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Post Captain
- Aubrey-Maturin Series, Book 2
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Series: Aubrey/Maturin, Book 2
- Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Action & Adventure
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Summary
This tale begins with Jack Aubrey arriving home from his exploits in the Mediterranean to find England at peace following the Treaty of Amiens. He and his friend Stephen Maturin, surgeon and secret agent, begin to live the lives of country gentlemen, hunting, entertaining, and enjoying amorous adventures. Their comfortable existence, however, is cut short when Jack is overnight reduced to a pauper with enough debts to keep him in prison for life. He flees to the continent to seek refuge. Instead he finds himself a hunted fugitive as Napoleon has ordered the internment of all Englishmen in France.
Patrick O'Brian is regarded by many as the greatest historical novelist of the 20th century. Post Captain is the second novel in his remarkable Aubrey/Maturin series.
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Overall
- I.F.Coyle
- 06-09-12
Not my favourite
Not my favourite Aubrey-Maturin. Rather too "land-locked" for me....and there's girls in it!!!
Seriously, a rattling good listen as O'Brian fleshes out the characters of our two heroes and even gets them involved in (sometimes) rather too complex love affairs. He gets into his stride in HMS Surprise, but leaves this book with well-rounded and interesting characters, ready to give Bonapate a damn good hiding!
Excellent and convincing reading by Mr Jerrom, who again manages to make even the most obscure sounding naval terms understandable. Even Stephen Maturin might understand them.
17 people found this helpful
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Overall
- John
- 27-06-12
Post Captain
O Brian is lyrical and exciting. His people are living, complex and well drawn, from the Austenesque ladies to the debt men and bawdy sailors. There is love of life, curiosity in nature and science, espionage and politics and surprising humour. Battles are as gripping as you could wish for, ending in great Joy and sadness. O'Brian is, in my opinion, far above above other writers in this genre, who I'm afraid will always be in his shade. I read these stories ages ago and am having a ball listening again, as they are being so well read by Ric Jerrom.
Book 3 is already out. :-)
12 people found this helpful
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- DJ Johnson
- 13-12-13
A Full Broadside of Character and Adventure
What made the experience of listening to Post Captain the most enjoyable?
Ric Jerrom's performance is masterful, his speech crisp and his characterizations, of even bit-players, is fully developed and well-rounded. You get the sense that he's really enjoying the performance he's giving as much as you are, and you can oftentimes hear the smile he must of had whilst reading.
What other book might you compare Post Captain to, and why?
Post Captain is often surprising in how much actually happens within it's covers, so much action that later in the book I thought some references the characters made were in the previous book, before realising, no! that was just in the first third of Post Captain! As such it compares favorably to an amalgamation of several of C.S. Forester's Hornblower series, although the latter is an easier, less technically complex read.
Which character – as performed by Ric Jerrom – was your favourite?
Ric Jerrom's performances, as already stated, are all wonderful, however I was particularly enamoured by his interpretation of Dr Stephen Maturin, who's character in this book, the second in the series, really shifts up a gear in terms of his complexity and impact on the outcome of the story.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The Final two chapters in the book are particularly powerful, and lays the seed of an idea of what is in store for the characters over the next 19 books.
Any additional comments?
I'd heartily recommend Post Captain. While the second book in the series, this book, moreso than Master and Commander, feels like it's laying roots for the future of the series. One word of warning: after listening you might catch yourself replying to emails as if you just ventured out of a Brontë novel.
10 people found this helpful
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Overall
- David
- 09-09-12
Great
This is what audio books should be about and this is what happens when a great story is matched with a great narrator. Will donload the rest of the series.
5 people found this helpful
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- nigel laverick
- 13-11-17
Disappointing
After the delight of the first book in this series this was a bit of a disappointment. It opened with several chapters that wouldn't be out of place in a Mills & Boon novel and really took till the final chapters to get going.
Far more suited to people who want to read about 19th century courtship than navel action. I will give the series another try but will not go further than that if the current theme continues
4 people found this helpful
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- Elias
- 20-07-15
Fantastic!
If you could sum up Post Captain in three words, what would they be?
Mega Turbo Throbbing
What was one of the most memorable moments of Post Captain?
The moment when Jack is just begging to understand quite who Maturin really is.
Have you listened to any of Ric Jerrom’s other performances? How does this one compare?
Others in the series, his performance is pretty solid through all of them
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
If time had allowed me I would have most certainly.
Any additional comments?
