Customer Reviews

The Golden Ocean (Paragon Softcover Large Print Books)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Patrick O'Brian's fans who mope about hoping for still another Aubrey/Maturin masterpiece should read this, his first historical tale of the sea. An incredible adventure surrounding the true account of Commodore Anson's small fleet intent on circumnavigating the globe. Some of the most gut-wrenching tragedies imaginable are tempered with subtle humor and sidesplitting hilarity. The fleet is eventually reduced by the ravages of the sea to one ship, Anson's Centurion, but it returns to England laden to the gunnels with an incredible fortune wrested from a Spanish galleon.

You few million Aubrey/Maturin addicts out there will love this book as well as any of the seventeen in the Aubrey/Maturin series. You'll notice that his superb writing skill was wholly present then as now, treating us to every human emotion in his uniquely masterful style. I've heard him compared to Conrad in his ability to describe the terror of an ocean run amuck, ravaging those small ships,the desp! ! erate efforts of the mariners to save their ships -- and themselves, sometimes successful, sometimes not. But after going back to Conrad for a fresh look at his work, my opinion is that O'Brian excels him.

Following this brilliant work is The Unknown Shore, O'Brian's account of what might have happened to the survivors of one -- or was it two? -- ships in Anson's fleet that were wrecked during the voyage.

In The Golden Ocean, as in all of O'Brian's stories, the characters live and breathe, love and hate, are often courageous but sometimes are not, often behave as we would wish but occasionally veer off the straight and narrow. Above all, though, they are always true to their individual characters.

Readers who lament that they have read all his novels -- thereby feeling themselves left dashed on a lee shore -- might do as I do, keep reading them over and over. I promise there is more there in each book than can be gleaned in a single reading. I'm on my sixth pass through ! ! the Aubrey/Maturin series and loving every story anew.

Th! e Golden Ocean, like everything else from O'Brian's pen (yes, he writes with a pen) is an exquisite example of the true craft of writing.

I put no writer above him in craftsmanship. Writers wishing to sharpen their own skills would do well to carefully study O'Brian's work. I shamelessly admit to adopting as much as I can from his compact yet radiantly illustrative style.

The Golden Ocean was written in 1956 and is Patrick O'Brian's first novel about the sea. As such, it is the perfect precursor to the highly acclimed Aubrey/Maturin series. The protagonist of this book is Peter Palafox, son of an impoverished Irish parson. In 1740, Peter, who has never before seen a ship, signs on, as a midshipman with Commodore Anson. Together with his lifelong friend, Sean, Peter hopes to find his fortune. He finds danger and disappointment instead, as Anson and his men circle the globe through poorly charted waters. And, although they seize a vast fortune in Spanish gold and silver, only one of Anson's five ships survives the voyage. The Golden Ocean is as perfectly and beautifully crafted as are the Aubrey/Maturin novels. The writing is brilliantly detailed and the action perfectly paced. With The Golden Ocean, O'Brian has created a perfect world of must-read-on storytelling. A book deserving of ten stars and anyone's time.

This precursor to the Aubrey-Maturin series is more memorable than some of the books in that series. It covers Anson's voyage around the world, in which he captured the fabled Manila galleon, one of the richest single-ship captures in naval history. I enjoyed it partly for its setting within this historical event: a particularly grand adventure. This was the 'dream cruise'(in terms of results!)that fired the hopes of royal-navymen, from admirals to ordinary seamen, for generations afterward. O'Brian's is a wonderfully rich telling, via two interesting and well-developed Irish character who interact throughout with actual historical figures, such as a very young Keppel. O'Brian's portait of the peppery Keppel was particularly vivid and interesting, revealing much about the Royal Navy of the times and the kind of men who did well in its selection process. The hardships and the mood of events on this voyage are well-drawn, and the story moves along at a comfortable pace. If I had a criticism, I would say that not enough time was spent on the capture itself and the story of intrigue surrounding it, which feels truncated and hurried. I wanted to know more about the capture and to savor their success with them, and I didn't feel that. They just sailed home. I think this apparent imbalance comes from the amount of time spent getting there. I like this book because it has stayed with me, unlike some of the Aubrey-Maturin series, as much as I like that series. Something about 'The Golden Ocean' maintains a hold on my imagination despite it's status as an 'early' O'Brian work.

In the Aubry/Maturin series, Mr. O'Brian shows us life in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars from the perspective of an officer. In the Golden Ocean, we get a glimpse of what life was like as a midshipman and a closer look into the lower decks during war with the Spanish. Like Mr. O'Brian's later works, the characters are likeable but also completely human and therefore fallible. Newcomers to Patrick O'Brian's works might be put off early in the book by the British and Irish colloquialism and the seemingly lengthy delay in getting to sea and thus the meat of the story. However, it's worth the initial learning curve because both of these apparent shortcomings are actually the jewels that make Mr. O'Brian's books so great. The colloquialism is easy to get used to and adds colour (u added in honor of Mr. O'Brian) to the story. At the same time, the apparent delay serves to give the reader insight into what it must have felt like for a seaman utterly dependent on wind and tide and just as eager to get to sea. That's the beauty of Mr. O'Brian's stories, they really draw you into them.

For me the experience of reading this book is a Microcosm of the Aubry/Maturin series, in the beginning I wasn't sure I would enjoy or even stick with it, but shortly I would find I couldn't put it down and was sad to see it end. I would recommend this book with the caveat that if you like it you'll love the Aubry/Maturin series.

In a genre that so often disappoints, The Golden Ocean both thrills and informs. Characters emerge early and are beaten by the sea, ship and shipmates as the arduous circumnavigation continues. Anyone who appreciates crisp prose, sly dialogue and a limitless knowledge of subject will be enthralled. Written over forty years ago, it is the freshest of reads.

