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I don’t think that’s fair at all. My advice to people struggling with the naval stuff in Master and Commander is to keep reading. The important stuff gets expla

I don’t think that’s fair at all. My advice to people struggling with the naval stuff in Master and Commander is to keep reading. The important stuff gets explained in plain language to the perpetually lubberly Maturin, presumably for the benefit of the reader. Aubrey and Maturin are two of my favorite characters in all of literature. The depth of their motivations, their relationship, and their own personal wants are at the heart of the series. The best parts of the entire series are frequently their adventures on land rather than the purely naval parts.

weard_beard 3y ago
The hornblower books are for folks getting bored on their 3rd or 4th read through of the Aubrey/Maturin series :-)
bouvin 3y ago
I love the books as well (especially in my very nice Folio Society edition). As for the impossible naval jargon, I found it amusing to see the movie in (Danish) cinema, where the incomprehensible naval terminology was replaced in the subtitles with… incomprehensible Danish naval terminology.
dash2 3y ago
I don't mind the naval terminology, it's interesting. But I think Hornblower is deeper than those guys. And... all of literature? I mean, Karamazov?
- kirrent 3y ago
  I don't want to critique personal taste, because it's ultimately preference and who am I to judge yours? On the other hand, one of O'Brian's strengths is his wonderful characters along with his beautiful prose. Even to the point that later books, like The Thirteen Gun Salute to The Commodore (a 5 book stretch) have an awfully boring and uncompelling series of plots and I still liked them anyway. I do like Hornblower. I've read all the books more than once, I bought the ITV show, and I even hunted down the Gregory Peck adaptation. To me Hornblower was a deeper character than I might have any right to expect in a historical adventure series, but his repetitive self-loathing in the face of his genius (genuinely a compelling choice) grates after so many books and so many successes and he begins to feel like a caricature of himself. Like the grandparent, Aubrey and Maturin are my favourite characters in anything I've read. Everyone will tell you how they and their relationship is wonderfully depicted, but it could also have something to do with how many books there are and how often I've re-read them. At this point they're old friends so it'd be disloyal of me not to love them as much as I do.
- dghlsakjg 3y ago
  I didn’t think it was necessary to put a disclaimer: they are my favorite characters in all of the literature that I personally have read. I can’t speak to my preferences about the millions of books I haven’t read, Karazamov sadly being one of them. I certainly hope that there are literary characters out there that I would like as much, or more, but I haven't met them yet, and so, continue searching. I haven’t read Hornblower since I was a teenager, so some it might have gone over my head back then. My read on it was that it was more of an adventure story than anything. With the Master and Commander series I often find that the parts where they aren't at sea are the most interesting (The Fortune of War, The Surgeons Mate, Treason's Harbour are three of the books with particularly interesting periods on land). I am also biased since the subtle humor in the books is something I find particularly funny.

weard_beard 3y ago

The hornblower books are for folks getting bored on their 3rd or 4th read through of the Aubrey/Maturin series :-)

bouvin 3y ago

I love the books as well (especially in my very nice Folio Society edition). As for the impossible naval jargon, I found it amusing to see the movie in (Danish) cinema, where the incomprehensible naval terminology was replaced in the subtitles with… incomprehensible Danish naval terminology.

dash2 3y ago

I don't mind the naval terminology, it's interesting. But I think Hornblower is deeper than those guys. And... all of literature? I mean, Karamazov?

kirrent 3y ago
I don't want to critique personal taste, because it's ultimately preference and who am I to judge yours? On the other hand, one of O'Brian's strengths is his wonderful characters along with his beautiful prose. Even to the point that later books, like The Thirteen Gun Salute to The Commodore (a 5 book stretch) have an awfully boring and uncompelling series of plots and I still liked them anyway. I do like Hornblower. I've read all the books more than once, I bought the ITV show, and I even hunted down the Gregory Peck adaptation. To me Hornblower was a deeper character than I might have any right to expect in a historical adventure series, but his repetitive self-loathing in the face of his genius (genuinely a compelling choice) grates after so many books and so many successes and he begins to feel like a caricature of himself. Like the grandparent, Aubrey and Maturin are my favourite characters in anything I've read. Everyone will tell you how they and their relationship is wonderfully depicted, but it could also have something to do with how many books there are and how often I've re-read them. At this point they're old friends so it'd be disloyal of me not to love them as much as I do.
dghlsakjg 3y ago
I didn’t think it was necessary to put a disclaimer: they are my favorite characters in all of the literature that I personally have read. I can’t speak to my preferences about the millions of books I haven’t read, Karazamov sadly being one of them. I certainly hope that there are literary characters out there that I would like as much, or more, but I haven't met them yet, and so, continue searching. I haven’t read Hornblower since I was a teenager, so some it might have gone over my head back then. My read on it was that it was more of an adventure story than anything. With the Master and Commander series I often find that the parts where they aren't at sea are the most interesting (The Fortune of War, The Surgeons Mate, Treason's Harbour are three of the books with particularly interesting periods on land). I am also biased since the subtle humor in the books is something I find particularly funny.