Patrick O'Brian
Paperback | Pages: 379 pages Rating: 4.42 | 14964 Users | 626 Reviews
Describe Out Of Books H.M.S. Surprise (Aubrey & Maturin #3)
| Title | : | H.M.S. Surprise (Aubrey & Maturin #3) |
| Author | : | Patrick O'Brian |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 379 pages |
| Published | : | May 17th 1991 by W.W. Norton (first published 1973) |
| Categories | : | Historical. Historical Fiction. Fiction. Adventure. War. Audiobook. Military Fiction |
Representaion Conducive To Books H.M.S. Surprise (Aubrey & Maturin #3)
My favorite of the first three novels and perhaps of the entire series! HMS Surprise deftly combines the best aspects of the first two books. Love, friendship and war. Frankly, there's so much going on it's hard to believe O'Brian fits it all in comfortably!The amazing thing about this book is how it takes you on a ride around the world, touching base in England, the Mediterranean, Africa, South America, India and the South Pacific islands. All of this lush scenery is a joy to behold in O'Brian's capable hands. So much of it describes the natural world that reading HMS Surprise is often like watching an episode of Plant Earth.
This epic series set during the Napoleonic Wars, ostensibly written with Captain Jack Aubrey as the solo heroic figure, can no longer pretend to be anything but a duet. Aubrey's friend, sometimes surgeon and sometimes (view spoiler)[spy (hide spoiler)], Stephen Maturin really comes into his own in HMS Surprise, which includes one of the saddest, most touching scenes, not to mention others both harrowing and heroic. Torture and duels, written with a touch of Impressionism that needs your attention, thrust and parry through out the book in a way that makes you wonder if O'Brian wrote it just to see how much one man can plausibly endure.
O'Brian is knocked on for providing too much information about naval matters, but here he puts it to poignant use. Around page 50 Aubrey is writing to his beloved Sophie back home. Much of what we know today about life at sea and warfare during this period (early 1800s) is what's made available to us through just such letters. They are often vague, elusive or downright bland when it comes to the description of battles. Certainly they could've described the gore and extreme peril the sailors put themselves in, but why worry and expose loved ones to the horrors they might otherwise remain blissfully unaware of? Aubrey pauses in the midst of his chatty letter and reflects upon one of his recent and particularly violent battles - oddly inhuman in it's unusually calm, calculated butchery. Forcing our eyes open Clockwork Orange-style , O'Brian shows a scene few have or should see, and then has Aubrey continue on with his letter, dashing off a colorless, dispassionate summary line about the fight that his loved one might readied swallow none the wiser. So you get the scene and the subterfuge all in one brilliant bit of real life in a fiction full of truths.
My review of book two, Post Captain:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
My review of book four, The Mauritius Command:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Details Books To H.M.S. Surprise (Aubrey & Maturin #3)
| Original Title: | H.M.S. Surprise |
| ISBN: | 0393307611 (ISBN13: 9780393307610) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Aubrey & Maturin #3 |
| Characters: | Jack Aubrey, Stephen Maturin |
Rating Out Of Books H.M.S. Surprise (Aubrey & Maturin #3)
Ratings: 4.42 From 14964 Users | 626 ReviewsJudge Out Of Books H.M.S. Surprise (Aubrey & Maturin #3)
Audiobook. Patrick Tull ably narrates another volume of the maritime adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey of the British Navy and his friend, naturalist/physician/spy Stephen Maturin. I was very surprised to read a review that recommended skipping the first four volumes of this long series. I dont agree, partly because Id like this series even longer than it is, and partly because the first four volumes include some of my favorite parts of the story. How can one understand the recurring character,Noone can write naval battles as good as O'Brian. Love this book alot, despite the silly Stephen and his doomed devotion to Diana Villiers. Jack, you rock! Now I really have to finish the rest of the series. Beat the quarters!
My favorite of the first three novels and perhaps of the entire series! HMS Surprise deftly combines the best aspects of the first two books. Love, friendship and war. Frankly, there's so much going on it's hard to believe O'Brian fits it all in comfortably!The amazing thing about this book is how it takes you on a ride around the world, touching base in England, the Mediterranean, Africa, South America, India and the South Pacific islands. All of this lush scenery is a joy to behold in
Valuable and ingenious [Stephen] might be, thought Jack, fixing him with his glass, but false he was too, and perjured. He had voluntarily sworn to have no truck with vampires, and here, attached to his bosom, spread over it and enfolded by one arm, was a greenish hairy thing, like a mat - a loathsome great vampire of the most poisonous kind, no doubt. I should never have believed it of him: his sacred oath in the morning watch and now he stuffs the ship with vampires; and God knows what is in
Surely man in general is born to be oppressed or solitary, if he is to be fully human... Patrick O'Brian, HMS SurpriseJack, you have debauched my sloth. Patrick O'Brian, H.M.S. SurpriseSo, I am now three books into the Aubrey/Maturin series and the books are only getting better. Master and Commander and Post Captain were 459 to 527 pages respectively, and I wouldn't fault a page. However, now it seems O'Brian has trimmed and edited these books down to the sub-400 page range and they seem to
I like listening to this book better than reading it, I think. This one is steeped in the emotional lives of Jack and Stephen. It's the first that really starts showing us how deeply these men feel about each other and the others they care about, and hearing it rather than reading it adds a level of intimacy that increases the novel's emotional satisfaction. It opens with Stephen's torture at the hands of the French, and Jack's daring rescue. Captain Jack cares for his wounded friend with a
My favorite of the first three novels and perhaps of the entire series! HMS Surprise deftly combines the best aspects of the first two books. Love, friendship and war. Frankly, there's so much going on it's hard to believe O'Brian fits it all in comfortably!The amazing thing about this book is how it takes you on a ride around the world, touching base in England, the Mediterranean, Africa, South America, India and the South Pacific islands. All of this lush scenery is a joy to behold in
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