Post Captain by Patrick O’Brian

Aubrey and Maturin are landbound and, thanks to Aubrey’s prize money, living comfortably, if somewhat boringly, as rural gents. Romance is on the horizon and after various mishaps both Aubrey’s and Maturin’s interests become painfully convergent, heading towards a catastrophic climax only averted by action. Finally! And there’s my problem with this second book in the story of Aubrey and Maturin; the first half of the book sees O’Brian trying to emulate Jane Austen. I’m not really qualified to discuss how successfully he achieves this as I am not a lover of Romance in general and definitely not Georgian/Regency romance. I found this first half of the book tedious in the extreme and it only served to cement my dislike of Aubrey’s character when he is on land; his sea going character being so different as to be an almost entirely separate character, as well as a far more sympathetic one.

During this early part of the book, and later, the reader is given more insight into Maturin’s spying activities but this is handled in a distinctly cursory fashion feeling like it had originally been written in full detail and only subsequently decided that the romance was far more interesting and Maturin’s spying activities reduced to little more than a series of bullet points. By this stage my interest was waning but finally Aubrey gets a new ship and things pick up with an excellent second half to the book, where the reader is once again taken to sea and action against the forces of Napoleon.

In some respects it felt like this was the first book in the series rather than Master and Commander. I have seen it speculated elsewhere that Master and Commander might have been written as a standalone book and the decision made only later to go for a series. I could well believe that as that first half of the book, as well as being essentially a Regency romance, also felt like foundation laying for additional characters beyond just Aubrey and Maturin – Sophia, Diana, Preserved Killick and other ‘Sophies’ – who I’m guessing we will see much more of in subsequent books. Although the ‘Sophies’ were obviously present in the earlier book they were little more than walk on parts whereas here they are significantly more visible.

For me this was a very uneven book; had the whole book followed the mould of the first half I probably wouldn’t even have completed it, had it all been closer to the second half of the book it would have been a four to five star read for me. As it is I can only give it three stars and hope for better things of the next volume.

It's been a long while since I read this, and the plot has long since slipped my mind, but one thing I do recall is utter confusion as I was convinced there had to be another book between this and Master and Commander (and I spent a long time looking for it!) because it didn't seem to follow on, since there was a whole lot of stuff which seemed to come out of nowhere. Partly this was their being set on land (?paid off?), but more particularly where the spying had come from, as I hadn't picked up any element of Maturin being an agent in M&C. I see you refer to "given more insight into [his] spying activities" so presumably you did pick something up in M&C that I missed!

Anyway, confusion aside, I know I enjoyed it. Perhaps because although I also dislike romance novels, this to my mind didn't qualify as such, because it was so ham-fisted -- and realistic -- an affair. Plus I love Jane Austen, so I liked all the period detail.

It doesn't surprise me that M&C was a written as a standalone and he then had to come up with a swathe of long-burning elements for a projected series, and you're absolutely right that the new characters are important from now on, most especially Diana. Aubrey is shown to be a bit of a fool on land, but I enjoyed this aspect of him -- I actually found it a bit endearing -- and at the time it seemed refreshing to find a main man-of-action character who had such flaws and was so far from being a Mr Perfect in every respect. (Minor spoiler alert for much later on in the series, but I don't think I've ever read another book in which it's expressly stated the MC is absolutely useless in bed!)

I'm not sure I whether I picked up on Maturin's spying credentials in the first book or whether it was just that I was aware of them from other general discussions I've seen about the series. I seemed to remember some veiled hints but that may well be wrong. And in fact I was more than a little confused by the fact that on their first meeting Maturin is depicted as being completely penniless, squatting, as I recall, in a ruined building, and in this book he has land in Spain with rent to collect. Also if he had been such an apparently important spy then why had he been abandoned by his spying superiors essentially destitute on Minorca. There were also, I thought, a number of other discontinuities which suggest the series may have evolved out of a stand alone which didn't quite set it up for the longer haul.

I must admit that although Aubrey's land bound character was still irritating to me, I didn't feel he was quite as oafish as in the first book. So that aspect may just have been exaggerated by my frustration with the Austenesque first half of the book.

It's definitely a book of two halves. I found the first half quite amusing (http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/11123-steves-bookshelf-2013/?p=334933) but can see why others may not. The Austen comparison is valid, and I think O'Brian was brilliant at evoking that style - it's part of what makes his writing so immersive and evocative of the period for me.

It really does take off in the second half, though. And the groundwork in the first half does pay-off in later entries. I came to love their brief sojourns back at home as the series progressed, and became very attached to Sophie and Diana. Preserved Killick is easily my favourite character in the series, excluding Jack and Stephen.

The good news, Vertigo, is that the series really takes flight now. If you don't become a fan between HMS Surprise and Desolation Island, well, it might be time to throw in the towel

Gaaagh! Every time I post about this series I have the urge to start reading it again. And a craving for toasted cheese

I've tried three time to "like" that, Bugg, but the software isn't allowing it, so take this as my "like"!!


