A review of Master and Commander by the always insightful Joe Valdez.
I was unaware of the background story of the filming of this movie, and Weir’s demands (what he would and would not do) … Marvelous stuff. He didn’t want to do the first in the series – because of too much exposition – he wanted to start in the middle, when Aubrey and Maturin were already friends. I think that was a terrific choice.
I am now 3/4 of the way through The Surgeon’s Mate, the 7th book in the series. I cannot get enough. I am trying to slow myself down because I don’t want the entire series to end. I will be so sad when I come to the end.
Interesting thing: I went home this weekend. My dad is now reading the series – he had only read Master & Commander but now he’s on Desolation Island, and it’s been so fun to talk with him about it. And my mother is reading Master & Commander now (“so that I can talk about it with your dad”) … But anyway, we visited with dad and he told us that Barry and Joanne (old family friends – there has never been a time in my life when I did not know Barry) had stopped by and Joanne is such a fan of the books that she refuses to read the last two in the series!! She cannot bear the thought that after that, there will be no more books … so she is holding off on reading them … just so she knows, in her heart, that there will always be another Aubrey/Maturin book to look forward to.
Bravo, Patrick O’Brian! Sheesh!!
Thank you for giving me some cinematic props on your fantastic site, Sheila. Reading your stuff is like spending an afternoon in a bookstore with people who not only graduated college, but have fascinating reading quirks to boot. You’re at the top of that list.