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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An incredibly entertaining account of an incredible voyage.,
This review is from: The Golden Ocean (Paperback)
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.
36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE PERFECT PRECURSOR,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Golden Ocean (Paperback)
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.
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This is a wonderful retelling of the Anson voyage,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Golden Ocean (Paperback)
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.
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