Customer Reviews

Flying Colours

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Flying Colours is the most introspective of the Hornblower novels. For those who want to understand who Hornblower really is, this book is probably the most revealing in the Hornblower series. Unlike the other stories which contain lots of naval action at sea, this book occurs mostly on the land of Spain and France, and the rivers of France. As a result, those who like the Hornblower novels for their battles and action will find this book to be one of the least satisfying in the series.

We all know ourselves best when we face problems. After the many successes in his career, Captain Hornblower ended up in Ship of the Line fighting an impossible battle between his ship, the Sutherland, and four French vessels. Taking horrible casualties, Hornblower struck his colours and surrendered at the end of that book. Flying Colours opens with Hornblower in a Spanish prison, with the expectation that he will be tried and executed for having flown French colours as camouflage to aid an attack. His wife, Maria, is pregnant in England. Hornblower also yearns for Lady Barbara Leighton, the wife of his admiral, whom readers met in Beat to Quarters and saw again in the beginning of Ship of the Line. Hornblower is in despair as he visits the dying and imprisoned sailors who are in the same garrison.

Many troubling questions go through Hornblower's mind. How well will he face death before a firing squad? Will his weak body betray him?

His first lieutenant, William Bush, is also to be tried. At the end of Ship of the Line, Bush lost the lower part of one leg. Will Bush survive the injury and trial?

What will happen to his wife and unborn child after he is dead?

Can he resist sweet temptation, when it is offered?

Can he escape death by firing squad?

Even if he escapes, how can he hope to be exonerated in a court martial for losing the Sutherland? Captains aren't supposed to surrender their vessels, no matter how badly damaged.

If he escapes the court martial, how will he handle being in love with Lady Barbara while being an unhappily married man with a new baby?

Will he ever have a chance to command a vessel again?

Anyone who has ever known self-doubt will find Hornblower's trauma realistic and refreshing. He becomes more like an ordinary person with normal feelings in this book. As a result, I found Hornblower to be much more appealing here than when his brilliant intellect guided him to smooth success in the earlier books.

Eventually, Hornblower finds himself wanting in many of these regards . . . but moves on. Ultimately, he faces new satisfactions and disappointments that indicate to him that his idealistic, perfectionist view of the world is a flawed one. Everyone else is merely human as well. Hornblower is deeply disappointed.

Forester raises an interesting point in the novel. There are real heroes in the book. These people are true to themselves and have total integrity. Public adulation will never be theirs, however. On the other hand, the world needs heroes . . . and new ones will be created, whether or not they deserve the honor. The possibility of remaining a real hero is improved by not having to deal with the issues that can tempt one away from heroism and integrity. So Bush is shown to be a real hero, while Hornblower is simply a self-doubting actor who is extraordinarily capable of creating great results.

The book does a magnificent job of using the title theme throughout. Having struck his colours on the Sutherland, Hornblower now flies his colours again in this book in every sense of that phrase. Watch for the subtleties of how this is done as you read the book.

If you know French, you will enjoy the challenge of imagining how Hornblower manufacturers phrases from his limited command of the language to accomplish what needs to be done. As I read the book, I mentally made the necessary translations.

The book is also interesting for displaying the consequences for the French of being under Napoleon's rule. Hornblower excoriates the Corsican tyrant in the earlier novels, but here we see that others are being squashed underneath authority's boot as well. Many of the social observations about the French people in 1811 are very nicely done in this book.

What is more important: Being fearless or overcoming your weaknesses? What can you do today to overcome your weaknesses and help others to do the same?

May you enjoy the peace that comes with living a life of integrity...

'Flying Colours' is undoubtedly one of the best books in the Hornblower saga. The novel begins with Hornblower a prisoner of the French and soon to stand trial in Paris for piracy. As he and his trusty first mate liuetenant Bush are transported through France they sieze a chance to escape and a thrilling adventure follows. This is the seventh book in the Hornblower saga, picking up right where 'Ship of the Line' left off and setting the stage for 'Lord Hornblower,' arguably the best in the series. Wonderful!

My favorite of the Hornblower series. Both a good look at the character development of Hornblower and Bush, and a great sea yarn. As with many other reviewers of this series, I have been through it several times. First read Hornblower as the 3-volume single book "Captain Horatio Hornblower" in high school. It includes Beat to Quarters, Ship of the Line and Flying Colours, and I suggest that new readers start with these 3 and then go back to Midshipman Hornblower and read the rest of the series in chronological order. These are great books for action and sea lore, but also interesting for the introspection into the psychology of warrors and conduct in battle.

It was with the greatest pleasure that I finished this chapter in H.H.'s saga. As usual the writing and plot draw you on relentlessly page after page. Indeed, just the experience of reading of it can be compared to "rounding the Horn"! With heroic battles, plots, delightful twists, sparkling prose and insightful humanity, the characters move from the frictional to flesh and blood. A truly satisfying read.

Flying Colours is the final of the three books that chronicle Hornblower's career as a captain. Following immediately after the apocalyptic end to Ship of the Line, it follows Hornblower -- now awaiting trial for piracy by a furious Bonaparte -- as he tries to escape and get back to England.

