Flying Colours
Forester, C.F., (1972), Flying Colours, Penguin Books, Middlesex.
I read Flying Colours while I was traveling recently and I have to confess I didn't get on too well with it. I wrote this review at the time but have held off posting it in case I changed my mind. I haven't, so here it is.
Ho hum. I don’t know. Maybe it was jet lag, maybe I was just in the wrong mood but for the first time in the series I really lost patience with Hornblower in Flying Colours. There were several times I wanted to chuck the book at the wall and yell “For god’s sake stop whinging man!” And if I didn’t it was only out of respect for Bush and Brown who already had more enough to put up with. My reading experience may also have been coloured by partner, who was reading O’Brian’s The Nutmeg of Consolation and Clarissa Oakes while I was ploughing my way through Flying Colours. So while I was gritting my teeth in the face of Hornblower’s relentless negativity partner was laughing heartily at Aubrey and Maturin’s adventures. Don’t get me wrong, I think Flying Colours is brilliantly written and plotted and it’s a great story that provides many valuable insights into the fundamental duality of Hornblower’s character, however any empathy I had with the man himself petered out half way through.
One of the things that particularly annoyed me was Hornblower’s fear of his impending court martial. Now I know that the man has the bleakest outlook but even he must have known that no court martial ever executed a captain for the loss of a ship in battle.* (Byng, who Forester acknowledges, is a spurious example in this case.) This is one of the few instances in the entire series where I felt Forester sacrificed historical accuracy for dramatic license. Even a man as despondent as Hornblower must surely have known he would be honourably acquitted for the loss of the Sutherland.
On the plus side the incidental characters in Flying Colours really carry the story. Bush is wonderful throughout and Brown is a magnificent. The scene where Bush tries out his wooden leg for the first time accompanied by a running commentary of nautical commands is priceless.
Lieutenant Bush was watching Brown fastening the last strap of his new wooden leg, and Hornblower, from across the room, was watching the pair of them.
"'Vast heaving," said Bush. "Belay." Bush sat on the edge of his bed and moved his leg tentatively. "Good," he said. "Give me your shoulder. Now, heave and wake the dead." Hornblower saw Bush rise and stand; he watched his lieutenant's expression change to
one of hurt wonderment as he clung to Brown's burly shoulders. "God!" said Bush feebly, "how she heaves!" It was the giddiness only to be expected after weeks of lying and sitting. Evidently to Bush the floor was pitching and tossing, and, judging by the movement of his eyes, the walls were circling round him. Brown stood patiently supporting him as Bush confronted this unexpected phenomenon. Hornblower saw Bush set his jaw, his expression hardening as he battled with his weakness.
"Square away," said Bush to Brown. "Set a course for the captain."
I also loved the fact that Brown’s grasp of French equalled if not excelled his captain’s. Bet he was more entertaining company too!
I also really warmed to the Comte and Comtesse de Gracay. And I found Marie de Gracay one of the more believable female characters in the series; neither as pitiable as Maria nor as picture perfect as Barbara. I adore Lady B’s sharp wit but I was also rather impressed by the swift kick in the ego that is Marie’s parting gift to Hornblower.
"You are the sort of man," she went on, "whom women love very easily. I do not expect that I shall be the last. I don't think that you will ever love anybody, or know what it is to do so."
Hornblower could have said nothing in English in reply to these two astonishing statements, and in French he was perfectly helpless. He could only stammer.
"Goodbye," said Marie.
"Goodbye, madame," said Hornblower, lamely.
There are occasional moments of humour at Hornblower’s expense though fewer than in previous books. One that did make me laugh was Hornblower choosing to wear his embroidered silk nightshirt the first time he shares a room with Brown and Bush. Awww bless. Another was Hornblower’s “ridiculous pleasure about waking up to find Bush snoring beside him with a protective arm across him.” What can I say?!
All in all though I found Flying Colours to be a rather frustrating read. Perhaps because I couldn’t help contrasting it with the previous book I had read Escape from the French in which one Midshipman Maurice Hewson relates his account of escaping from the French prisons of Verdun and Bitche with a stoicism, honesty and candour that would put Hornblower to shame.
*ETA Since writing this I have come across the unfortunate Lieutenant Phillips who was actually court martialed and shot in 1745 for striking his ship, the Anglesey, 44, after his captain had taken her into an engagement with the French ship Apollon, 50, unprepared. The court martial found that:
Lieutenant Baker Phillips, late second lieutenant of the said ship, by not endeavouring to the utmost of his power after Captain Elton's death to put the ship in order of fighting, not encouraging the inferior officers and common men to fight courageously, and by yielding to the enemy, falls under part of the tenth article. They do sentence him to death, to be shot by a platoon of musqueteers on the forecastle, ... but ... having regard to the distress and confusion the ship was in when he came to the command, and being a young man and unexperienced, they beg leave to recommend him for mercy."
Phillips was shot regardless and it has subsequently been suggested that he was executed for having Jacobite sympathies. However my point stands. Hornblower is being a drama queen!
