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November 16, 2003
Well, at least more people may read the books By Tom Smith The odds of Hollywood getting right any part of Patrick O'Brian's magnificent 20 volume sea saga were so remote, I suppose I should not be disappointed. Christopher Hitchens suggests the new Patrick Crowe vehicle Master and Commander gets the most important things wrong, or just leaves them out. At least it's PG-13 so I can take my kids. People who should read the series are people who hate tyranny (Napoleon was a great villain and we get to see him thwarted in the books); lovers of liberty and enlightenment (the books include a lot of wonderful history of natural philosophy and deft psychological portraits of the enlightenment mind set); Catholics (the most interesting character is not Lucky (and fighting) Captain Jack Aubrey, but the Irish-Catalan, minor nobility, devout Catholic, but equally devoted scientist, naturalist and surgeon, not to mention unbelievably cold-blooded intelligence agent against Bonaparte; and, of course, Francophobes (greedy, cynical, hypocritical, bien sur que oui). Oh yes, and lovers of good literature. Somebody called these books Jane Austen with cannons, and that's not far from the truth. Another critic called the series the greatest historical novels ever written. I can't think of any better, certainly. The LA Times said "It has been said that this series is some of the finest historical fiction of our time . . . . Aubrey and Maturin have been described as better than Holmes and Watson, the equal of Quixote and Panza . . . . All this is true. And the marvel is, it hardly says enough." Such fulsome praise is typical, and only a little overblown. Begin at the beginning. I envy anybody reading them for the first time. |