EDIT: Aha -- my "like" is now working again!

Well my like worked!

Yes as I said I did get the feeling that this book, or at least it's first half, was very much setting things up for the long haul. And I did thoroughly enjoy the second half. We now have a much better feel for both Aubrey's and Maturins strengths and weaknesses and, with Sophie and Diana and their later frugal living conditions, even if I didn't particularly enjoy that part of the book, we have been given much more depth to both of their characters. It would seem Maturin was particularly enhanced; as was already mentioned by @The Judge there was little, if any, allusions to his spying activity in the first book and, having done a quick search, Laudanum was only mentioned once in passing in the first book, I don't think there was any hint towards his dependence on it. So I am certainly ready and expecting to enjoy getting my teeth into the next book.

I'm very much looking forward to re-reading the first two books with the accumulated knowledge gained from the rest of the series, and wondering how much more (or less) I will like them as a result. But I'm in the midst of re-reading Hornblower at the moment, and also have Cornwell's Sharpe series on the go, so it might be a while before I get to it.

On the subject of their home lives, and of Stephen's spy work, I always thought it was a bit of a shame that the Master and Commander movie didn't include those aspects of the series at all. It's a terrific film but in retrospect I would've loved for them to have used Desolation Island as a basis for it instead. If only it had been enough of a success for them to make more.

I suspect they might have been intending to do so, although if that had been their intention then merging several books into the one film would not really have made sense. On the other hand there are so many books in the series they probably didn't see that as an issue.

I may go on to the Sharpe books in time as I am thoroughly enjoying his Saxon books.

Vertigo said:

had the whole book followed the mould of the first half I probably wouldn’t even have completed it,

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I didn't. Not what I was expecting after Master and Commander and I gave up.

Vertigo said:

had it all been closer to the second half of the book it would have been a four to five star read for me.

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Right, obviously I need to pick it up again and read the second half!

Vertigo, I think some of your frustration with the books may owe to the fact that O'Brien does not give us a comprehensive background of the main characters. Instead, he feeds it to us in morsels over the span of many books. Maturin, in particular, is meant to be something of a mystery. He's a deeply secretive person. Even when we're in his head, we only have access to particular thread of information that Maturin is pursuing at the moment. By withholding much of the information about his past and his work in the espionage field, O'Brien maintains suspense and intrigue around those endeavours. It also allows him, as the author of a series, to introduce background as he sees fit to meet the needs of the story at hand.

As for the issue of Maturin's affluence, that's one of the main ways O'Brien gives the character depth. Maturin is a wealthy man (we gradually find out just how wealthy) who has little use for money. He dresses and behaves like an impoverished academic, because that's who he is at heart. By giving him access to a fortune, O'Brien gives us a more interesting character, one who eschews the material world and normal social concerns. It also lets Maturin play a dramatic role in several ongoing plotlines to do with this more materially grounded loved ones.

The same goes for Aubrey. If he were as lucky and masterful on land as he is at sea, I'd find him a pretty dull character. A typical genre superhero. It's the contrast between his capabilities and insight on land versus sea that makes him a rounded character and provides much of the conflict that the series thrives on. I understand that the protagonists' struggles on land disappoint many readers, but I find they add richness and variety to the series. I doubt I would love the books as much, or find them so pleasingly plausible, if the series consisted of nothing more than thrilling naval actions and extraordinary acts of seamanship. We already have the entertaining, though far less sophisticated and plausible, Hornblower books for that sort of high adventure.

I take your points, however my issues about character background weren't really a frustration but rather an observation that I suspect when the first book was written a long series had not been the intent, requiring significantly more and sometimes inconsistent background to be added in this second book. I didn't really have a problem with that; it wasn't even the amount of time spent on land but rather the style of it. For me at least it felt like two very different books. The latter half felt like the O'Brian of Master and Commander whereas the first half felt like he was attempting to emulate Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters. I'm not debating whether he was successful in that, just that I didn't need quite as much of it especially when, for me, it simply didn't feel like it was written by the same author.

I'm not against having stuff on land, and in fact I think Hornblower would have benefitted from rather more of that. I just didn't enjoy the style in which that part was written. But then I have attempted Austen and Bronte several times and didn't enjoy them either!

As far as Maturin's wealth is concerned again I don't have a problem with him hiding it but it's just that when we first meet him he is living, or squatting more correctly, in the "ruined apse of St Damian’s chapel high above Port Mahon" with a piece of meat hidden away from his dinner with Aubrey the precious day as his sole breakfast. All of which seems to me rather more than just the affectation of a man who was actually wealthy. In fact there is absolutely no mention of that wealth in Master and Commander as there is no hint of his espionage. Again I was not knocking this but it simply felt to me that the first book was originally most likely to have been intended to be a stand alone and only later did O'Brian decide to flesh his character out rather more. Of course I may well be wrong but this was my impression.