just boys, some of theM: Mowett, Pullings, Bonden are all there, and although Killick hasn't yet risen to the heights of his comic relief, he's aboard as well. We also have the complex character of James Dylan, a good foil for Jack in their similarities. Stephen is of course also wandering about, and it's astonishing to me how well these characters are drawn in volume one as they are in volume 20. O'Brian must've had clear ideas about his people, even at the very beginning. I haven't said much about Stephen, as he doesn't loom nearly as large as Jack in this story, yet Stephen is still there with his critical eye and scientists skepticism, mussed wig and dirty coat. It's just a wonderful menagerie of everything good about these books. And Tull is an excellent reader. show less

I realized that my library has (almost) the whole Aubrey & Maturin series, and I'd be remiss as a father if I didn't read the dadliest of dadfic, so here we are. Master and Commander works best as a whole mood of an era, with the naturalist Dr. Maturin standing in for the reader as the enthusiast Captain Aubrey goes about the business of naval warfare at the end of the 18th century.

It's a dashing cruise around the Med, taking prizes and running away from bigger ships, as Aubrey tries to work his way up the ladder of promotion and wealth. Meanwhile, there's the business of managing the crew and Lt. Dillion, an Irishman who has a secret history with Maturin. The characterization is amazing, as well as the sheer richness of nautical show more language, but unless you know a fair big about sailing (and my knowledge tops out at the weather gauge) it can be hard to track the action. The pacing and point of view is a little lumpy, though the first entry in a 20+ book series can be forgiving. I'm excited to slip this in between my other reads. show less