Following as it does after the most exciting book in the series, this is a bit of a letdown. It's slower and the drama is more in Hornblower's mind and heart than anywhere else. He faces not only execution at Napoleon's hands, but -- even if he escapes -- trial and ruin in England for his surrender of the Sutherland. His best friend Lt. Bush is crippled, he's cut off from his pregnant wife and secret love. He's at the lowest point of his life.

Of course, you know he's not going to give up. Flying Colours contrasts the vivid action of the novels by showing Hornblower finding his courage in life -- willing to face his own personal problems and demons -- to find the will to go on and try to overcome the seemingly insurmountable obstacles in his way.

It is in this book that the drama of the two previous ones finally pays off. Other have spoiled the plot, but I will note that even if Horatio triumphs, it is not without sacrifice and loss. And the ending has suitable irony -- and fits perfectly with Hornblower's democratic character.

The book does drag a little at times and I was disappointed that Hornblower seemed to forget about his surviving crew once he'd escaped. That knocks the rating down. But otherwise, this a stirring conclusion to the "Captain" trilogy and leaves enough plot threads open to send the reader off to buy the next volume.

Those who have made C. S. Forester's Captain Hornblower a lifelong companion , would differ on the best way to introduce newcomers to this great naval hero.
The orthodox would suggest starting from the very beginning (described in "Mr Midshipman Hornblower").
I would however suggest "Flying Colors" as an introduction to the adventures of Horatio Hornblower.
Set at the time of the Napoleonic wars, the book relates the adventures of a british captain who, having fallen captive, faces dishonor and probable death.
The tale of his struggle against defeat, though passionate, romantic and heroic, is told with true british understatement,
which for me is a hallmark of C. S. Forester's writing.
The meticulous historical detail creates the illusion of a true story and will lure the most consumate landlubber.
For those who will complete the Hornblower Saga, a tour of the British Maritime Museum at Greenwich is a must.
There, surrounded by familiar times, objects and persons, their sole regret would be the absence of the figure
of the most loved, though fictional, sea captai

In all of the Hornblower books prior to "Flying Colours" Hornblower is a hard luck Captain. Although he generally succeeds in his missions, he does so despite hard luck and bad breaks, by the sheer virtue of his intelligence and determination. Prize money has eluded him for years, he marries poorly, and he is not of high birth. The first several Hornblower novels are the tale of an officer who succeeds in spite of a long run of bad luck and hard circumstances in a merciless and unforgiving service.

In Flying Colors, this all changes, and Hornblower manages to finally capitalize on his achievements and success. This is a satisfying story of a brilliant man overcoming hardship and finally getting the rewards and fame that are justly his. While this novel is not quite in the class of "Beat to Quarters," "Ship of the Line," "Hotspur" and several other of the Hornblower novels, it is nevertheless a well-written and satisfying tale. In this novel, Hornblower's life finally comes together, and even in the class-ridden British Navy, competence finally shines through and our hero gets the rewards due him.

This is a fine novel that anyone will enjoy, and Hornblower afficianados must not miss.

You gotta have it. You gonna love it. Buy it.

This book, despite the fact that most of it is not set at sea, provides excellent insight into Forester's great character, Horatio Hornblower. It is a pivotal book, and culminates the three-book series (Beat to Quarters, Ship of the Line, & Flying Colours) that make up the first introduction of HH by Forester. Time well spent!

Flying Colours (1938) is C. S. Forester's eighth Hornblower novel by chronology, third by publication; it completes Forester's original story arc. Having been forced to surrender to a French squadron at the end of Ship of the Line, Horatio Hornblower is imprisoned and sent with Lieutenant Bush and his coxswain to Paris to have an example made of him. Most of the novel deals with their attempts to escape France.

Most of Flying Colours takes place on land, making it a refreshing change from the innumerable sea battles that fill every other Hornblower novel. And Forester moves things a long at a fairly good pace. There are a few noticeable conveniences in the plot, but they are not sufficiently egregious as to ruin the story.

The problems Forester had in Ship of the Line with Hornblower being overly loathsome have been alleviated for the most part. Hornblower has escalated his philandering ways, however, but since it should be abundantly clear by now that he is a man of no principle beyond his duty to the Royal Navy, this should hardly come as a great shock to the reader. This fundamental lack of integrity most assuredly has quite a bit to do with his complete inability to be contented with his life, even with things wrapping up in a very tidy manner for him as they do here.

There is a great deal of drama here with Hornblower and his wife Maria, or there should be; Forester leaves it largely untapped. For those who read the Hornblower novels in the order Forester wrote them, Maria has never appeared "on camera," as it were, to this point, and so this is not a big deal. But those who have read them in chronological order are considerably more invested in the character of Maria, and rightly hoped for more. Obviously Forester could not have gone back and changed things in his earlier works, but the end result is that the resolution here is hardly satisfactory. This is the price one pays when one writes out of chronology: the merit of the original works is diminished by later works, which reveal and even create flaws in them.

Flying Colours is a step up from Ship of the Line, and is a mostly satisfactory conclusion to the original Hornblower story arc, which is, on the whole, decent, and which would give way to subsequent superior novels.