The Rendezvous: And Other Stories (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "ALL DAY the fly had been hatching, and where the stream broadened into a deep pool between two falls the surface was continually broken by..." (more)
Key Phrases: Trade's Increase, Father Ambrose, Lady Dogge (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Relentlessly detailed exposition and naturalistic description are the strengths of British novelist O'Brian, esteemed for his Aubrey/Maturin nautical adventure historicals ( Master and Commander ; Post Captain ). The author's rather monochromatic technique doesn't translate well to short form, however, and these 27 tales, many of which date back to the '50s and the dawn of O'Brian's career, often lack narrative drive and any semblance of character development. Moreover, they frequently close with surprise endings that are apparently meant to be deep and profound but emerge instead as borderline non sequiturs. On the plus side, O'Brian's prose is often beautiful and always impeccably crafted, and his eye for detail in the wild gives a number of the stories considerable power and rural charm. The bright spots include "The Last Pool," a brief yet epic account of a fisherman's struggle with an oversize salmon, and the explosive "On the Bog," in which a hunting trip taken by two friends ends in unanticipated violence. Readers with a bent for British fiction that describes village life and the characteristics of the land may enjoy this collection, but others will find it not up to O'Brian's usual snuff.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

O'Brian is the author of the famed Aubrey/Maturin novels (e.g., The Wine-Dark Sea, LJ 10/15/93), great depictions of the 18th-century seafaring world and considered among the best of historical fiction. This collection of obscure stories, written between the 1950s and 1970s, shares little with his acclaimed novels. Except that here, too, our characters-nearly always lone men-are also often journeying, albeit now to the mountains for trout fishing. There is a feeling throughout of quiet desperation, although we usually don't know why. More lost, however, are the characters themselves, who often don't know who or where they are. In the end nature often turns nasty. It's all very much like an L.L. Bean catalog gone awry. Better are the tales of marital unrest like the title story, in which a woman believes her husband to be unfaithful. Unlikely to appeal to either O'Brian's fans or to short story enthusiasts, this can be safely skipped by most libraries.
Brian Kenney, Brooklyn P.L.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.; 1st U.S. edition edition (September 17, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393036855
• ISBN-13: 978-0393036855
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,769,112 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Road Not Taken, February 12, 2008

By	Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Ahoy, shipmates! I enjoyed the Aubrey-Maturin books as much as any of you. I was introduced to them by a Medieval musicologist, not someone you'd expect to swash his buckle much, and I read the whole series in one summer. I'm still hoping that another all-concluding volume will be discovered in a secret cask somewhere in Provence. I wouldn't want O'Brian to have been another writer than he was. Nevertheless, his early short stories display the fact that he COULD have been a very different writer, and perhaps a very great different writer. I rather lament the writer that he wasn't as much as I value the writer he was.

The stories in The Rendezvous apparently represent O'Brian's own selection, and thus part of his literary testament. Most of them would be impossible to regcognize as his work if one encountered them anonymously. They are terse, dark, evocative, elusive, and beautifully crafted. Another reviewer has already identified the masterpiece of the collection, "The Chian Wine", a story about ritualized Jew-baiting in an otherwise idyllic village. It's a story that will knock you out of yourself. A classic. But there are other stories of almost equal power, and then there are graceful flirtations with an aesthetic never exposed in the Aubrey-Maturin books. Too bad cloning hadn't been perfected in time to create two Patrick O'Brians - one to write the great sea novels that he wrote, and another to write the great psychological novels that he could have written.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best short story writer in the language, November 28, 2003

By	R. Fields (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Rendezvous and Other Stories (Paperback)

This is a compilation of short stories, written by Mr. O'Brian over many years. They are emotionally dark, speaking to man's helplessness against the forces of nature and emotion, but they are masterpieces of characterization and understatement.

Read "The Chian Wine" first and you will be astounded.

3.0 out of 5 stars Be prepared to be confused...., April 22, 2009

By	Mike (Orange County Ca) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Rendezvous and Other Stories (Paperback)

I am a Aubrey addict. I also just finished Patrick O'Brian's biography by Dean King which is pretty decent and worth reading. It gives you some interesting insight as to how he developed as a writer and the early development of the Aubrey characters.

So I ordered this collection of his early short stories. I can see why O'Brian was not particularly successful until later in his career.

Only one has anything to do with sailing. Most of these stories end, trail off, or just sort of stop suddenly, with the reader wondering ...what...what just happened?

One of them, the Billabillian really perplexed me. I could not figure out the surprise ending - why the young man was suddenly in big trouble. So I googled the story, found a discussion forum and - what a surprise - none of them had a clue as to what was going on either.

Most of them were complaining about the stories. One of the forum members said, "This book is beginning to sap me." I thought to myself, that describes me exactly: why am I reading this?

Lots of other great collections of short stories out there. I would give this a pass.