Follow on Facebook Follow on Twitter The Conservative Book Club Podcast

Master and Commander

Publisher: Norton & Company • 1969 • 411 pages
4.44 out of 5 • View Ratings Details • 9 Ratings
Master and Commander

In too many period novels, history is a veneer masking some up-to-date monkeyshines. In rarer instances, history permeates the very substance of the book. Patrick O’Brian’s sophisticated sea story belongs to the blue-ribbon category. It recreates with delightful subtlety, the flavor of life aboard a midget British man-of-war plying the western· Mediterranean in. the year 1800, a year of indecisive naval skirmishes with France and Spain. Even for a reader not especially interested in matters nautical, the author’s easy command of the philosophical, political, sensual and social temper of the times flavors a rich entertainment. For the deep-water buff, there is enough incidental information here to enable him to fit out, commission and sail a 140- ton square rigger, should the occasion ever arise.

We pick up Capt. Jack Aubrey, newly-promoted commander of the brig Sophie, at the occasion of his taking command at Minorca. His first officer and ship’s surgeon are emigrĂ© Irish patriots. in exile after the betrayal of Lord Edward Fitzgerald’s rebellion. These individual complexities are lost on Aubrey, a bluff malaprop with uncomplicated intentions: raiding enemy shipping for the prize money to be won. Mr. O’Brian treats all, including the chivalrous enemy, with evenhanded understanding in the Sophie’s gallant search for booty.

Book Review from The New York Times, by Martin Levin

Tags: ,

Ratings Details

5
6
4
2
3
0
2
1
1
0

Oh no.

Something went wrong, and we're unable to process your request.

Please try again later.

Search