The Truelove

Rating:
Summary: Grumpy Old Seafarers Fall for Stowaway [Woman]
Review: This is, in my estimation, the funniest of OBrian's Aubrey-Maturin series. The American title is itself one of O'Brian's punning jokes; even though it refers to a vessel encountered late in the volume, the over-riding subject here is the changeable nature of human desire, the effects on aging to a dashing captain's self esteem, what "women really want," and the cures for long-voyage constipation. The plot is just a good excuse to get around to the dialogue. The arts of conversation are most prized about the long voyages, and these are some of the best of the entire series. While by itself, this quote won't mean much, but in context, it's the biggest laugh of the entire series; Stephen answers Jack's vociferous, self-pitying, multi-paged diatribe against the bad luck brought to sea-going vessels by the on-board presense of women with, "I think, my dear, your animosity toward women is largely theoretical." Jack's retort is excruciatingly tortured and sidesplittingly true. A true gem.

Rating:
Summary: Representative Read for Readers familiar with the Series
Review: While this book does not equal the quality of the best books in this series - Surprise and Master and Commander - it is an excellent book that delves further into the personality of Jack Aubrey. It does not have the lovely detail about the sea and sailing that were the hallmarks of his best books (this really is the best part of his writing). What it has instead are fascinating character studies of Jack and the female protagonist, Clarissa. It also is a very humerous and revealing look at the effect one moderately attractive woman can have on a ship filled with men who have gone far too long without the sight of a woman of any description - much less one who is attractive and somewhat desirable. I found the interplay between the men on board to be very funny and probably very accurate. As I stated at the beginning, it is not his best by any stretch of the imagination - I would follow that up with it should not be read before the first 4-5 books in the series (you really do need to know the characters before reading this book) - however, even at this level O'Brien is far superior to most contemporary writers.