Posted: Jun 19, 2021 3:03 pm
crazyfitter wrote:
I enjoyed the film and always knew I’d get round to reading the book one day. Except that the book, in spite of the title, is of Jack Aubrey’s exploits in the Mediterranean. My bad. Maybe I’ll get round to the book of the film eventually.
I was a bit taken aback by the style of prose but maybe it is true to the era and the middle class/ autocratic nature of military officers. If my wife had read this I’m sure she would quickly have said her favourite put down of such people ‘Oh jolly hockey sticks’, regardless of gender. Politics, double dealing and philosophy interspersed with naval escapades, what more can you want.
I was prompted to look on YouTube at a brief life of Thomas Cochrane a real life Captain and Admiral from that era and found that the exploits of the fictional Jack Aubrey were a copy of Cochrane’s. I’ll look forward to reading another of the books soon.
They used a few of the books to "compile" the screenplay of the movie. I also started reading the series because I so loved the movie and just wanted the adventures to continue. It is a good thing that you started at the first book, though. Don't worry about the prose and sea slang and phrases too much. You soon pick up enough to get along. One of my most prized possessions is the series of all 20 books and the one unfinished manuscript. POB dies at his desk, still writing. I've read the series twice and if only there was more time in-between my other reading, I would go on another "circumnavigation". I would urge you to continue the voyage, it is one of the most lovely series ever written, while being one of the most historically authentic stories of that time period you're ever likely to find.
As an aside, and as a fellow fan of the movie, I quite enjoyed this review. The only criticism is that he didn't mention that the historical authenticity of the movie was because of its source material, the novels. He was soon corrected in the comments though
