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Master and Commander
I'm leaving on an epic fight to Ireland tomorrow and the prospect of a 19 hour journey in economy class with a bad knee is causing me a fair amount of stress. I have prepared some counter measures such as getting a book that looks interesting (The Rest Is Noise by Alex Ross), buying some jelly babies, and picking up a magazine or two. The one thing I've made sure to do is to load a copy of Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander on my iPod. This will be my third time reading or listening to the novel. I think its the most comforting audiobook I've ever heard. It's narrated by Patrick Tull and there's something special about his voice especially in the long passages when the Sophie is at sea and Maturin is watching the birds and the breeze is gentle and not much is happening...in these sections there is a wonderful sense of Mediterranean calm that drips into your psyche and lowers the blood pressure. As far as I remember the film version of Master and Commander took precisely zero plot points from the book and it was a real shame because the story of the two Irishmen, Dillon and Maturin, is one of the best in the entire O'Brian canon. Guilt, loyalty, betrayal, courage, cowardice, regret - this is what Master and Commander is about. My little brother is an intelligence officer in the royal navy and I spent many years nagging him to read it even though it's not his sort of thing at all. When he was bored out of his mind in a tent in Afghanistan he finally did read it and he confessed that he really enjoyed it. I'm sure some people might find it slow or esoteric but you should try it, it is far more than a sea story and I do recommend it for long commutes or very long flights.
12 comments:
I'm making that 19 hour flight (oh christ) in reverse in a few weeks, but I'm not as stressed as I probably should be. Mainly because it was announced today that the roads authority here in Ireland have ordered an extra 70,000 tonnes of grit for the terrible winter that's coming.
Also, delighted to find another Patrick O'Brian fan. I found Master and Commander on a shelf at home a few years ago and was so captivated by the world O'Brian pulls you into that I've bought all 20 since, in dribs and drabs, and still re-read them. There's a quote on some of the covers, from the Times I think, which describes them as "Austen sur mer", and I think it captures the feeling most fans have for them: they're the peak of historical/naval fiction
Impossible to pick a favourite, but I love the mini-trilogy that is Desolation Island, Fortune of War, and the Surgeon's mate. Something to do with the atmosphere of Boston, the race across to Paris, and all the Maturin intrigue. I could really waffle on for hours here.
Conor
I think my favourite is The Reverse of the Medal. The scene in the stocks has to be one of the greatest I've ever read. I get chills just thinking about it.
You know who would be loving these riots? JG Ballard. He would have been lapping it up as a proof of his theories about latent aggression, right?
Anon
You're not wrong. Although he probably would have been gutted that nothing happened in Shepperton.
MASTER AND COMMANDER is not the kind of book that is in my wheelhouse as a reader, but you're the third person whose opinion I trust to recommend it highly.
Where's my Kindle?
Dana
I know where you're coming from. My father was a navy man and was always pushing those Alexander Kent and Hornblower books at me and I couldnt have been less interested.
But one day I picked up The Wine Dark Sea, read a chapter in the library and was hooked. Master and Commander is a good place to start though.
I stayed away from O'Brian for years, figuring it was more of the "Rule Britannia" fiction of Forester, Kent, etc. I ended up being stunned by how erudite and literary a writer O'Brian is. I think some readers find him too much of a literary upgrade from Hornblower, and some others get turned off by all the nautical terms. I know nothing about sailing so I just skim over the chatter about jibs, fo'csles, and so on. Part of my job at the library involves selecting books (usually audiobooks)for shut-ins and I always send O'Brian along to any who express an interest in historical fiction. They're never disappointed. By the way, all my clients who ask for crime fiction get the collected works of Adrian Mckinty.
The Rest is Noise is good; I read it for the non-fiction project I'm working on. In a similar vein, I loved This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, and Musicophilia by Oliver Sachs was also a worthwhile read.
This is Your Brain would be my airplane choice.
Love the Turner.
I was completely transported by and addicted to the Aubrey-Maturin series. Such a vividly drawn world. I was sorry to finish the series and having been tempted to reread em from the beginning ever since.
I really loved the movie as well. Thought Peter Weir captured the spirit of the novels even if the film wasn't a slavishly accurate adaptation. Say what you will, Russel Crowe made a perfect Capt. Aubrey. They should have made a sequel with so much material to draw from!
PS Really enjoying the Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan. The writing is a lot better than I was expecting.
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