Customer Reviews

The Life And Times of Horatio Hornblower

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Of all the fictional characters in literature, only a handful have been compelling enough to be appropriated directly into stories by writers other than their original creators. Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is one such character. C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower is another. This work by C. Northcote Parkinson is just such a continuation story, but with a twist. Instead of an historical novel, Parkinson writes the book as if it were an actual biography complete with illustrated plates, footnote citations to other (probably fictional) sources, and extended quotes from letters supposedly written by the characters. The Hornblower enthusiast will appreciate the few extra episodes wedged into the chronology created by the original author, as well as a detailed account of Hornblower's ancestry, boyhood, and forty years of life after the period of active service originally chronicled by Forester. But the purist might take exception to one or two new characters that Parkinson takes the liberty of introducing. Parkinson is also quite knowledgeable about the period, and does an excellent job of framing a life such as Hornblower's within the society (both civilian and naval) in which the character is supposed to have lived.

Although written as a serious biography, the author is clearly a Hornblower fan having a bit of fun as his retirement project. Parkinson is best known as the originator of "Parkinson's Law" (work expands to occupy available time) and the author of a popular series of humorous but pointed commentaries on management practices written in the 1950's and 1960's. In these books, he often feigns being a sociologist discovering universal principles of human behavior. So it is no surprise that he should follow up with this story in which he pretends to be an historian researching an actual person. The same tongue in cheek humor is at work.

I have this thing for biographies of fictional people - on my shelf I have Phillip Jose Farmer's excellent biographies of Tarzan and Doc Savage and I'm still trying to track down my own copy of James Bond's and W.S. Baring-Gould's Sherlock Holmes bio.

Parkinson's biography of the life and times of C.S. Forester's great naval hero Horatio Hornblower joins the others in a place of honour. Impeccably researched and serving to correct some of the inherent contradictions in Forester's novels with real history, Northcote creates a stirring complement to the books. In biographies like these there is often a temptation to either simply sypnosize the books or go off and create whole reams of "untold" adventures. Thankfully, Parkinson does neither. What he does try to do is fill in the gaps between what we've read and what is left unsaid - most of them through the clever device of letters written by our beloved Hornblower himself. What did exactly happen that fateful night on the HMS Renown when Captain Sawyer fell down that hatchway? After all these years, the truth is finally revealed.

Parkinson also goes on to tell the remainder of Hornblower's life where the novels stopped. Always reverent, and with a completely straight approach, this is one of those that people will find centuries from now and use as evidence that Hornblower, like Sherlock Holmes, was indeed a historical character. And well he should be.

Want to know what really happened to the captain of the "Renown"? Accident or assassination? How about Hornblower's life after the Navy? What happened to his son and Lady Barbara? Forester left many gaps in Hornblower's career to be filled in. Parkinson rises to the occasion presenting a complete fictionalized biography of Forester's great naval hero. Filled with the same wonderfully authentic details that enlivened Forester's stories, this book evokes life at sea in a British man o' war during the incomparable Age of Fighting Sail. A must for any Hornblower fan!

This is a reprint of the author's 1970 fictional biography of Horatio Hornblower. C. S. Forester wrote the first five Hornblower novels in chronological order, starting with Hornblower's service as a Royal Navy captain in 1807 and continuing to 1815 when the war ended and most of the Royal Navy was laid up. In the sixth book, he skipped back to cover the beginnings of Hornblower's career as a midshipman. That point seems to have been lost to later authors like O'Brien (who invented ways to keep Aubrey at sea, rather than dropping back to cover his early beginnings).

Parkinson created this biography by placing the Forester novels in chronological order, and then adding in details to explain Hornblower's early life, his family, and his years in retirement. It is so well written it is difficult to classify the book as fiction. The recent made-for-TV motion pictures on Hornblower have changed the details of the stories to a significant degree, but are generally following Hornblower's career (there was no Court Martial in Jamaica, only an inquiry, with the blame for Sawyer's death laid on the escaped Spanish prisoners, and no charge of anyone pushing him into the ship's hold).

Parkinson himself is an exceptionally good author of novels covering the Royal Navy of that time period. I am pleased to see that those novels are now being reprinted.

I am an old hand at reading the Hornblower Series, having received the Book-of-the-Month Club offering of the first three novels back before WWII. Since then I have acquired all of the rest and have read them many times. Parkinson's fictional biography, which I acquired in 1972, is so well, and meticulously,written that it's difficult to believe Hornblower is fictional. However, this is a book for the devotee of the novels. It does "fill in the gaps" in the hero's life as well as providing the social and political setting in which the actions occur. It does not give the full details about HH's character, method of approaching and solving problems, or other essentials of his character as do the novels themselves. I recommend anyone new to HH, read the novels first before reading this book.

