Customer Reviews

The Surgeon's Mate

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jack Aubrey may be resigned to the perils of his profession, but Stephen must now be silently wondering if maybe he and Jack are the men who never return.

Indeed, this story began two volumes ago, in "Desolation Island", where it looked like they might have "copped it" in the horrible old Leopard.

Then the next story, The Fortune of War, begins with the Leopard limping into a British port off the Malay Peninsula, where after being treated handsomely they board the fast-sailing packet ship La Fletch for England (at last) where Jack is to take command of a new frigate.

But the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune say nay, for their ship burns and sinks, leaving them on the open ocean in a ship's boat whose sails had been stolen and sold by a corrupt boatswain. After many brutal, parched, sunburned days in the lifeboat terror strikes once more when a ship within hailing distance fails to see them and sails on.

As they appear about to succumb to the elements, however, they are rescued by HMS Java. Just as they are recovering from the debilitating ordeal in the lifeboat, Java engages the American ship Constitution (it's the War of 1812), loses the battle, and Aubrey and Maturin find themselves prisoners of war in Boston.

There they discover they are very special prisoners, for Aubrey or Maturin -- or both -- are suspected of being more than a captain and his ship's surgeon. They escape this peril by sailing a little sloop out of Boston harbor into the open sea where they meet and are taken aboard the blockading HMS Shannon. With them is the love of Stephen's life, Diana Villiers, who was in Boston due to entirely credible circumstances, and whose fervent desire to leave with them is equally credible.

The long and perilous chain of events that lead us to this story seem to be behind them. But they must endure one more sea battle -- the Shannon engages the USS Chesapeake in a short but exceedingly bloody engagement (all true), takes Chesapeake, and lands them in friendly Halifax.

Now comes the The Surgeon's Mate, where it seems that Aubrey and Maturin and Diana will at last reach England without further hair-raising adventures. Not so fast, mate. Shortly into this fine, fine tale they board the packet Diligence for England, but the Diligence is intercepted by two strangely determined American privateers. It soon becomes evident that it is Aubrey and Maturin -- and a person of no less importance to their pursuers, Diana -- that is the prize sought, not the dispatch-carrying Diligence.

Like O'Brian is known to do by those who read the fine print and between the lines, and do with great cunning, here he throws us a nice bone to chew on. The first schooner seen is a sleek, fast vessel, one that Captain Dalgleish is familiar with. He lowers his telescope and tells Aubrey, "Yes. She is the Liberty; and I see Mr. Henry has given her a new coat of paint."

Interesting indeed. Those who have explored the lives of the Patriots know that the Patrick Henry who concluded his moving speech for independence with the immortal words, "Give me liberty of give me death," owned a fast, sleek schooner named Liberty.

So now, six points off the starboard bow of the Diligence is the American privateer Liberty, commanded, coincidentally, by a "Mr. Henry."

Like icebergs, some of O'Brian's most pregnant stuff is tucked away from the view of many readers. Its discovery is not necessary to fully enjoy the story, but when we do find a gem the satisfaction is as pure as being let in on a fine secret.

We recall that in the very first volume of this wonderful series, Aubrey's ship Sophie took a much superior ship named the Cacafuego. "Caca fuego" could be translated into a seemingly vulgar phrase, which led a New York Times reviewer to prose disparagingly about Master and Commander and ridicule O'Brian's choice of ship names. But it so happens that the Spanish had not one but two ships by that name. Nothing is preposterous in an O'Brian tale. Patrick Henry died a dozen years before the War of 1812, and O'Brian is not implying it was Patrick Henry's Liberty that intercepted the Diligence -- he's just having fun and permitting a few readers to get a double dip.

