Mr Midshipman Hornblower

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To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. The ocean is deep, and it can be deadly, and I’ve never gone into it without feeling that undercurrent of unease. Midshipman Hornblower (1950) finds himself all too often frustrated in a "savage, merciless world," where he is "very much alone . On the outbreak of war he entered the Ministry of Information and later he sailed with the Royal Navy to collect material for The Ship.

Not long before the three weeks was up, Caroline landed in Spain with a raiding party for second time to obtain water, and was clawing off when a Spanish guarda-costa began chase. Forester had a deft hand with maritime adventure (not all of it dealing with combat), characterization, and easily-readable Realist style. By the way, was it Forester's love of his adopted country that led him to give Hornblower's date of birth as 4 July 1776? Gustosissime le descrizioni del cerimoniale, dell'etichetta, dei gesti e dei costumi di fine settecento: sottilmente autoironiche eppure perfettamente realistiche.Hornblower insists on having one of the two pistols loaded and the other not, and to exchange shots at point-blank range, with neither Hornblower nor Simpson knowing which is which. Altrettanto delizioso è leggere un romanzo ambientato sulle navi della Royal Navy standosene accomodati in una casetta anch'essa tutta di legno, proprio come gli imponenti bastimenti. Seeing young 17-year-old Hornblower’s inexperience helps the reader to understand the nautical terms with ease and get a greater sense of the late Eighteenth Century setting.

The book's story continues with Hornblower's life through his promotion to Lieutenant (while he's in a Spanish prison as a prisoner of war). After an apprenticeship with a captain and ship of has-beens and wimps, he gets a chance at important mentorship under a brilliant, dashing captain of the Indefatigable on blockade duty in the Bay of Biscay. Ostatně bylo načase, protože spolu se sérií Aubrey-Maturin (která se u Forestera přiznaně nemálo inspiruje) se jedná o to nejlepší, co historická námořní dobrodru��ná četba nabízí. After getting to the end, he went back and wrote a handful of prequels, sort of like what goddamned George Lucas did with Star Wars. But these are minor caveats; I'm looking forward to eventually reading the next two books (in terms of Hornblower's life chronology) of the series, at least.He is tone-deaf, awkward, shy, self-critical, self-doubting, and even prone to seasickness (something strange for a career naval officer).

This is the time and the era under Napoleon's rule when 20 years of massacres on land and oceans occurred, the French and British hatred grew to a fever pitch as only seeing friends dying on the cruel fields and toxic ships will do. However, instead of taking credit for the fire, Hornblower suggests that there may have been spontaneous combustion in the paint locker, as a way of punishing himself for losing Marie Galante in the first place. Hornblower was assigned to command the jolly-boat and to board Papillon and to aloft to set sail while the other boats are engaged in a battle to take the ship. After Jackson takes stroke oar, Hales becomes incoherent and Hornblower is forced to strike him with the tiller bar to silence him. It gives an interesting view into the world of early 19th century naval warfare (or at least naval life, there isn't a ton of actual warfare), and sets the character up well.I spend a lot of my reading time struggling through dense prose, trying to understand philosophical jargon or, in the case of my recent Ulysses failure, trying to understand anything at all. The captain of the recently sunk Marie Galante pleads with Hornblower to navigate to France and release him and his men, and promises safe passage for Hornblower and his crew.