Customer Reviews

The Port-Wine Sea, A Parody

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"The Port Wine Sea" starts out well, with a laugh-per-paragraph for O'Brian fans (the first sentence is, as parody, dead-center perfect), but for me, the joke wears thin quickly. There's just not enough to fill out an entire book.

To enjoy this great little parody to the utmost, you need certain qualifications. One, you have to have read (and loved) the POB Aubrey/Maturin series. Secondly, you have to have a sense of fun. Thirdly, to have to enjoy someone having a real ball playing with words (and music). With those qualifications, you will have a wonderful time, for there is no joke like the "in-joke" -- and this is what this fun with "Captain Audibly" and "Stephen Natterling" (who needs his daily pint of opium to function on three cylinders) is all about (they even get to meet with Horatio Hornbearer, with predictably hilarious results. This is a great little book for a rainy day or a long, tedious flight -- except that it would be nice to have a like-minded friend beside you, so you could read out delicious tidbits every now and then. Brava, Susan Wenger!

Obviously being a breast thumping member of MENSA does not automatically mean one posesses side splitting humor. This novel is nothing if it isn't less funny and less creative than the original novels.

Relying only on the most obvious gags, this novel makes "Three's Company" style humor out of an already humorous series. The only things missing here are canned laugh tracks and a sailor who yells, "DY NO MITE!"

I recommend reading the originals again for some real good laughs, and investing the money in something a bit more intelligent and a lot less self promoting.

Many of the paragraphs are spot-on parody. There are many deliciously funny bits for the Patrick O'Brian fan -- just flip through and pick them out. But for those who like to immerse themselves in a well-told tale, the book quickly grows tedious. One of O'Brian's strengths is the ability to describe his fictional world vividly enough to draw the reader in The sheer density of Wenger's parodied rephrasings of various bits of various books in the Aubry-Maturin series becomes a string of interruptions -- an impediment to the reader who wants to enter the world she is creating. Wenger's approach could make for a brilliant short humor piece. Always leave them wanting more!

This is true of any number of parodies, so I suppose it is unfair to complain. This book is certainly more clever and intelligent than "National Lampoon's Doon" (parody of Frank Herbert's "Dune").

Certainly not a must for fans of Patrick O'Brian, but probably enjoyable for those who love parodies.

I thought this was the funniest book of the year. I laughed out loud all the way through. A must For O'Brian fans.

Ms Wenger's re-working of Patrick O'Brian is simultaneously raucous and deep, as perhaps only a truly affectionate parody can be. Port-Wine Sea pokes cheerful fun at our devotion to O'Brian and his characters rather than at the books or - Heaven forfend! - the author himself.

This is a hilarious book for O'Brian fans. A spoof of the entire series, a laugh on every page. I loved it.

I love the Aubrey novels. I love a good parody. I love an atrocious pun. I love clever and obscure wit. I hate...well no...I dislike this book. It is dull, clunky, disjointed, repetitive and unimaginitive. I sense that Mrs. Wenger was unsure if she was writing a parody, or trying to write a story for inclusion in the series. The author alas demonstrates how so many bright people are also seen to be dreadful bores. I am halfway through the book and I fear I will do what I almost never do...put a book away unfinished. No greater disrespect can I show for any book. Don't waste your time or money.

Its a shame, but i'm only up to chapter four and I'm having trouble keeping awake. The author is perhaps a bit too proper to write a good parody. This O'brian series is a delight but it is also plump and ripe for a rollicking, wicked, down-and-dirty lampooning. Mrs Wegner just isn't up to it (as if you couldn't tell she's just too nice of a lady from her picture). So far the jokes are tedious, thin, and lacking in depth. I really really wanted this to be good, but its not, which is a shame after all the work I had to go to to locate a copy.

Don't waste your time, this would do better as fan fiction on a web page. Me...I'm going to reread Bored of the Rings to remind myseld of what a parody is supposed to be. (To be fair parody is tough...the harvard lampoon failed pretty badly on their 2nd try, Doon.)

Life is entirely too serious! Take a break from ponderous thinking and buy this book! Susan not only pokes fun at Jack and Stephen but gets a few jabs in at Hornblower as well. This is not an insulting parody but one written by someone who truly appreciates Patrick O'Brian's style. Entertaining! And Susan in a dead shot with a jelly bean in a crowded theater as well! Such a talented author!!