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Finished the original Master and Commander last night (5 total in May) Taking ?s
| orange theater | 05/20/18 |
| orange theater | 05/20/18 |
| ruddy passionate boistinker | 05/20/18 |
| orange theater | 05/20/18 |
| ruddy passionate boistinker | 05/20/18 |
| orange theater | 05/20/18 |
| ruddy passionate boistinker | 05/20/18 |
| Crusty olive milk state | 05/20/18 |
Poast new message in this thread
Date: May 20th, 2018 9:46 PM Author: orange theater An XO poaster has ben nagging me to read them for a long time. I'd been resisting because I generally don't find naval stuff interesting, but at the board game meetup I was invited to last week the host family owned all 20 books and insisted I take their extra copy of the original when I remarked on it, so I took it as a sign.
Mixed feelings on the book overall. O'Brian can certainly write well and has an extreme level of period knowledge, but I think my enjoyment was strangled a bit by just how realistic the book was. The book is 450 pages long and it felt like a good third of it was spent just describing various nautical maneuvers with period jargon, most of which I simply couldn't understand because I have no expertise on the topic. As a result during the battles and chases I often struggled to visualize what was happening.
The book's overall plot arc felt strange too, in that there really wasn't one. James Dillon's internal conflict seems like it's going to be the heart of the book but then it just abruptly finishes; other than that the book is basically just an account of one ship's sailing around the Mediterranean. That would be pretty interesting if it were a nonfictional account, but since it isn't it just makes the book feel a bit aimless. Sometimes O'Brian just skips over potentially interesting scenes, too. Apparently the gunner got trepanned in front of an amazed crew, but the whole thing is simply related briefly in the past tense.
Still, there's some good scenes and I'm told books 2 and 3 are the best. I'll probably read Post-Captain and then make the call on whether I want to go further. |
Date: May 20th, 2018 9:56 PM Author: orange theater (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3982435&forum_id=2#36093437) |
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Date: May 20th, 2018 9:59 PM Author: ruddy passionate boistinker the first one has a lot of text devoted to getting you up to speed. the rest move briskly. commit yourself to reading through the 5th one. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3982435&forum_id=2#36093461) |
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Date: May 20th, 2018 10:00 PM Author: orange theater Why the fifth? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3982435&forum_id=2#36093476) |
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Date: May 20th, 2018 10:39 PM Author: ruddy passionate boistinker don't want to spoil something. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3982435&forum_id=2#36093806) |
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Date: May 20th, 2018 11:07 PM Author: orange theater Fair enough.
Still, don't think I can commit to five after the first book. If the second is roughly the same they just won't hold my interest that far. |
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Date: May 20th, 2018 11:08 PM Author: ruddy passionate boistinker first one is a fair bit of work. the rest fly. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3982435&forum_id=2#36094019) |
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Date: May 20th, 2018 11:09 PM Author: Crusty olive milk state lol if you can't get into it what hope do I have (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3982435&forum_id=2#36094029) |