I've read all 20 and a half volumes of the Aubrey/Maturin series and will read them 5 times over as soon as I have finished all else that is available by POB.
The Golden Ocean is just pure delight. I can not really add anything substantial to the praise from the other 12 or so reviewers, but I wanted to add my contribution.
POB was truly a master at storytelling. Who else could have come up with Sean's version of the gambling/pickpocketing disaster story in the first chapter (Sean starting like a proto-type for Padeen, but then developing into somebody else)? Or the fluency of the dialogues between the partners in poverty in chapter 2, even if the actual story does not have any real surprises? Who else can jump time gaps with this efficiency at summarizing longish periods in half sentences (like the probably epic, but untold journey through Ireland with one lame horse for three men, which is of course the proto-type for all Maturin's races, failed or not, towards reaching his ship in time)? Who else can squeeze whole commentaries into one verb or adjective? There is also a proto-type for Jack Aubrey's joking style in the person of an "elderly" midshipman.
Great stuff.

Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novel cycle is an epic work of literatue, one with a legion of fans and likely to explode after the Russell Crowe movie is released.

Before there was that famous meeting in an octagonal music room, there was O'Brian's first prototype of the naval fiction adventure story, set on Anson's circumnavigation, where the main characters are a scurvy crew of midshipmen having too much fun entirely.

It's a pleasure to read this book and to see the first occurrences of some of O'Brian's later and long-running jokes, characters and situations. It's fun and it's educational, as well as being a great read.

Highly recommended in its own right, but mandatory for anyone who is a fan of the later books. In fact, I'd finished the opus and was feeling rather flat when I discovered this book and its companion - The Unkown Shore, and the magic returned.

For those rueing life with no more Aubrey-Maturin novels to read, "The Golden Ocean" is like a brief, passionate reunion with a bygone lover. No, it doesn't have our Jack and Stephen, but it has the familiar world of the British Navy's Age of Sail, brought to us in O'Brian's inimitable voice, this time through the eyes of two Irish recruits.

He wrote this in the 1950s, well before the "Master and Commander" series. What's striking is how good it is; there's no bad first-novel writing in sight. Many of the longer series' themes are already being developed. A long and harrowing voyage. Navy discipline. The awe in which the captain is held. The names of all those sails and ropes. Carrying on while friends die of scurvy. Preoccupation with the prize money. Bad jokes and slop chests and wondering if you can get across the Pacific with two shirts. Seasickness and weavilly bread and the terrors of reefing sails in high seas.

Irish himself, O'Brian spends far more time in this book developing his Irish characters. The first few chapters take place as Peter Palafox, a poor minister's son enlisting as a midshipman, and Sean O'Mara, a poorer servant boy who tags along, make their way across Ireland to the port. Their Irish style dominates their conversations with each other and particularly the personality of the headstrong Sean. One reviewer sees the beginnings of Padeen in Sean, but I disagree. They're two different characters.

The trip round the world is as epic a voyage as any in the main series. Ditto the battle royal. The denouement brought tears to my eyes. The book vastly exceeded my uncertain expectations.

Some of my friends, to whom I've enthusiastically recommended O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series, complain that the naval jargon is too dense or that there's too much talk. I suggest they try The Golden Ocean. In the mid-1700's, Commodore Anson's mission was to explore the Pacific, extend British trade, and capture the fabulous Spanish treasure that sailed from South America to the Philipines. By good fortune, Peter Palafox (whose naval experience was limited to small fishing boats) was able to join the expedition as a midshipman on Anson's ship. Since the book is written strictly from Palafox's point of view, the reader is introduced to the jargon and oddities of the Navy along with our hero. After this book, one should read The Unknown Shore, which is the account of another ship in the same expedition, with quite a different fate.

The Golden Ocean is the story of two Irish men who sail around the world in a British man-o-war in the mid-1700s in the famous and in many ways ill-fated voyage of the Centurion and its small supporting flotilla during England's war with Spain. This is not exactly a war story and the historical context is a bit unclear in O'Brian's novel. The sailors, marines, and their beloved commodore Mr Anson (later Lord Anson) are little better than scurvy pirates feeding off the Spanish shipping when they get opportunities. Of course, our heroes, Peter Palafox and Sean O'Mara, suffer all the standard ills and misfortunes of a four year voyage in a square-rigged sailing ship and yet ultimately triumph very satisfyingly.

The best feature of this novel, the first sea story written by O'Brian and before his famous Aubrey/Maturin series, is that the author has the ability to create a great sense of realism. So many adventure novels are stale, unbelievable, and cardboardy, but not this one--emphatically not! Reading The Golden Ocean one can smell the salt air, feel the sails fill with the wind, suffer the despair of endless calms, dread the scurvy, and live the life of a sailor in the 1740s. I assume that O'Brian has done his research and that the historical recreations are accurate. They certainly feel accurate.

One problem that I have with this historical novel, and that I have as well with the other O'Brian sea novels that I have read, is that the actual events portrayed and the running of the ship, and the dialogue, are all a bit murky. It is like reading a novel auf deutsch with two years of college German, or a novel or short story by Henry James. I am not quite sure that I understand the text and its meaning. There is so much sailor slang and obscure nautical terms that I am unfamiliar with (and I am a boater) that it might as well be Greek. I wish that the publishers or the author had included a glossary (there is a web site and book of O'Brian's nautical terms and sailors' slang that explains the numerous obscure words and phrases, but it is tedious to use).

Also I would recommend doing some historical research of one's own about the actual Anson voyage before setting off on this novel.