09-22-2016, 05:33 PM | #1 | |
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Discussion: Post Captain (Aubrey/Maturin #2)
Discussion: Post Captain (Aubrey/Maturin #2)
The second book in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series finds our two protagonists headed home from the Mediterranean to find peace has arrived in England following the Treaty of Amiens. Without a ship, he and Stephen begin to live the lives of country gentlemen, hunting, entertaining and enjoying more amorous adventures. Their comfortable existence, however, is cut short when Jack is overnight reduced to a pauper with enough debts to keep him in prison for life. He flees to the continent to seek refuge: instead he finds himself a hunted fugitive as Napoleon has ordered the internment of all Englishmen in France. Dr Stephen Maturin, spy and surgeon, leads Jack to the his Spanish castle. When they finally manage to escape, a jealous cuckold assigns Jack to an experimental and poorly-built ship on poorly-conceived mission. The escape through France to Stephen's ruined castle is one of the few bits of absolute slapstick in the books, but it IS funny. From the Amazon description: Quote:
Last edited by CRussel; 09-22-2016 at 06:18 PM. Reason: Added Cover |
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09-22-2016, 05:48 PM | #2 |
o saeclum infacetum
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The bear still makes me laugh.
I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying that it's with this book that the series starts to take shape. Sophie and Diana become major characters, Stephen's role as a spy is more than implied, Jack will continue to have money problems. And the bits where Jack avoids getting nobbled for his debts are every bit as funny as the bear. |
09-22-2016, 06:01 PM | #3 |
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Post Captain is 492 pages long, and is available at the following locations:
Amazon US Amazon UK Audible US (Patrick Tull narration, my personal favourite) Audible UK (Ric Jerrom Narration) OverDrive Audio (Simon Vance narration, issybird's favourite) Kobo UK I'll be reading this and listening to the Patrick Tull narration, primarily. |
09-22-2016, 06:15 PM | #4 | |
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Quote:
It also starts in on giving us a feel for the England of the time. The whole question of debtor's prison being something that North American's don't quite get. |
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09-23-2016, 08:04 PM | #5 | |
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Quote:
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09-23-2016, 08:17 PM | #6 |
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The first time I read this book, I mostly didn't like it. It seemed to drag with no direction. On a reread after getting to book 9, I find I really like it for all the introductions to characters that inhabit the books that follow. If it's your first time through, persevere. You'll appreciate it in the end.
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09-24-2016, 12:40 AM | #7 |
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09-30-2016, 11:35 AM | #8 |
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I like the "plottiness" of this compared to the first book. O'Brian's a master at world-building and I get sucked in no matter what, but the books with more of a narrative and not just incident are my favorites. That said, I was more aware this time of how the Lively aspect seemed tacked on, even though the denouement is critical to the ongoing story.
Last edited by issybird; 09-30-2016 at 11:57 AM. |
09-30-2016, 11:37 AM | #9 |
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Interesting, issybird. I always felt a little uncomfortable with that incident, but hadn't ever quite articulated it. I think you've hit it well.
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10-01-2016, 06:37 PM | #10 | |
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Quote:
But this is the book where O'Brian switches from a standalone story to a series and I can forgive a little awkwardness as he changed gears. |
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10-01-2016, 08:46 PM | #11 |
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O'Brian at some point commented that if he'd known how successful the books would be, he'd have started Jack out a LOT earlier in the Napoleonic era. He found it difficult to insert all that many books and battles in a fairly narrow time frame.
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10-01-2016, 08:55 PM | #12 |
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^ It was in the forward to The Far Side of the World, which I read just a few months ago. It was the book where he had to acknowledge that he'd run out of war and said that his timeline would subsequently be much looser and even simultaneous to earlier stories.
It really is a pity, but he kept spinning the tales as long as he lived and that's all we could ask. |
10-02-2016, 12:29 PM | #13 | |
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Quote:
I'm only about a 1/4 of the way into my re-read of Post Captain, but enjoying it again. The picture of country life of the time and the introduction of Sophie and Diana Villiers heralds two characters who will play significant roles as the series progresses. Plus we start to see the start of Jack adrift on land, though most of it is later. And the first formal acknowledgement of Stephen as a spy. |
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aubrey/maturin, bookclub, o'brian |
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