Lt Phillips Shot on the Forecastle
http://home.planet.nl/~pdavis/Phillips.htm
I read Flying Colours while I was traveling recently and I have to confess I didn't get on too well with it. I wrote this review at the time but have held off posting it in case I changed my mind. I haven't, so here it is.
Ho hum. I don’t know. Maybe it was jet lag, maybe I was just in the wrong mood but for the first time in the series I really lost patience with Hornblower in Flying Colours. There were several times I wanted to chuck the book at the wall and yell “For god’s sake stop whinging man!” And if I didn’t it was only out of respect for Bush and Brown who already had more enough to put up with. My reading experience may also have been coloured by partner, who was reading O’Brian’s The Nutmeg of Consolation and Clarissa Oakes while I was ploughing my way through Flying Colours. So while I was gritting my teeth in the face of Hornblower’s relentless negativity partner was laughing heartily at Aubrey and Maturin’s adventures. Don’t get me wrong, I think Flying Colours is brilliantly written and plotted and it’s a great story that provides many valuable insights into the fundamental duality of Hornblower’s character, however any empathy I had with the man himself petered out half way through.
One of the things that particularly annoyed me was Hornblower’s fear of his impending court martial. Now I know that the man has the bleakest outlook but even he must have known that no court martial ever executed a captain for the loss of a ship in battle.* (Byng, who Forester acknowledges, is a spurious example in this case.) This is one of the few instances in the entire series where I felt Forester sacrificed historical accuracy for dramatic license. Even a man as despondent as Hornblower must surely have known he would be honourably acquitted for the loss of the Sutherland.
On the plus side the incidental characters in Flying Colours really carry the story. Bush is wonderful throughout and Brown is a magnificent. The scene where Bush tries out his wooden leg for the first time accompanied by a running commentary of nautical commands is priceless.
Lieutenant Bush was watching Brown fastening the last strap of his new wooden leg, and Hornblower, from across the room, was watching the pair of them.
"'Vast heaving," said Bush. "Belay." Bush sat on the edge of his bed and moved his leg tentatively. "Good," he said. "Give me your shoulder. Now, heave and wake the dead." Hornblower saw Bush rise and stand; he watched his lieutenant's expression change to
one of hurt wonderment as he clung to Brown's burly shoulders. "God!" said Bush feebly, "how she heaves!" It was the giddiness only to be expected after weeks of lying and sitting. Evidently to Bush the floor was pitching and tossing, and, judging by the movement of his eyes, the walls were circling round him. Brown stood patiently supporting him as Bush confronted this unexpected phenomenon. Hornblower saw Bush set his jaw, his expression hardening as he battled with his weakness.
"Square away," said Bush to Brown. "Set a course for the captain."
I also loved the fact that Brown’s grasp of French equalled if not excelled his captain’s. Bet he was more entertaining company too!
I also really warmed to the Comte and Comtesse de Gracay. And I found Marie de Gracay one of the more believable female characters in the series; neither as pitiable as Maria nor as picture perfect as Barbara. I adore Lady B’s sharp wit but I was also rather impressed by the swift kick in the ego that is Marie’s parting gift to Hornblower.
"You are the sort of man," she went on, "whom women love very easily. I do not expect that I shall be the last. I don't think that you will ever love anybody, or know what it is to do so."
Hornblower could have said nothing in English in reply to these two astonishing statements, and in French he was perfectly helpless. He could only stammer.
"Goodbye," said Marie.
"Goodbye, madame," said Hornblower, lamely.
There are occasional moments of humour at Hornblower’s expense though fewer than in previous books. One that did make me laugh was Hornblower choosing to wear his embroidered silk nightshirt the first time he shares a room with Brown and Bush. Awww bless. Another was Hornblower’s “ridiculous pleasure about waking up to find Bush snoring beside him with a protective arm across him.” What can I say?!
All in all though I found Flying Colours to be a rather frustrating read. Perhaps because I couldn’t help contrasting it with the previous book I had read Escape from the French in which one Midshipman Maurice Hewson relates his account of escaping from the French prisons of Verdun and Bitche with a stoicism, honesty and candour that would put Hornblower to shame.
*ETA Since writing this I have come across the unfortunate Lieutenant Phillips who was actually court martialed and shot in 1745 for striking his ship, the Anglesey, 44, after his captain had taken her into an engagement with the French ship Apollon, 50, unprepared. The court martial found that:
Lieutenant Baker Phillips, late second lieutenant of the said ship, by not endeavouring to the utmost of his power after Captain Elton's death to put the ship in order of fighting, not encouraging the inferior officers and common men to fight courageously, and by yielding to the enemy, falls under part of the tenth article. They do sentence him to death, to be shot by a platoon of musqueteers on the forecastle, ... but ... having regard to the distress and confusion the ship was in when he came to the command, and being a young man and unexperienced, they beg leave to recommend him for mercy."
Phillips was shot regardless and it has subsequently been suggested that he was executed for having Jacobite sympathies. However my point stands. Hornblower is being a drama queen!
Lt Phillips Shot on the Forecastle
http://home.planet.nl/~pdavis/Phillips.htm