Some critics have referred to the Aubrey/Maturin books as one long novel united not only by their historical setting but also by the central plot element of the Aubrey/Maturin friendship. Having read these fine books over a period of several years, I decided to evaluate their cumulative integrity by reading them consecutively in order of publication over a period of a few weeks. This turned out to be a rewarding enterprise. For readers unfamiliar with these books, they describe the experiences of a Royal Navy officer and his close friend and traveling companion, a naval surgeon. The experiences cover a broad swath of the Napoleonic Wars and virtually the whole globe.
Rereading all the books confirmed that O'Brian is a superb writer and that his ability to evoke the past is outstanding. O'Brian has numerous gifts as a writer. He is the master of the long, careful description, and the short, telling episode. His ability to construct ingenious but creditable plots is first-rate, probably because he based much of the action of his books on actual events. For example, some of the episodes of Jack Aubrey's career are based on the life of the famous frigate captain, Lord Cochrane. O'Brian excels also in his depiction of characters. His ability to develop psychologically creditable characters through a combination of dialogue, comments by other characters, and description is tremendous. O'Brien's interest in psychology went well beyond normal character development, some books contain excellent case studies of anxiety, depression, and mania.
Reading O'Brien gives vivid view of the early 19th century. The historian Bernard Bailyn, writing of colonial America, stated once that the 18th century world was not only pre-industrial but also pre-humanitarian (paraphrase). This is true as well for the early 19th century depicted by O'Brien. The casual and invariable presence of violence, brutality, and death is a theme running through all the books. The constant threats to life are the product not only of natural forces beyond human control, particularly the weather and disease, but also of relative human indifference to suffering. There is nothing particularly romantic about the world O'Brien describes but it also a certain grim grandeur. O'Brien also shows the somewhat transitional nature of the early 19th century. The British Navy and its vessals were the apogee of what could be achieved by pre-industrial technology. This is true both of the technology itself and the social organization needed to produce and use the massive sailing vessals. Aubrey's navy is an organization reflecting its society; an order based on deference, rigid hierarchy, primitive notions of honor, favoritism, and very, very corrupt. At the same time, it was one of the largest and most effective bureaucracies in human history to that time. The nature of service exacted great penalities for failure in a particularly environment, and great success was rewarded greatly. In some ways, it was a ruthless meritocracy whose structure and success anticipates the great expansion of government power and capacity seen in the rest of the 19th century.
O'Brian is also the great writer about male friendship. There are important female characters in these books but since most of the action takes place at sea, male characters predominate. The friendship between Aubrey and Maturin is the central armature of the books and is a brilliant creation. The position of women in these books is ambiguous. There are sympathetic characters, notably Aubrey's long suffering wife. Other women figures, notably Maturin's wife, leave a less positive impression. On board ship, women tend to have a disruptive, even malign influence.
How did O'Brian manage to sustain his achievement over 20 books? Beyond his technical abilities as a writer and the instrinsic interest of the subject, O'Brien made a series of very intelligent choices. He has not one but two major protagonists. The contrasting but equally interesting figures of Aubrey and Maturin allowed O'Brien to a particularly rich opportunity to expose different facets of character development and to vary plots carefully. This is quite difficult and I'm not aware of any other writer who has been able to accomplish such sustained development of two major protagonists for such a prolonged period. O'Brian's use of his historical setting is very creative. The scenes and events in the books literally span the whole globe as Aubrey and Maturin encounter numerous cultures and societies. The naval setting allowed him also to introduce numerous new and interesting characters. O'Brian was able to make his stories attractive to many audiences. Several of these stories can be enjoyed as psychological novels, as adventure stories, as suspense novels, and even one as a legal thriller. O'Brian was also a very funny writer, successful at both broad, low humor, and sophisticated wit. Finally, O'Brian made efforts to link some of the books together. While a number are complete in themselves, others form components of extended, multi-book narratives. Desolation Island, Fortune of War, and The Surgeon's Mate are one such grouping. Treason's Harbor, The Far Side of the World, and The Reverse of the Medal are another. The Letter of Marque and the ensuing 4 books, centered around a circumnavigation, are another.
Though the average quality of the books is remarkably high, some are better than others. I suspect that different readers will have different favorites. I personally prefer some of the books with greater psychological elements. The first book, Master and Commander, is one of my favorites. The last 2 or 3, while good, are not as strong as earlier books. I suspect O'Brian's stream of invention was beginning to diminish. All can be read profitably as stand alone works though there is definitely something to be gained by reading in consecutive order.

In "The Surgeon's Mate", as the title suggests, Stephen Maturin is the main protagonist. Although of course Jack Aubrey is always present to help Maturin accomplish his goals, most of the action revolves around intelligence activities.

The book opens right where the previous "The Fortune of War" ended. Maturin & Aubrey sail into Halifax Canada as conquering warriors & are much acclaimed by the locals (with some humorous entanglements for Aubrey). Soon, tho, we are back at sea, being pursued by privateers paid to kill Maturin. From this point on there is almost constant action, for Maturin has new intelligence assignments as well as unfinished business with the French. Meanwhile, his personal life continues rocky due to Diana Villiers presence. Of course, all will end happily as Patrick O'Brian lets you know by his choice of titles.