Mega Turbo Throbbing translates as very very good with very high levels of professional detail (Loosely... (Jack Speak))
3 people found this helpful
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- Ian David Williamson
- 11-03-15
Great story
I love this series and have just listened to Post Captain for the fourth maybe fifth time and enjoyed every minute. I love the way Ric Jerrom reads each character. Recommended.
3 people found this helpful
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- Debs J
- 11-03-15
Superb!!!
Excellent character growth throughout the story. SM comical in all matters naval. Ric Jerrom is fantastic at the narration!!!
3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Viv
- 28-03-13
Unmissable boy's book
I have read the books, and now working my way through the audio versions. What a delightful revisit. Excellent narration.
3 people found this helpful
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- K
- 16-05-18
More romance, less havoc
When I read this book the first time, I nearly didn’t continue with the series. The promise of erudite and knowledgeable historical writing that had been evident in the first novel, Master and Commander, was not fulfilled in this sequel. In fact, the naval theme was completely over shadowed by romantic intrigue, which is not even remotely as exciting as a detailed account of the trials of the ‘slaughterhouse’ during an enemy engagement. Rather than the expected plot that would tell of an exciting and bloody period in Britain’s naval history we are presented with the tedium of Georgian courtship rituals, rapacious potential mother-in-laws and a great deal of enigmatic brooding.
Jack Aubrey, land-bound, is indeed a different animal to the one on the high seas. The same, it would seem, goes for his surgeon and the blossoming intelligencer, Stephen Maturin, who loses all self-respect along with his logic when presented with the manipulative beauty, Diana Villiars. There’s a lot of falling in and out of affections, mood swings and far too much jaw-clenching for my taste. I have read most of the series now and I happily skip this one when I re-read them chronologically. If you like the drawn out game-playing of the romances of yesteryear then this tale may be for you. Alas, it is not for me.
Ric Jerrom, as before and after, does a faultless job with his narration.
2 people found this helpful
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- jokeyjon
- 15-10-12
A brilliant series performed beatifully
I could not buy these books abridged - half the pleasure is in the recreation of the language of the Georgian navy and the ebbing and flowing of the friendship of the two main characters is a subtle thing.
Ric Jerrom does a fantastic job of narrating and I will wait for the rest of his recordings of the series rather than switching to one of the other versions.
So good that I couldn't wait until my next credits arrived and had to purchase - the first time I have done this!
2 people found this helpful
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- Jefferson
- 14-07-13
Jack Caught by the Lee on the Austen-esque Land
For much of Post Captain (1972), the second novel in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin naval saga set during the age of sail and Napoleon, Jack Aubrey is "brought by the lee," stuck in a difficult and uncomfortable position. Still waiting for his promotion to Post Captain and his prize money to come through after the climax of Master and Commander (1970), Jack has barely set up housekeeping with his good friend Stephen Maturin (medical doctor, avid naturalist, and secret agent) in a rented mansion in the Sussex countryside near a family of marriageable young ladies, when Jack receives crushing news: his promotion will never be granted by the inimical guy in charge of the admiralty, his prize agent has absconded with all of his prize money, and two of his prize ships have been declared upon appeal to have been neutral and hence out of bounds, so that Jack is left broke and in debt for 11,000 pounds. This seems to put the kibosh on Jack's hopes for the beautiful and reticent Sophia Williams and sends him illicitly into the arms of her beautiful and lively widowed cousin Diana Villiers, with whom Stephen has, despite himself, fallen in love. All this threatens the "bromance" of the two friends, as Stephen discovers the strange power of jealousy. Things are complicated further when, in order to avoid being arrested for debt on land, Jack begs for and receives a modest commission in the Polychrest, a notoriously ungainly and poorly built experimental ship.
One neat thing about Post Captain is seeing how out of his element Jack is ashore. At sea he is a decisive and commanding man--"Lucky Jack Aubrey"--but on land everything is complex and ambiguous and he gets caught up in a destructive relationship and is reduced to skulking around in a large cloak to avoid the bailiff's men. Another enjoyable thing about the book is O'Brian's surprising of our expectations. Whereas the first novel opens with Jack being promoted to Master and Commander, this novel (despite its title) progresses longer and longer with Jack's hopes for promotion retreating farther and farther. Still more, O'Brian introduces into his naval war story an element of Austen-esque comedy of manners featuring beautiful marriageable young women, handsome and eligible officers, domineering and vulgar mothers, lively balls, embarrassing scandals, malicious gossip, and even trips to Bath. Of course, exciting scenes of naval warfare punctuate the novel (though if you prefer books of non-stop page-turning naval action, you might do better elsewhere.)
