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with_drea's review against another edition
4.0
A collection of short stories that were all very entertaining to read, but my favorite had to be the very last one. It's good to see Horatio with Barbara; it humanizes him-- a very necessary thing, given how much he tries to make himself like a statue. It would have been nice to have 'The Last Encounter' included in this, just to make a chronological reading easier, but I don't believe Forester had it written yet.
northern_gail's review against another edition
5.0
Wow... first off I loved the format of the vignettes of events over the 3 year appointment. I was wondering what Hornblower's amazing intellect could be used for in peacetime, and I was surprised at how much was going on despite the peace. It was good to see him as the hero and strategist up until the end. The closure between him and Barbara was more touching than I could have imagined. Overall, it left me wanting more. Thankfully, the second half of Hornblower During the Crisis awaits...
smcleish's review against another edition
3.0
Originally published on my blog here in November 1998.
Hornblower in the West Indies consists of five episodes from towards the end of his career, when he was an admiral and during a four-year term as Commander-in-Chief in the West Indies. Other than this background, and the fact that they are arranged chronologically, the stories are virtually independent; each one could certainly be perfectly comprehensible if read on its own. In these stories, Hornblower deals with an attempt to rescue Napoleon from St Helena (they take place around 1820), captures pirates, gets involved in Simon Bolivar's rebellion in South America that led to the independence of the Spanish colonies there, is kidnapped and survives a hurricane.
Hornblower's personal heroism is still there; much of the plot of these stories is set up to justify him being in situations where such an important and senior officer could display this characteristic. The short format (each section amounts to about fifty pages, so they are longish short stories) makes Forester skate over many of the strengths of earlier Hornblower stories and his characterisation of the character almost perfunctorily - the eccentricities which made him both human and more acceptable to modern tastes (such as his opposition to hanging and flogging, his famous daily baths and his tone deafness) are really only there as gestures. It is the earlier novels, dealing with his time as a captain, which are the strengths of the Hornblower series.
Hornblower in the West Indies consists of five episodes from towards the end of his career, when he was an admiral and during a four-year term as Commander-in-Chief in the West Indies. Other than this background, and the fact that they are arranged chronologically, the stories are virtually independent; each one could certainly be perfectly comprehensible if read on its own. In these stories, Hornblower deals with an attempt to rescue Napoleon from St Helena (they take place around 1820), captures pirates, gets involved in Simon Bolivar's rebellion in South America that led to the independence of the Spanish colonies there, is kidnapped and survives a hurricane.
Hornblower's personal heroism is still there; much of the plot of these stories is set up to justify him being in situations where such an important and senior officer could display this characteristic. The short format (each section amounts to about fifty pages, so they are longish short stories) makes Forester skate over many of the strengths of earlier Hornblower stories and his characterisation of the character almost perfunctorily - the eccentricities which made him both human and more acceptable to modern tastes (such as his opposition to hanging and flogging, his famous daily baths and his tone deafness) are really only there as gestures. It is the earlier novels, dealing with his time as a captain, which are the strengths of the Hornblower series.
guardyanangel's review against another edition
4.0
A collection of short stories that were all very entertaining to read, but my favorite had to be the very last one. It's good to see Horatio with Barbara; it humanizes him-- a very necessary thing, given how much he tries to make himself like a statue. It would have been nice to have 'The Last Encounter' included in this, just to make a chronological reading easier, but I don't believe Forester had it written yet.
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