It is hard to critically discuss "The Surgeon's Mate" as a stand-alone novel, since so much of it is a continuation of plots begun in "The Fortune of War". It is complex, exciting, & definitely not the best choice as your introduction to the Aubrey/Maturin series. At the very least, read "The Fortune of War" before embarking upon this particular voyage. You will enjoy all the more for having done so!

The Surgeon's Mate picks up where The Fortune of War left off. In the previous installment our boys had escaped from Boston just in time to participate in the epic battle between the Chesapeake and the Shannon. Victorious they arrive in Halifax and more trouble begins. Aubrey's lack of land sense and Maturin's unrequited love for Diana continue to cause them problems. In fact they are the underlying tensions that follow them through each episode in the novel. Along the way we are treated to O'Brian's philosophical discussions between his two quirky heroes and among their assorted friends and associates. Like the others in the series The Surgeon's Mate is a gem.

Unlike earlier novels the action in The Surgeon's Mate is non-stop. O'Brian, always excellent in his characterization and use of language, has considerably improved the pacing from the earliest series entries. The reader is treated to the heroes travelling from Halifax to England to the Baltic to Paris and back to England in a rousing tour-de-force. Does O'Brian lose anything with the faster pace of The Surgeon's Mate? Absolutely not, he still has the strengths of the earlier books.

One aspect of the series that has made it great is the ability of O'Brian to set some of the thorny discussions of our times in the context of the early 19th century. In The Surgeon's Mate, the abortion issue creates a marvelous balanced tension. O'Brian's presentation is even handed, airing both sides of the debate but ultimately not choosing sides. O'Brian has moderated some of the great debates of the last 30 years in his Aubrey Maturin series while providing great naval action along the way.

Perhaps it's time to put O'Brian's novels in a special category- six stars.

This is the seventh in O'Brian's 20-volume series. It follows the now well-established formula, as Captain Jack Aubrey and ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin sail smoothly from one book to the next. This book is really two tales, two unconnected sea voyages, split by an interlude in England that feels more like an intermission. Picking up where the previous volume left off, the two find themselves in Canada where Aubrey's behavior may surprise you. The first voyage brings them home for the first time in many months (and three volumes). The heart of the story is the second voyage that takes them to the Baltic for the first time (both for them and for readers) on an intelligence mission. As the voyage ends, they find themselves in France and Maturin at his most interesting in extricating them from a dilemma and in reconnecting with Diana Villiers.

O'Brian is simply a great writer. This series is not for everyone, for the prose is spare and sophisticated, the plotting both delicate enough to sustain readers for many volumes on end, yet bold enough to satisfy fans of adventure tales. The nautical terms are easily mastered, this is not a book for sailors, but for readers who enjoy good adventure stories.

When I purchased a few more of the Aubrey-Maturin series, the clerks behind the counter tried to recall upon which cable network the series was being televised. Their memories did not serve them well, because they had the Aubrey-Maturin series mixed up with the A & E channel's Horatio Hornblower series. The mistake was understandable,though, because O'Brian's series clearly shows the author's awareness that he is plowing a field that a series of naval novels has already furrowed. Yet, the Aubrey/Maturin novels do not seem like "knock-offs" of the Horatio Hornblowers; instead, they are quite interesting in their own right. Aubrey, the sea captain, and Maturin, his ship's surgeon and an intelligence agent, are both interesting, larger than life, and yet human, characters. The technique of telling real-life sea battles and portraying real historical personages as minor characters is as old as naval historical fiction, but O'Brian does it so well it never seems forced or pedantic. The recurring themes of the novel--the consummate sea captain who is all asea on land, the consummate intelligence agent who is anything but intelligent in matters of the heart, do not seem too clicheed,though the author and the reader use them as touchstones, decorative fill-in between the exciting naval stuff. The Surgeon's Mate manages to make both its naval scenes and its "other story" quite interesting, which is not always as true as the other O'Brian books, in which the naval battles are so fascinating, one longs to be done with the romantic and personal troubles of the protagonists and move on to another sea engagement. The social commentary--people of the very early 19th C. were human like us, but the social structure was quite different--is, as always in this series, effective because it is not a centerpiece. We see over and over in these books how cultured and yet how barbaric the practice of this time could be.

This is a really good read. This is a really good series. If you haven't given Maturin and Aubrey a go, you should!

