I let the details of masts/sails wash over me. This book was very “Jack Aubrey fucks around, finds out.”1 I was fascinated by the occasional passages centered around naval careerism, war as a noble pursuit vs. enrichment via prize-winning. The political relationship between Ireland and England and how it plays out with Irish officers in the British Navy is also a recurring theme.
I was struck by how…meandering the plot was. It didn’t feel overly plotted like a lot of modern novels. The Sophie sets sail, gets into various tussles with Spanish and French ships, Aubrey and Maturin play music together, we get a peek into Maturin’s diaries…I wonder if the other novels in the series have a similar vibe or if they’re also loose and drawn wherever the winds and current take them. I don’t feel an immediate urge to continue with the books (there are a lot of them), but I am curious to revisit the movie.
Literally. ↩︎