Throughout, the main point of view character is Stephen Maturin, an intelligent, learned, honest, and compassionate, man whose journal is a pleasure to read as he analyzes such things as his feelings, Jack's character, the nature of thought, the power of smell, the virtue of independence, and the grim fact that "Life is a long disease with only one termination and its last years are appalling." The developing relationship between Stephen and Jack is compelling because they are so different in so many ways but (usually) love each other and enjoy each other's company so much.
There is plenty of interesting historical detail in the novel, like the tactics for evading arrest for debt, the political back and forth between Whig and Tory parties, and of course everything to do with sailing and fighting in the age of sail (though perhaps the nautical details are less copious than in the first book).
The novel is often very funny, too, from grotesqueries like Jack's dancing bear disguise and his attempt to make his ship's cabin fit for a lady by turning it into something that "resembled a cross between a brothel and an undertaker's parlour," to witticisms, like Stephen's explanation for why a dog watch is called a dog watch, and comedy relief scenes, like Stephen bringing a colony of 60,000 bees aboard a ship.
There are also many moving lines in the novel, like the following:
"Come brother," Stephen said in his ear, very much like a dream. "You must come below. Here there is too much blood."
"Can you create a unicorn by longing?"
"There was a long, even swell from the south and a surface ripple that came lipping along her weather bow, sometimes sending a little shower of spray aft across the waist, with momentary rainbows in it."
The only flaw might be that Post Captain at times feels like a section of a longer work, and I suspect that all 20 Aubrey-Maturin books may make a composite novel, so that in the end of this one things feel a little hurried and unfinished. There are some characters I'm left hoping will be developed in future books, like Scriven, the louse-ridden, malnourished, hack-translator who tries to make Jack stand and deliver in a park and is then taken in by Stephen, but who then disappears from the story. Anyway, the high quality and interest of the writing, plot, and characters make me want to go on to the next book in the series.
Ric Jerrom gives another inspired and flawless reading of O'Brian's flowing and concise prose and strong characters. His voice has become that of Jack (good-natured, bluff, and British) and Stephen (thoughtful, kind, and Irish) so much that from now on I'll only order books in the series read by him. And his many minor characters, from rough sailors to upper class maidens, are all spot on. And he increases the excitement and suspense of every action scenes. When you think that this audiobook is available for only $3.43, you should give it a try.
1 person found this helpful
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- Taylor Britton
- 21-11-19
the bear scene
the bear scene almost ruins the whole series. instead of 'jumping the shark' it should be called 'wearing the bear'
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- Malcolm Nance
- 11-03-19
Splendid!
This being my first reading of the A.M. series, I was no less impressed by the 2nd than the 1st. Less light-hearted than Master and Commander, O'Brian's Post Captain guides the reader through Aubrey's struggle to obtain, then hold a commission aboard the unwieldy Polycrest (and her near-mutinous crew).
O'Brian takes some effort to flesh out Maturin's character, indicating that someone far more complex lies beneath the surgeon-naturalist persona. Simultaneously, he develops the doctor's sometimes-troubled relationship with Captain Aubrey, and the love-triangle that seems sure to ensnare them.
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- Richard
- 21-03-18
Worth a listen
The first 30% is boring. Nothing happens. But once it gets going it is great and reaches a crashing climax. I'm hoping it was worth it to get into the subsequent books.
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- Georgina
- 26-11-17
Slow moving but okay.
This is a rather slow moving second installment of the Aubrey-Maturin series. the best parts really are the sea battles.
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- Anniebligh
- 07-01-13
'nothing quite so much fun as messing about in..'
'..boats',,
( from Wind in the Willows)
I love the detail about the Tall Ships and life on the sea.
Now that Ric Jerrom appears to be recording the rest in the series I am really looking forward to following the adventures of Aubrey and Maturin.
It seems Patrick O'Brian was a spy himself and that does make these stories that much more interesting.
I suppose great exploits of sneaking into ports, sinking enemy ships, fighting off boarding parties, putting down mutanies, losing one's fortune and without too much of mushy romance even falling in love may seem a bit slow.
Good fun listening for the younger and older alike.
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- david
- 12-11-12
Slower than the first book
If you could sum up Post Captain in three words, what would they be?
pause for breath,
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
Anything on the sea, interesting, the social dilemnas, not so much
Have you listened to any of Ric Jerrom’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Yes, just as good
If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
I wouldn't
1 person found this helpful