Title: Master and Commander (Aubrey/Maturin #1)
Author: Patrick O'Brian
Publisher: William Collins Sons & Co.
Year: 1969
412 pages
Audiobook.
Well-written, engrossing, and dryly amusing. While I tired of the vast amounts of nautical nomenclature, O'Brian did a good job of filling the reader in. This was generally accomplished by having Captain Jack Aubrey and others explain what was happening to physician Stephen Maturin. Maturin is the foil with whom the reader identifies, and whose musings humanize the larger-than-life Aubrey. Maturin is a philosopher who delights in and reflects on the natural world; Aubrey is something of a lout--loud, heavy, insensitive. Their mutual love of music provides the grounds for their nacent friendship and Aubrey's impulsive invfitation that Maturin become the Sophie's surgeon. The characters complement each other and, in their musings and their interactions with James Dillon, are revealed in their strengths and failings. The narrative under the jargon is clever, skillful, and often quite funny. I'm not sure I'm ready to commit to the whole series, but I'm glad to know it's waiting for me.
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