Master And Commander by Patrick O'brianMaster And Commander by Patrick O'brian

Master And Commander

byPatrick O'brian

Paperback | August 1, 1990

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3 cassettes / 4 1/2 hours
Read by Robert Hardy
Abridged
AudioBook contains an illustration of the sails of a square-rigged ship .
"The best historical novels ever written..."
- "The New York Times Book Review"
This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, Royal Navy, and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson's navy are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the road of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.
Patrick O'Brian is the author of twenty volumes in the highly respected Aubrey/Maturin series of novels.
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Title:Master And CommanderFormat:PaperbackDimensions:411 pages, 8.36 × 5.46 × 0.84 inPublished:August 1, 1990Publisher:W. W. Norton & Company

The following ISBNs are associated with this title:

ISBN - 10:0393307050

ISBN - 13:9780393307054

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BooksFiction and Literature

Reviews

Rated 5 out of 5 by from Incomparable. This is the first in the Aubrey-Maturin series which I discovered only a few years ago. It's wonderful, and if you like this book you will be forced to read the remaining nineteen volumes! I would describe the book as Horatio Hornblower meets Holmes and Watson meets the Hardy Boys meets Jane Austen. That's quite a combo. If you like history, great story-telling and characters, read this.
Date published: 2011-04-22
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Boon Companion When I do finally get around to writing my PhD, I want to do my work on Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. It offers endless possibilities for critical analysis and even more possibilities for discussion. One could paint politics, science, sports, warfare, literary allusions, sexuality, manners, and all things naval of Aubrey/Maturin without ever tiring the possibilities, and these are only the broadest strokes. Each of these themes -- and countless others I haven't mentioned -- generate focused areas of specialization that could cover everything from the most general to the most minute. But when you're rereading Master and Commander (in my case it's the first rereading), most of those concerns take a backseat to the simple strength of O'Brian's vision. Everything you need to know about Lucky Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin takes shape in O'Brian's masterpiece of an inaugural novel, and one wonders how much of O'Brian's twenty and a half books he had in his mind the day he sat down to start writing the story with his pen and paper. The first book foreshadows the last, and for a series that reaches upwards of 10,000 thousand pages, that level of coherence and depth is a tremendous feat. We learn of Jack's genius at sea and his social ineptness on land. We learn of his needy ego and unquenchable desire for advancement. We learn of his fierce loyalty and his even fiercer libido. We learn of his pure love for his ships and how that love opens him up to emotional wounding. We're introduced also to nearly every person who will be important to Jack, for good or ill, over the course of his career. We learn of Stephen's love for naturalism and physic. We learn of his deep loyalty of and care for Jack. We get hints, if we are paying close attention, to his role as a spy and his frighteningly dangerous temper. We are introduced to his loathing of Napoleon and his indifference to King George. We are shown the earliest manifestations of his shipmates' respect for his skills, and his absolute inability to understand anything nautical. We even get a hint that he will never leave Jack's side. And of course we are introduced to Jack's fiddle, Stephen's cello and Killick's toasted cheese, which are at the heart of what I think is the most compelling component of the Aubrey/Maturin books -- the intimacy between Jack and Stephen. No matter who they marry, who they hate, who they love, who they care for, who they save, who they kill, they are and will always be the most important people in each others lives; from the moment they bump heads at the concert to the last moment of 21, Aubrey and Maturin are intimates in every emotional sense of the word. They are intimate in a way that Holmes and Watson, Crusoe and Friday, and Jeeves and Wooster never approach. They are as close as two humans can be, and I find myself longing for that companionship. Of course it is impossible, but I can live vicariously through Aubrey/Maturin, and for any man longing for intimacy in a world that denies men intimacy, Master and Commander, and every book that follows, is a boon companion in a lonely world. Next up: Post Captain...again...and I can't wait.
Date published: 2008-12-24
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Life in Nelson's Navy This is the first book of the now famous Jack Aubrey novels. As a young man, I had read the Hornblower series by CS Forrester. I had always avoided the O'Brian series, because I thought that it couldn't possibly be as good. Was I wrong. When I finally picked up this book, I was hooked. The quality of the writing is first rate. The authour has truly captured the essence of the time. His high level of research and scholarship are very apparent. His dialouge between characters is steeped in the vernacular of the time, yet is easily understandable, and is very fresh and real. You gain a real admiration and liking for Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. Like I said, this book is very well written, it has far more depth than the usual sea yarn. If you are looking for a comic book without the pictures, skip this book. If you want a terrific adventure, along with a deep study of two men of the 18th century, you will love this book.
Date published: 2008-02-05
Rated 4 out of 5 by from Great Historical Novel This is the first of a very long series. The characters, particularly Captain Aubrey and Dr. Maturin are well developed. Aubrey is an outgoing, straightforward cheerful officer on his way up. Dr. Maturin is a brooding, quirky surgeon/naturalist/spy. Opposites attract. There are many naval terms are best skimmed over, but interesting nonetheless.
Date published: 2006-08-05
Rated 2 out of 5 by from master and commander:book 1 this book is very different then the movie. the book has a very boring beginning and has parts in the middle that are boring. the movie is my favorite movie ever! So i thought the book would be good. The movie really just took the book, and shook out the boring parts. There is too much description of the boring parts which makes them even longer. I really think this series is off to a slow start.
Date published: 2005-11-22
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Start of a superb novel This is the first book of a 20 volume novel which only concluded with the death of Patrick O'Brian in 2001. It is a story of a friendship between two unlikely characters in the early 19th century Royal Navy. High adventure, battles and dramatic sailing scenes, mixed with humour and everyday life aboard and ashore, these books have an appeal on many different levels. If you need help with some of the nautical terminology, there are several companion books which explain what a maintopgallantsail buntline is.
Date published: 2003-08-28
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Master & Commander The first of an ever expanding series, (now at 19)Master and Commander is a rivetting tale of one Jack Aubrey Rn, an officer in the Royal Navy, stranded on shore, on half pay. He acquires a small sloop, meets and becomes great friends with a surgeon, Stephen Maturin (who accompanies Jack on all of his books) and the story that follows is one of page-turning action and suspense. With bloody fights and captures that defy reality, this novel is in the upper echelon of naval, if not all fiction. Definitely not one to be missed. Each book that follows is as intense and as beautifully descripted as this. If you are a fan of the Horatio Hornblower television series or any other 18th-19th navy books, read this!
Date published: 1999-10-13

From Our Editors

This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, R.N., and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against a thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of life aboard a man-of-war are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the roar of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.