Customer Reviews

The Yellow Admiral

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4 star:		(9)
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2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Yellow Admiral is as good as any of the previous 17 Aubrey/Maturin novels: as good as novels get. It has occurred to me, and not for the first time as I have read and reread the entire series and observed the whole cast of characters mature, that what we call the Aubrey/Maturin series is really one very long book with eighteen chapters.

One can read the Holmes/Watson books in any order; the characters never change, and I don't recall references by Doyle to previous events, such as those backwards glimpses O'Brian slyly slips to us steady fans from time to time that must sail right over the heads of hit-and-run readers.

With not a molecule of discredit to her genius intended, Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot remained the same character through 25 stories, and I'm not aware of any maturation of Miss Jane Marple. Of course, Agatha Christie probably felt that her readers preferred the familiarity that the sameness of characters provided.

What gives me the feat tha! ! t The Yellow Admiral might be the final Aubrey/Maturin episode? Diana never once jumps the traces; Jack mends all his fences at home; Sir Joseph Blaine is very much back in control in his seemingly obscure but influential position with "the Committee;" and Stephen has lived through a volume without a crisis. Then, just as Jack Aubrey has gotten used to the idea of building the Chileans a navy, while on a little respite in Funchal, Madeira, with his family and almost everyone else dear to him, he receives an urgent dispatch from Lord Keith of the Admiralty, advising him that Napoleon has escaped from Elba. Writes Keith: "You are to take all His Majesty's ships and vessels at present in Funchal under your command, hoisting your broad pennant in 'Pamone,' and . . . proceed without the loss of a moment to Gibraltar, there to block all exits from the Straits by any craft soever until further notice. And for so doing the enclosed order shall be your warrant."

A! ! t the bottom of Keith's letter was a handwritten note from ! dear, dear Queenie, an important figure in Jack's youth and during his career, now married to Lord Keith: "Dearest Jack -- I am so happy for you -- love -- Queenie."

So the Chileans must develop their navy without the services of Captain Aubrey. And there will be no yellow admiral in the person of Lucky Jack Aubrey.

Thus, with this pristine conclusion, I fear that we have seen the last chapter in the adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey, Royal Navy, and his loyal friend and invaluable companion Stephen Maturin. But O'Brian will be writing, that's for sure. And if his next work is another splendid biograpy, a fine story on another subject, short stories, whatever he writes will be a thrill for me to read.

"The Yellow Admiral" is one of the less interesting of the Aubrey/Maturin series, although it has its merits. This novel takes place mainly on shore, and as usual, Jack Aubrey's life is more complicated and beset with more problems here than when he is at sea.

The biggest problem in Aubrey's life is the probability of being "yellowed". The rank of an admiral in the Royal Navy is denoted by color. For example, an Admiral of the Blue has higher rank and responsibility than an Admiral of the White. In some cases, however, an officer is promoted to the rank of admiral for ceremonial purposes only, but is effectively decommissioned. When this happens, he is referred to as an Admiral of the Yellow, or one who is "yellowed". With Napoleon facing imminent defeat and peace on the horizon, Aubrey faces the strong prospect of himself being yellowed. To make matters worse, Aubrey opposes the enclosure movement in his district even after his commanding officer, Lord Stranraer, urges him to support it. And just when things could not get worse, Aubrey's wife discovers his old correspondence with a former mistress and throws him out of the house.

Things are not going well for Stephen Maturin either, since he is isolated from his fortune and temporarily destitute. But in a rare turn of events, he appears to enjoy a tranquil domestic life with his tempestuous, capricious wife, Diana. In fact, it is a rare twist in this series to see Aubrey financially secure but romantically distraught while Maturin, for a change is emotionally contented, but utterly impoverished.

If you are a fan of this series or a lover of history then you will enjoy this book. It has an enormous amount to teach us about life in England and in the British navy during the Napoleonic wars. However, if you read O'brian purely for his thrilling accounts of Napoleonic naval battles then this one probably won't do it for you. O'brian briefly takes us out on Patrol of the blockaded French coast and provides a wonderful description of the perilous navigation in the fog. However, even the brief naval engagements in this book are a little too mellow and hardly as thrilling as the others. Still worthwhile though.

For those of us who have avidly followed the exploits and conversations of O'Brian's remarkable characters, "The Yellow Admiral" is a disappointment. Just as the Napoleonic wars have gone flat in this episode, so, too, has the world Aubrey and Maturin. For the first time I had the feeling that the author was uncertain where to take the tale. Perhaps the characters have now grown too much within themselves and thus find very little that is fresh in their world. In any event, in this story the sheer joy of life and discovery, and the thrill of competence that is theirs at sea, is gone, gone, gone. Sour elder middle-age seems to have taken their place. For those who have followed this series, of course, "The Yellow Admiral" is a must read. But were it not for the long association with these characters, I would have found the book tedious, undirected, and boring.

The most important aspects of this story takes place on dry land in England. Patrick O'Brien paints the tapestry of 19th century rural life in terms that makes it relevant to the story and breathes life into it that it becomes personalized and completely relevant. It also is this time ashore that makes the adventures at sea so much more interesting for Jack and Stephen. It is the complexity of the characters dealing with their successes and trials at home which make the two main characters seem that much more human. Developing characters that are seemingly real is what Patrick O'Brien has mastered like no other and it is what has kept me coming back to his books (18 times so far).

