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lnrAm I strange for leaping on the bandwagon and buying a newly released edition of a book with a picture from the film that's just been made of it on the front of the book when I haven't even seen the film yet? Lots of people raved about the film, and I like reading, and the book was on 3 for 2 in Borders, and well there we are.
I found it a little slow to get going at first, and oddly disjointed in places. It has a habit of skipping the boring bits and going on to the next bit that's happening, which is fair enough - in a sea-going thing like this there's going to be a lot of just getting from A to B with not much happening. It just does it in a slightly odd way which took me a while to get used to. Instead of just saying "Nothing much happened for a bit" and then going on it tends to just leap forward over the gap and talk of what's happening now and just throw in a quick "nothing much happened since the last thing, did it" after the fact.
I enjoyed it anyway. It's a good yarn, and I expect if I were to read more of them I'd enjoy them too, not to mention find them easier going as I get more to grips with the naval terms used. Having one of the characters be a non-Navy chap on-board and learning them himself did help. Not entirely sure I sympathise entirely with any of the characters, though many of them are likeable, perhaps I like Stephen best. Jack Aubrey himself is just a bit too, something, flighty, over-enthusiastic, I don't know. And of course it's a bit short on women, but that's only to be expected. The historical detail I am told is fascinating and accurate: to me it simply pleased by being convincing and not too intrusive.
I feel like I'm damning with terribly faint praise here, but can't find anything more throughly positive to say. Still, I'd like to see the film some time. But maybe I should try and read the rest of the books up to and including the other one in the series that the film was based on first :-)
I found it a little slow to get going at first, and oddly disjointed in places. It has a habit of skipping the boring bits and going on to the next bit that's happening, which is fair enough - in a sea-going thing like this there's going to be a lot of just getting from A to B with not much happening. It just does it in a slightly odd way which took me a while to get used to. Instead of just saying "Nothing much happened for a bit" and then going on it tends to just leap forward over the gap and talk of what's happening now and just throw in a quick "nothing much happened since the last thing, did it" after the fact.
I enjoyed it anyway. It's a good yarn, and I expect if I were to read more of them I'd enjoy them too, not to mention find them easier going as I get more to grips with the naval terms used. Having one of the characters be a non-Navy chap on-board and learning them himself did help. Not entirely sure I sympathise entirely with any of the characters, though many of them are likeable, perhaps I like Stephen best. Jack Aubrey himself is just a bit too, something, flighty, over-enthusiastic, I don't know. And of course it's a bit short on women, but that's only to be expected. The historical detail I am told is fascinating and accurate: to me it simply pleased by being convincing and not too intrusive.
I feel like I'm damning with terribly faint praise here, but can't find anything more throughly positive to say. Still, I'd like to see the film some time. But maybe I should try and read the rest of the books up to and including the other one in the series that the film was based on first :-)
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Date: 2004-02-27 09:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-28 01:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-28 01:04 pm (UTC)I haven't read any Austen, but the essays in the back of the books seem to frequently compare O'Brian to Austen. I assume it's the characterisation that's similar in style? Aubrey and Maturin are a superb pair, though the more I read, the more I think the film had them quite badly miscast, especially Maturin.
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Date: 2004-02-29 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-29 11:08 am (UTC)Maturian is worse though, he should be much less heroic and movie-star-ish; he's meant to be fairly ugly, more acerbic and more Irish. The second time I saw the film, I just didn't believe the actor was playing the character from the book.
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Date: 2004-02-29 12:07 pm (UTC)I could lend you some Austen in return. Persuasion I think might work best. Though in fact it would be a case of lending you the lot, since I have them as one volume.