When I first heard of this book I thought it would be great. I'm not only a Hornblower fan but a history fan and a life of Hornblower written as a history seemed not only a fun idea but a great joke. (as it has been on people who have read the book and thought he was real.) When I bought the book I found that the joke was more on me.

There were moments of real interest, and several minor adventures in a summery style that wetted the appitite, but it wetted it for Forester to write about them not to continue. Of course if the minor adventures were fleshed out in future Hornblower movies they may work well indeed!

The backround info and the letters were well done and the footnotes would leave you to believe it was the real thing. The adventures and letters of both Richard and Joshua Hornblower were actually (particularly Joshua) the best parts of the book.

A person now knowing the series would think this was the real thing, but I don't think he would have the desire to read the origional books, which is a shame as they are the true treasure.

I think that Parkinson was a big Hornblower fan who in my opinion wrote this on a lark for himself and it worked. Hornblower fans may take exception to the letter to be opened 100 years later by Hornblower but then again maybe they won't

Once you've read the series you will find this book enjoyable, but don't start with it. It's not a triumph but it is what it is if you take it as such you'll be ok.

Fantastic account of Hornblower's life from the age of school, including family background, to his last breath 1857. For a while a started to think that Hornblower after all had existed. This book is well written and fills in the missing parts in an dbetween C.S. Forester's books. Fantastic fictional brography of a fantastic fictional hero - a recommended read and an absolute must read for any Hornblower enthusiast. Let me also recommend other books by the same author featuring 'Richard Delaney' - a naval officer during the Napoleon war. If you like these kind of novels you will problaby enjoy the Bolitho-series by Alexander Kent and the books by Showell Styles.

For fans of C.S. Forester's "Horatio Hornblower" series, this book is a must and a delight. Horatio Hornblower was a fictional British naval officer during the time of the Napoleonic Wars, and his adventures are fictionalized in the Forester novels. I believe that the Hornblower series constitutes the best sea adventures in all of literature. Horatio Hornblower is unforgettable, both in the novels and in Parkinson's "Life and Times..."

This book is a great read. It contains fascinating little facts about Hornblower, but in my opinion the best part of the book is that it chronicles Hornblower's career in a manner that allows the reader to compare the reality (which this book presents)with Forester's wonderful stories. The result is absolutely engrossing. I always thought that in Forester's novels Hornblower had too many adventures for one real person to have had. Parkinson does a fine job of showing us that if anything, Hornblower's life was filled with even more adventure than presented in Forester's novels.

Parkinson answers numerous other questions I always had about Hornblower, such as why Bush was not promoted after the South American voyage, what Lady Barbara was really like and, most important--how did Captain Sawyer come to fall down the hold on HMS Renown? This book answers these questions and others as best it can, and this adds to the book's fascination.

Another thing to like about this book is that it does a good job of placing Hornblower within 19th Century British society. The Forester novels pretty much concentrate on Hornblower's sea adventures. American readers in particular will appreciate Parkinson's insights into the nature of the society in which Hornblower lived, and Horblower's place within it.

The next sentence will possibly confuse some readers. This book is a work of fiction.

This book is well-written, well-researched and is quite simply a book that every Hornblower afficianado will want to own, read, and re-read.

This book is a masterpiece. It details the life from birth to death (as well as the family history from the 17th century to the present day) of the master mariner Horatio Hornblower. It is written in the same style as CS Foresters original books and it fleshes out both the principal as well as many peripheral characters. We are given letters both to and from Hornblower, and maps of some of his more complex escapades.

This is a marvellously witty and educational book which, as has been said, details the 'missing chapters' of Hornblowers life at the same time as it attempts to explain his actions in view of the prevailing political and social mores.

I still find it hard to believe that it is fiction as it is more comprehensive than many biographies I have read

As a lifelong HH fan, I've always lamented the fact that there were only 10 books. Parkinson does a marvelous job of plausibly filling in the few gaps remaining in Hornblower's career. His biographical style is perfect, down to the boring details of exactly where Smallbridge House was located. I found myself quite upset and indignant over the "information" in one of the appendices, and had to remind myself that, after all, we were speaking about a fictional character!

(Fans of the first Duke of Wellington will also enjoy his presence on the edges of Hornblower's story.)