The Commodore
Forester, C.S., (1975), The Commodore, Penguin Books
I don’t know, you wait ages for a review of The Commodore and then two come along in the space of a month! I was only half way through The Commodore when Dave posted his review of Commodore Hornblower but I’ve now finished the book and I must say I rather enjoyed it!
Hornblower continues to be as tormented, contrary and self-absorbed as ever but, although I still wanted to slap him every couple of pages, I found him considerably less irritating than in previous books. Forester continually pokes fun at his angst-ridden anti-hero from the famous opening paragraph…
“Captain Sir Horatio Hornblower sat in his bath, regarding with distaste his legs dangling over the end. They were thin and hairy, and recalled to his mind the legs of the spiders he had seen in Central America.”
…to the ridiculous incident where an oblivious commodore interrogates the captain of the suspicious merchant vessel Maggie Jones while standing stark naked on the quarterdeck. (One can’t help noticing that Forester does seem awfully keen on gratuitous nudity, what with deck showers, naked canal attacks etc… ;)
The whole Baltic escapade is a gripping, action-packed adventure from the bomb vessels’ destruction of the Blanchfleur, through the boat attacks on the Frisches Haff, the siege of Riga and Hornblower leading the final mad charge against the flank of the French assaulting column. How could anyone fail to be roused by such heroics?
Hornblower has ample opportunity to show off his quick thinking, tactical genius and reckless courage, however I must admit that I was initially skeptical of his diplomatic skills. I was particularly unconvinced by Hornblower’s long and persuasive speech to the Russian Minister of Marine in the presence of the incognito Tsar, somehow it just didn’t sound like him. It was only several pages later that I realised why; it’s not often we get to hear Hornblower speak! I had got so used to Hornblower’s continual self-critical inner monologue that I hadn’t really noticed that he doesn’t actually speak very often. I’m sure this must be his longest speech in the entire series so far. However I eventually managed to convince myself that the Admiralty wouldn’t have been daft enough to send Hornblower on a delicate diplomatic mission if he didn’t have the requisite skills. Would they? … ;)
The scenes at the Russian court are highly entertaining and it’s always amusing watching Hornblower struggling to keep a grip of himself in social situations. I particularly enjoyed the Tsar’s visit to Nonsuch, Hornblower’s clever ploy of not standing on ceremony and allowing Alexander to see a glimpse of real life aboard a British man of war and Bush almost having kittens at the thought of his Commodore serving the Tsar hard tack. I also loved the aide-de-camp getting hammered on the ship’s rum and affectionately cuddling Bush on the quarterdeck. Is it wrong that I now want someone to write fic where a love-lorn aide de camp chases Bush around the Baltic?!
I really enjoyed the interplay of the ships and captains of Hornblower’s squadron though I was rather frustrated that Forester seemed to spend more time describing the uniforms of the Russian court than the characters of the British commanders. And poor young Mound had “Proximity Clause” written all over him right from the start. You just knew he would end up joining the long list of characters-that-get-killed-off-because-Hornblower-gets-too-fond-of-them.
However I was delighted by the appearance of Marshall Macdonald, Duke of Tarentum, leading the French forces at the siege of Riga. Forester correctly states that Macdonald was born to a family of exiled Jacobite Scots but what he doesn’t add is that Macdonald’s family originally came from the Outer Hebrides. South Uist to be precise!
One slight quibble, Hornblower addresses his final dispatch to “Edward Nepean, Secretary to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty”. The Admiralty Secretary was actually Evan Nepean, a name that Forester gets correct elsewhere in the series so I suspect this may be a printing typo rather than an error by the author. It struck me as a bit odd though.
Typo aside, I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Commodore, oh and one last thing…Brown is completely awesome. That’s all!
I don’t know, you wait ages for a review of The Commodore and then two come along in the space of a month! I was only half way through The Commodore when Dave posted his review of Commodore Hornblower but I’ve now finished the book and I must say I rather enjoyed it!
Hornblower continues to be as tormented, contrary and self-absorbed as ever but, although I still wanted to slap him every couple of pages, I found him considerably less irritating than in previous books. Forester continually pokes fun at his angst-ridden anti-hero from the famous opening paragraph…
“Captain Sir Horatio Hornblower sat in his bath, regarding with distaste his legs dangling over the end. They were thin and hairy, and recalled to his mind the legs of the spiders he had seen in Central America.”
…to the ridiculous incident where an oblivious commodore interrogates the captain of the suspicious merchant vessel Maggie Jones while standing stark naked on the quarterdeck. (One can’t help noticing that Forester does seem awfully keen on gratuitous nudity, what with deck showers, naked canal attacks etc… ;)
The whole Baltic escapade is a gripping, action-packed adventure from the bomb vessels’ destruction of the Blanchfleur, through the boat attacks on the Frisches Haff, the siege of Riga and Hornblower leading the final mad charge against the flank of the French assaulting column. How could anyone fail to be roused by such heroics?
Hornblower has ample opportunity to show off his quick thinking, tactical genius and reckless courage, however I must admit that I was initially skeptical of his diplomatic skills. I was particularly unconvinced by Hornblower’s long and persuasive speech to the Russian Minister of Marine in the presence of the incognito Tsar, somehow it just didn’t sound like him. It was only several pages later that I realised why; it’s not often we get to hear Hornblower speak! I had got so used to Hornblower’s continual self-critical inner monologue that I hadn’t really noticed that he doesn’t actually speak very often. I’m sure this must be his longest speech in the entire series so far. However I eventually managed to convince myself that the Admiralty wouldn’t have been daft enough to send Hornblower on a delicate diplomatic mission if he didn’t have the requisite skills. Would they? … ;)
The scenes at the Russian court are highly entertaining and it’s always amusing watching Hornblower struggling to keep a grip of himself in social situations. I particularly enjoyed the Tsar’s visit to Nonsuch, Hornblower’s clever ploy of not standing on ceremony and allowing Alexander to see a glimpse of real life aboard a British man of war and Bush almost having kittens at the thought of his Commodore serving the Tsar hard tack. I also loved the aide-de-camp getting hammered on the ship’s rum and affectionately cuddling Bush on the quarterdeck. Is it wrong that I now want someone to write fic where a love-lorn aide de camp chases Bush around the Baltic?!
I really enjoyed the interplay of the ships and captains of Hornblower’s squadron though I was rather frustrated that Forester seemed to spend more time describing the uniforms of the Russian court than the characters of the British commanders. And poor young Mound had “Proximity Clause” written all over him right from the start. You just knew he would end up joining the long list of characters-that-get-killed-off-because-Hornblower-gets-too-fond-of-them.
However I was delighted by the appearance of Marshall Macdonald, Duke of Tarentum, leading the French forces at the siege of Riga. Forester correctly states that Macdonald was born to a family of exiled Jacobite Scots but what he doesn’t add is that Macdonald’s family originally came from the Outer Hebrides. South Uist to be precise!
One slight quibble, Hornblower addresses his final dispatch to “Edward Nepean, Secretary to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty”. The Admiralty Secretary was actually Evan Nepean, a name that Forester gets correct elsewhere in the series so I suspect this may be a printing typo rather than an error by the author. It struck me as a bit odd though.
Typo aside, I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Commodore, oh and one last thing…Brown is completely awesome. That’s all!