The Commodore (O'Brian, Patrick, Aubrey/Maturin Novels, 17.) (Hardcover)

by Patrick O'Brian (Author) "Thick weather in the chops of the Channel and a dirty night, with the strong north-east wind bringing rain from the low sky and racing..." (more)
Key Phrases: preventive squadron, broad pennant, larboard bow, Jack Aubrey, Sir Joseph, Captain Pullings (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
After several installments of gallivanting around the South Seas, Aubrey and Maturin return home to England, where the surgeon-cum-intelligence-agent discovers that his wife has disappeared. As if such a domestic crisis weren't enough, the intrepid pair are also dispatched to the Gulf of Guinea (to suppress the slave trade) and to Ireland (to rebuff an impending French invasion.) O'Brian's stunning range, coupled with his mind-bending command of minutiae, explain why James Hamilton-Paterson has called him "the Homer of the Napoleonic Wars." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly
Having spent 16 previous volumes so wonderfully delineating his pair of 18th-century heroes, Captain Jack Aubrey and physician/secret agent Stephen Maturin, and the world in which they live, O'Brian apparently feels that series fans will be delighted to share any aspect of their lives. He's probably right. In this 17th seagoing adventure (after The Wine-Dark Sea), O'Brian successfully manages the trick of devoting much of the book to matters more domestic than naval. Stephen's words to Jack's wife, Sophie, hardly smell of gunpowder and brine: "'...that was a sumptuous feast you gave us.... I returned to the venison pasty not once but three times.'" Jack is greeted with an unexpected promotion to full Commodore when he arrives back in England. Meanwhile, Stephen finds that his wife, Diane, has run away because of her guilt over the apparent autism of their young daughter, whom Stephen meets for the first time, and with whom he is painfully unable to communicate. When next they head out to sea, both men depart under clouds: a jealousy-induced disagreement with Sophie weighs on Jack's mind, while plotting by Stephen's enemies has put his fortune and friends in jeopardy. Re-engaging in the Napoleonic Wars, the new Commodore takes his motley and often fractious squadron on a foray to disrupt slave traders in the Gulf of Guinea and then to the seas off Ireland to engage the French. As always, O'Brian tells his tale with great historical and nautical accuracy. Those who have sailed these seas before will happily go along on this latest voyage.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 281 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton; 1st edition (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393037606
• ISBN-13: 978-0393037609
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #458,755 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 17 in The Aubrey-Maturin Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beware, addiction lies within. . ., May 9, 1998

By	W. Weinstein "William Weinstein" (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Commodore (Aubrey-Maturin Series) (Paperback)

Don't read this book unless you have read the previous sixteen in the series. It's not that this book is bad on its own but simply that you will miss so much by not having grown with Aubrey and Maturin as they make their way through the shoals and lee shores of war and peace, marriage and separation, famine and feast. These books have been compared with the Hornblower series but this damns them with faint praise. They are, in every respect, far superior, truly works of great literature. The research and the depth of character development are staggering achievements on their own but these are no stuffy historical tracts; the pages are filled with sly humour. There are great acts of courage and infamy and sweeping tragedy. There is the story, which threads its way through all the books, of a lasting, deep friendship between two disparate personalities. The scenes of battle, winning and losing are among the best writing of this century. Think I exaggerate? Buy the first three books in the series and see for yourself.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a long, wonderful voyage it's been..., April 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Commodore (Aubrey-Maturin Series) (Paperback)

This book is the 17th in a series of historical novels, beginning with Master and Commander. It is said by some that these books comprise one long, glorious novel. If you've read them this far, you've become immersed in the 19th century world of Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin (much as Stephen often becomes immersed in the sea). If you haven't, you're in for a treat. The Commodore once again showcases Patrick O'Brian's sly wit, command of the English language and knowledge of the early 19th century. This knowledge includes all things nautical, of course, along with zoology, art, music, politics, medicine and the "natural philosophy" (science) of the time. Intricate plots, sea battles, espionage, character-based humor and the friendship between Jack, the English sea captain and Stephen, the ship's surgeon, keep us coming back for more.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars O'Brian's Exceptionaly Imagined Seagoing Tale Continues, December 22, 2004

By	Zecon - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Commodore (Aubrey-Maturin Series) (Paperback)

After finishing this seventeenth installation in the Aubrey/Maturin series, I found myself wishing that there were still another seventeen novels to read. Patrick O'Brien's weaves a wonderful tale - one so vivid and magical that it is so very difficult to put any of the irresistible Aubrey/Maturin novels down. The seagoing tale that Patrick O'Brien has crafted is filled with interesting characters and a consistently compelling story-line. It is also replete with accurate historical detail and fully captures the political intrigue of the British Navy's involvement in the Napoleonic wars of the nineteenth-century.

Even though Commodore Aubrey's mission is to suppress the slave trade off the west coast of Africa and later onto a secret mission on the Irish coast to prevent a French invasion, `The Commodore' is not filled with seagoing adventure. In fact, the main components of the tale take place ashore. Maturin and Aubrey find themselves home after a long and successful adventure. While Lucky Jack is promoted to Commodore of the First Class, not all is well at home. Both he and his wife suspect the other of infidelity. Dianne has run away leaving Stephen's autistic child with the widow Clarissa Oakes. Political intrigue forces Stephen to slip some of his fortune and his child to Spain.

At sea, Stephen battles his addition to coca leaves and a severe bout with Yellow Fever. Commodore Aubrey's leadership and seamanship are tested by two Captains under his command. One is more interested in polished brass and drives his crew hard with the whip. The other is a sodomite, whose favoritism to those young men among his crew that he beds disrupts discipline and the fighting efficacy of his vessel.

This is one of the more magnificent books in the series and I heartily recommend it, as I do with the rest of the books in the Aubrey/Maturin series.