A review by nwhyte
The Far Side of the World by Patrick O'Brian

4.0

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2184846.html[return][return]The plot as such is pretty minimal - Aubrey is sent to pursue an American ship in the South Atlantic and the Pacific, with a dramatic denouement - but there's a lovely comforting amount of social, historical and geographical detail through which we navigate, including a thrilling passage where our heroes are captured by Polynesian warrior women. There's a brilliant bit about the difference in working cultures between warships and whalers, which may perhaps be O'Brian's response to Melville fans. My one complaint is that my copy of the book is missing pages 183-214, so I had to check Wikipedia to discover the end of the subplot involving the aging midshipman and the gunner's wife.