The Aubrey/Maturin cycle is not only one of the most exciting historical adventure series written in this century, but is also a work of deep psychological characterization, recondite literary symbolism, scrupulous historical accuracy, and surprising humor. In short, these books are fine literature and "The Surgeon's Mate" is arguably one of the three best out of the entire series of eighteen written so far. O'Brian's recreation of the cornucopia of humanity in the Napoleonic era is most impressive; but O'Brian's greatest talent, among a myriad of great talents, is to bring a subtle, ironic humor to the Yin/Yang relationship of the two heroes - inducing laughter out of tragedy, and sadness out of triumph. Look for the triple meaning behind the words of the title, "The Surgeon's Mate".

In "The Surgeon's Mate", Patrick O'Brian concludes the interior trilogy that is contained within his larger series- the previous two being "Desolation Island" and "Fortune of War". In these books Stephen Maturin comes into his own as the main protagonist driving the suspense and tension- in addition to the overt action on the high seas and the covert action of 19th Century espionage, Stephen struggles with an addiction to an opiate and a woman whose collective effect nearly destroys him. "The Surgeon's Mate" continues this trend and takes it to new levels, and concludes them rather than leaving us hanging. `Lucky' Jack Aubrey is of course present, and often present at the heart of the action, and in this volume exposes the weaker side of his character in the form of an affair he has in Halifax- after so long away, he caves only a few months from home.

From the harbor of Halifax, Stephen, Jack and Diana travel back to England and are pursued relentlessly by American privateers- so relentlessly that Stephen realizes they are sent to hunt and capture him as result of his recent exploits in causing havoc among the French intelligence service in America. From this tense chase, the companions are given a much needed respite in England. The are there long enough for Jack's mistake with Amanda Smith in Halifax to haunt him- for Diana and Stephen to drift apart, and for Stephen to accept his invitation to speak at the Institute in Paris on his beloved topic of Natural Philosophy. When in Paris he brings Diana and sets her up with his contacts, as she can no longer stand English society (mostly due to her own promiscuity), and terrified at the prospect that she is unmarried and may be with child. Jack and Stephen reunite and escape from their various troubles by accepting a mission to neutralize (peacefully if possible) a garrisoned fortress in the Baltic known as the Grisholm; a fortress manned by Catalan soldiers misled by Napoleon's propaganda and led by none other than Stephen's Godfather. This sets up Maturin to again take the lead and showcase the espionage that O'Brian writes so well.

Along the way to the conclusion O'Brian writes some of his best descriptions of the Channel, and the sights to be seen there. The dialogue is crisp and sparkles- the addition of the Swedish `hero' named Jagiello adds a lot of humor- the scenes of Stephen, Jack and Jagiello bumbling and scheming in prison is classic. The final chapters take the reader on a gale-force journey from cannon fire in the Baltic to the terrors of a lee-shore and eventually the infamous Temple Prison in Paris. . . .

Before reading each of the last couple of books in this series I think to myself that surely this book cannot be as good as the ones before it and each time, after reading it, I know that I was wrong. This book is as good as any of the previous books in this phenomenal series and I throughly enjoyed every page. This book has it all; action and suspense on land and sea, great character development and wonderfully sharp wit. I don't like to give away too much about the plot in my reviews, but in short, Stephen gets into more trouble for his espionage activities, his relationship with Diana develops further, and Jack's personal life gets more complicated and difficult. I thought that Diana comes across as a slightly more likeable character in this book than in previous books. Although this is basically a serious story, it is also very funny; probably the most humorous book in the series so far. O'brian introduces a great new character, Jagiello, a strikingly handsome, accident-prone cavalry officer that attracts pretty much every women he meets. Many of the really funny scenes involve Jagiello. In conclusion, I know that this series will probably decline in quality at some point, but not yet. As a side note, there have been many negative things written lately about O'brian's personal life. Even if most of what I have read is true and O'brian really wasn't such a nice guy, it shouldn't detract from his reputation as a writer. Whether he was good, bad or somewhere in between as a person doesn't change the fact that his books are brilliant.

I have read ALL of the P.O'Brian books in this series, a couple of times. But every time I come to this one I have to slow my reading down, so that I can make it last! It is that good. I love all of this series, but the interplay with Stephen , Diana, the War of 1812, and the usual Jack fun all theown into the mix just make me wish that I could read this series for the first time, all over again!