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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
I found this easier to enjoy than Patrick O'Brien's books about Captain Jack Aubrey, and easier to get into. This book was more of collected vignettes than an overall story arc, but the action kept things moving along nicely.
I can remember the delicious pleasure of wallowing in Hornblower books on rainy Sunday afternoons when I was a teenager. I'd never been on a sailing ship and had no idea what many of the nautical terms referred to. But Forester had a talent for making this not matter. Either the precise detail was not important, or he provided enough context to enable you to understand what you needed to. And you read these novels not for the technical content (brilliantly researched though it is) but for the swashbuckling adventure, the evocation of daily life in the 18th-century Royal Navy, and above all for the ridiculously lovable figure of Hornblower himself -- shy, gauche, endlessly self-critical, but always finding moral courage and imagination when he needs them. After all these years they are still a cracking read. This one is a "prequel", a series of short episodes from Hornblower's midshipman days conveying what a varied life that of a junior officer could be.
The next Hornblower book in written order skips back to the very beginning of Horatio's career, where his self-doubt, sensitivity, and perverse desire to find the bad in good situations and the good in bad situations seem more understandable in a nineteen-year-old than a sixty-year-old. Don't get me wrong, I think it's very realistic that he would have much the same personality all his life, but the reader (well, this reader) can't help but want to slap him a bit when he's still doing it well after middle-age.
This is largely a set of vignettes with no overarching theme beyond the beginning of Hornblower's rise to fame and fortune, but what wonderful vignettes! Each of them has some action-packed moment or touch of humor or character (the daft sailor who sees God in the rigging, the low-class Duchess, the vivid description of oared galleys, the fire-ship raid) that makes them memorable, so each captures the attention, thrills, and then wraps up. Even though written later than many books in the series, I think this would make a good starting point to Hornblower's character, and Forester's prose seems at the top of its game.
This is largely a set of vignettes with no overarching theme beyond the beginning of Hornblower's rise to fame and fortune, but what wonderful vignettes! Each of them has some action-packed moment or touch of humor or character (the daft sailor who sees God in the rigging, the low-class Duchess, the vivid description of oared galleys, the fire-ship raid) that makes them memorable, so each captures the attention, thrills, and then wraps up. Even though written later than many books in the series, I think this would make a good starting point to Hornblower's character, and Forester's prose seems at the top of its game.
As my introduction to adventure at sea as a young boy I really enjoyed this.
As a fifty four year old who has just re-read O’Brian for the umpteenth time, this is poor, two dimensional, cardboard cut out, cartoony stuff.
As a fifty four year old who has just re-read O’Brian for the umpteenth time, this is poor, two dimensional, cardboard cut out, cartoony stuff.
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I always start books like this with the best of intentions, lol. I love movies like "Master and Commander" and really want to like the books they're based on--I just struggle to get into it. This was fine ... but it didn't really hold my interest.
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I started reading Mr. Midshipman in honor of my dad, a huge fan of the series (and seafaring adventure in general). We watched the A&E miniseries based on the books when I was probably too young. My dad passed away almost five years ago and I thought, hey, it's time to finally read those books he loved!
My copy from the local library was a solid, vintage blue hardback- no slipcover, no picture on the front. Just a stained and sturdily made classic novel. As I expected, the book turned out to be a little slow at times, and a little dense in terms of the nautical language. It's an older book about old timey seagoing. No surprise there.
But what I was not expecting was the humor, the action, the twists! Each chapter recounts a strange escapade in young seaman Horatio Hornblower's career with the British navy. Every chapter is memorable. Some are disturbing. Some are swashbuckling. Some are just odd. I can see why this series has survived the torrents of time.
Watching Hornblower-- an introvert, a mathematician, a bookworm--deal with each crisis and even excel is pretty satisfying. My dad was all three of those things and, like Hornblower, proved to be a pretty darn good leader in the end.
My copy from the local library was a solid, vintage blue hardback- no slipcover, no picture on the front. Just a stained and sturdily made classic novel. As I expected, the book turned out to be a little slow at times, and a little dense in terms of the nautical language. It's an older book about old timey seagoing. No surprise there.
But what I was not expecting was the humor, the action, the twists! Each chapter recounts a strange escapade in young seaman Horatio Hornblower's career with the British navy. Every chapter is memorable. Some are disturbing. Some are swashbuckling. Some are just odd. I can see why this series has survived the torrents of time.
Watching Hornblower-- an introvert, a mathematician, a bookworm--deal with each crisis and even excel is pretty satisfying. My dad was all three of those things and, like Hornblower, proved to be a pretty darn good leader in the end.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Violence
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
adventurous
informative
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
My friend has been recommending the Hornblower series to me for years, and I should've listened sooner. This book is a series of interrelated short stories in the form of chapters which all follow the main character, Horatio Hornblower as he starts his career with the British Royal Navy. C.S. Forester's ability to conjure up unique an interesting situations and to consider all the nuances of a world grappling with the advent of naval warfare and piracy is incredible. Forester manages to show us all the camaraderie, perseverance, and callousness of life at sea in a way that makes me truly get the stereotype of the middle-aged dude reading books about old ships. I can see that in my future very clearly now.
adventurous
fast-paced
This is a series of loosely-connected short stories about young Hornblower's first years in the Navy. They are all very similar--Hornblower is miserable and depressed, Hornblower has a sea battle, Hornblower saves the day. You do get to read some back stories alluded to in the Hornblower books written earlier like his time as a Spanish prisoner and his conflict with Simpson whose crew later mutinies. Not the best Hotnblower, but ok.