Back ashore in England, Stephen is broke and Jack is once again an impecunious landowner. Jack's fortune is tied up in lawsuits related to his actions off West Africa suppressing the slave trade. To make matters worse (or more interesting), Jack's marriage is on the rocks as a result of Sophie's mother finding evidence of Jack's past infidelity. At the Admiralty, Jack's prospects are dimmed by his actions as a Member of Parliament and his opposition to the enclosure of a commons near his estate. As a side note, Patrick O'Brien clearly understands and has the ability to describe the political and economic aspects of enclosing a commons. He weaves this into the story without technical jargon and in an interesting manner. Even at sea, Jack has trouble. He captures a French privateer laden with gold and ivory, but the Admiralty believes that he ignored signals for personal gain. Troubles mount for Jack and his fear of being `yellowed' seems that it might become a reality.

When all seems lost for Jack, Stephen returns from a mission in France and back to England with forgiveness from Sophie and a reprieve for his career in the form of a possible mission to secure Chilean independence. This is especially important because the war has ended, further dimming prospects for his chance for an Admiral's flag. By the book's end, both Jack and Stephen see their personal fortunes somewhat or completely restored. And just as Jack is looking forward to this reprieve for his career, Jack is ordered to Gibraltar because Napoleon has escaped from Elba.

Yes, it's true there is a bit more description of the rights of English landlords in the nineteenth century than I would have liked. There is less actual sailing than in previous books, so this volume doesn't have the sense of motion that O'Brian portrays so well. Yet this remains a fascinating book. True to form, O'Brian describes life in it's nitty-gritty detail, whether it's the horrendous personal violence of Bonden's boxing match, or the consequences of Jack's infidelity, yet the eloquence of his description and the sympathy for the characters that O'Brian evokes keeps the reader deeply involved. It's not as much of an adventure story as previous books, yet there is an agreeable sense of community and familiarity when all the characters are staying with one another on land. And of course the ending makes you want to read the next one immediately.

This is the eighteenth in O'Brian's intelligent 20-volume naval series. True to form, the "Yellow Admiral" finds Captain Jack and sidekick Stephen Maturin on shore in England, where they have domestic troubles, win and lose their fortunes, and finally set to sea in the Bellona. Assigned to duty on the blockade of the French city of Brest, Jack Aubrey manages to capture a French privateer while Stephen carries out his usual intelligence activities after a nighttime landing in France. But peace breaks out. Napoleon is defeated on the continent and exiled to Elba, meaning that the British Navy will be demobilized and Jack's prospects for promotion to Rear Admiral are diminished. Just as Jack and Stephen are about to set sail for an intelligence mission in Chile, word comes that Napoleon is again on the loose. A cliffhanger ending that builds towards Napoleon's last hurrah --the Hundred Days. O'Brian's prose is as spare and intelligent as ever. The Yellow Admiral is a wonderful book.

In typical O'Brian fashion, the current state of our heroes is reversed in this book. Here we find Aubrey on the downgrade, while Maturin is repairing the damage done him in the previous episode. Certainly a rivetting story that is a pleasure to read, yet the real "happy ending" is left 'til the next installment (we hope!) For those looking solely for naval action, this book is not the best of series. Most of the plot involves Aubrey's difficulties on land and admiralty politics. Personally, I couldn't put it down and am yearning for the next installment

This eighteenth volume in the Aubrey-Mathurin saga is relatively action-less. For once, Jack has been assigned to routine post-captain's duty in the Brest blockade squadron, sailing back and forth for weeks on end. I don't believe the great guns are ever once fired in anger in this book. But, however (as they say), there's a lot here for the faithful reader of the series -- mostly domestic, with Jack being caught in an old adultery, as he says, "without a leg to stand on," but getting back with Sophie eventually. It's 1814, and with peace about to break out, Jack is very worried about his lack of a professional future, wholly expecting to be "yellowed" -- being made admiral in time but given no command -- having unfortunately crossed his admiral, whose nephew wants to enclose the common on Jack's manor. (Think agribusiness and economies of scale vs. the family farm). Perhaps he can increase his professional stock by hiring out to develop a new navy for revolutionary Chile. . . . Stephen spends a good deal of time ashore in France tending to intelligence matters, but we get no details. ...

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.

This is another "land-based" book in the series, which is a good thing. Jack Aubry's troubles dealing with land lubbers (whose dishonesty and unstructured ways mystify him to no end) and the often tumultuous relationship between Stephen and Diana are always entertaining. Less exciting than previous books in the series, the characters are definitely slowing down as they get older. Also, not much new happens here; the characters are not really developed further. Despite these shortcomings, is there any writer whose prose is more enjoyable? O'Brian's polished writing, his sly wit, his eye for fascinating detail, his descriptive powers: they're all here in full force. Another caveat: the jacket description reveals almost every plot point in the book. It would have been much more enjoyable not knowing many of these events were going to happen