I know, and I’m sorry about it, but I just can’t stand anything written by Patrick O’Brian. I’ve tried, and tried, but can never get much beyond the second chapter of any of his books (and I’ve tried more than a few). What makes this so strange (and frustrating) is that anything about naval history, particularly the days of sail, I usually find fascinating.
Now, I really liked the movie “Master and Commander”, and thought that since it was so good, maybe I could take another whack at Pat. Was doing pretty well, too, right up to 30 or so pages in when he started in what seemed to be at least two chapters examining in minute detail the religious beliefs of the first mate. The first mate, for Crist sake! And it seemed to do nothing to further plot or story. (The movie made no mention of this.) I slogged on for about five more excruciating pages, and then gently put the book down to be returned to the lbrary post haste.
Then just last week our Sunday paper had a review of O’Brian’s book “Fortune of War”, and gave it top marks. So figuring to give Aubrey another try, I got the book and started in. This time I managed only five pages before giving up. How any author can make such an interesting subject so mind-blastingly dull I just don’t understand.
I know the problem must lie with me, mabe some literary Dopers can help me out here.
BTW, I had exactly the same trouble with another American Icon, Louis L’Amore. What is wrong with me?
I don’t know about O’Brian, but I read many Louis L’Amour books as a young boy and loved them all. I suspect today they would bore me to tears. Maybe that’s the problem your having with him?
Okay, I’ll dissent and say that I think the Aubrey/Maturin series is by some margin the finest historical fiction in the English language (though I don’t think finding this series not to your taste makes you a bad person). The attention to detail, character development, use of language, and subtle humor are simply excellent. Heck, even his use of punctuation shows virtuosity.
I know of no books that stand re-reading as well - I have read each at least a half-dozen times, and look forward to more.
ETA: This thread probably belongs in Cafe Society.
After first posting, I began thinking that it had probably gone to the wrong forum. My original thought was that this was about as mundane and pointless as you could get, but obviously, upon reflection, it was more the sort of thing that “Cafe Society” was designed for. So was expecting that a move was in its future.
I have to admit that, having read the first few books of the series, I’m not that fond of them, either. I much prefer the novels of C.S. Forester, especially his Horatio Hornblower series. I admit these are an easy read, and O’Brian makes you work harder for it, but I don’t really find it worth the effort.
I have long been a serious Hornblower fan. When I discovered O’Brian’s series, my initial reaction was “Could be interesting, but no way in hell can anyone hope to push Hornblower out of first place.”
After about 3 books I had to concede that O’Brian had accomplished this impossible feat.
The movie is bits of one book mixed with bits of another book and another mixed with Hollywood. The makers didn’t think they would be able to do the full series, rightly so, and picked a lot of their favorite moments to combine into a single story. If you read the whole series you’ll see parts of the movie here and there but there isn’t a single book that follows the movie.
I love the books but they’re not for everybody. I had to work through the first few and the only reason I did it was because I’d bought them all at once and, goddammit, I was going to read them. Suddenly something clicked, and a slog became a joy. Once that happened I was off to the races but if you never get that moment of ‘Wow!’ I could see it being a huge disappiontment.
I would give the books more chances than you would for most books because if they do work for you the payoff is awesome, but if you decide you aren’t willing to do that or just that they aren’t your thing, that’s ok too, there are a ton of other great books out there.
Agree that they are not for everyone, but I absolutely love them. Have read the entire 21 book series 5 or 6 times. I love the detail, the character development. It’s a complete immersion.
This. I’m finishing up “Blue at the Mizzen” currently (which is the last in the series). When I’m done it will mark the 10th time that I’ve read the whole series.
They are quite simply the best novels I’ve ever read and I read a lot. And I may add some of the funniest. O’Brian’s humor is unmatched. However, to the uninitiated, it will get lost in the inaccessibility of the rest of his prose.
My advice is that you simply scan the parts where there’s excessive nautical jargon or in-depth character dev on anyone but Aubrey/maturin and move on to plot dev. This is what I did and it was much like Terraplane described.
I suspect you’re missing most of the humor, probably because you haven’t gotten a good hold of the antiquated dialog. It took me a while to realize that he was trying to be humorous. Not because he tries and fails, but because I was just looking for plot advances. Once I spotted it, I started to laugh out loud.
Example: It’s pretty easy to miss the fact that Maturin doesn’t know diddly about naval terminology. Any time he tries to explain it to someone else, he completely botches it. I didn’t catch that in the first book or two.
I did enjoy the series, but I can certainly understand anyone NOT enjoying the series. As noted, the first book does not have a whole lot to do (directly) with the plot of the movie.
Also, the religion of the first mate is pretty important to the plot of the novel and to Maturin’s relationship to both Aubrey and the first mate.
To all those who do like “Master and Commander” I wanted to recommend another book–The Autobiography of a Seamanby Admiral Lord Cochrane. Fans of Jack Aubrey will find it–familiar.
