The Hundred Days

Rating:
Summary: A joy to return to Jack's and Stephen's world
Review: Let me preface all that follows; this review is for those of us who have travelled with Jack and Stephen for 18 novels. If you are thinking of starting with "The Hundred Days" don't. Start at the beginning. It is worth it. The quality of writing and crafting of a story is constantly excellent through out the series.

I finished "The Yellow Admirable" with a sad heart, fearing there would be no more stories, hoping there would be two more books. My joy in learning of them was delightful. I downloaded the first chapter and read it hungerly, until I learnt of Dianna's death and my heart folded in two for a character I had adored and in some ways related to as a woman. I found myself concerned for Stephen, Sophie and Jack. I went out late that night and hunted down the book.

I couldn't figure out why Dianna was killed, couldn't see the sense in it. But maybe it has something to do with how the sudden death of a beloved one is incomprehensible, like the author experienced with that of Mrs Mary O'Brian. I think "The Hundred Days" is Mr O'Brian's grieving novel. It is, as all his work, crafted in a way that raises your expectation of writing, it looks at life, as always,in a delicate and strong manner. But it read to me that my favorite author was in pain and was writing to heal and get the book over and done with.

As a hungry reader I wanted a long and detailed book, like "The Post Captain", because I wanted to stay in the world created by this author. I found myself wanting to know how Sophie and the family were, I wanted to see Jack reach the official status of Admiral, of any rank and colour other than yellow. I wanted to see more of the relationship of Jack and Stephen. But this wasn't to be. I didn't understand the significance of the last few lines of the novel and am still pondering them.

All this as a reader disappoints me. All this as someone who wants my favorite author to be happy saddens me as it shows me his sense of loss. Others are commenting on the lack of detail about Stephen's grieving. Well I think we have been honoured to witness how Mr O'Brian is dealing with his. We have all experienced loss for ourselves and can understand the understatement of Stephen's.

I confess to being shocked by Bonden's departure. I re-read the passage several times to be sure I had understood it, there wasn't any elaboration which stood in stark contrast to the death's of other more minor charactors. I don't think it has to do with feelings of the era and attitude to death. Jack has cried in public for the loss of life during battle for men he has sailed with for only one voyage. Bonden has been with him for 20 years. Maybe this will be further explored in the next novel, I hope at least.

I also hope the next novel is lengthy and detailed, we hear from Sophie and all at home, we see more of the friendship that has taught us about human nature, the dry wit of Stephen and the silly puns of Jack.

"The Hundred Days" is an outstanding book to lose yourself in. It is also one that leaves the devoted reader hungering for more. It is also a book of contrast; in some regards I found it to be his finest, in others I found it wanting. Either way, I'm thankful it was written and I loved reading it. I just wish it hadn't finished so quickly.

Rating:
Summary: Earlier books in the series are 5+ stars - this is not
Review: This book just doesn't compare with the rest of the series. The quality of the prose is, as usual, excellent, however O'Brian's treatment of his characters leaves a lot to be desired. It is almost as if his publisher has pressured him into producing the book to a deadline.

To someone who has not read all the others the book would seem excellent (and rate a higher number of stars). To a diehard fan of Aubrey and Maturin this novel just doesn't cut it.

While we are, as usual, treated to a good deal of the two principal character's thoughts and feelings it is done in solitary isolation. In addition O'Brian falls down in his treatment of many old friends such as Bonden and Diana. As another reviewer says above it is absurd that their characters (who we have learned to know so well from the excellent in depth description in his other novels) are rubbed out in approximately one line each. It is also wholly inconsistent with the prior volumes in the series. How can O'Brian expect us to believe that Jack Aubrey showed no reaction whatsoever to the death of Bonden, his loal coxswain over whose injuries we see him fretting in earlier volumes.

Essentially O'Brian has lost the fantastic level of analysis of the many intertwined relationships between the characters that made the earlier novels so superb.

The story is still exciting and very well written, but to any new readers contemplating dipping into the series DON'T start with this book. Buy the other nineteen, read them four times over (like I have) and then enjoy this as a good book in isolation.

I sincerely hope that the last novel returns to the standard we (perhaps unfairly) have come to expect - perhaps O'Brian can dream up some believable way to reincarnate Diana (Bonden was probably too decisively cut out of the picture in a colourless one liner). Maybe, Mr O'Brien, you can use your wonderful skill to rectify this state of affairs).

I have no problem with characters being killed off but let's hope that the author brings back his wonderfully sensitive treatment of the characters and their relationships with each other in the 20th book. It is the character treatment combined with the authenticity, great writing and the setting that makes these books so delightful.

Rating:
Summary: Don't read the Hong Kong review, gives away plot items
Review: If you want to spoil stuff for us, at least give us a heads up you jerk. Giving 4 stars because that's the average (and I have to give something), haven't yet read this, I was trying to read reviews and got mad at this guy.

Rating:
Summary: A worthy chapter in a brilliant saga.
Review: I confess I peeked at the reviews of this book before settling in to read it and was a bit worried by the rather harsh remarks by a number of readers. Shouldn't have been. This is a novel of real power. Witty (often darkly humorous), intelligent and beautifully written it is completely at a piece with rest of the series. Still puzzled by those reviewers who claim this was ghosted and a bit troubled by one writer who complained Villier's death was a problem because she was such a strong female character. Well yes, but this isn't Oprah nor is this about consciousness raising as we know it at the end of the twentieth century. Rather, this work is a fantistically imagined glimpse into the very early nineteenth century-a time quite different from our own. I had heard of O'Brian first in the mid-1970's but couldn't rally much interest. Napoleonic Wars? Royal Navy? So? Then, for some reason or another, I picked up 'Master and Commander' over the New Year's Holiday. Three months later, I had read each of the nineteen novels in sequence. One of the great reading experiences of my life. 'The Hundred Days' is an altogether tougher work than those which preceed it. Aubrey and Maturin have been at this for a great long while. The war with Napoleon drags on and on. Fortunes are made and lost. Friends and family die. There indeed is very little of the joy to be found in the earlier books. Choices available to a person were far fewer in number in the early 1800's. Societal constraints, class strictures, duty-any number of factors conspired to grind a person down. By the end of 'The Hundred Days' Aubrey seems tired and spiritless. And why not? Good friends killed. Endless political intrigue. He faces huge responsibilities as the 'Lord of the Manor' and member of Parliament as well those in his naval career. The death of his best friend's wife and the death of his long time coxswain Bonden are terribly painful. Remember, Aubrey has been at sea since the age of twelve. It is not a warm and fuzzy place to live. It is a painful and isolated existence. No,'The Hundred Days' gets it really, really right. It has been a wonderful trip for Aubrey and Maturin and all the rest, but the cost has been huge.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best of the series, but challenging
Review: Scanning through the other customer reviews of "The Hundred Days", I am struck by the chasm between those who condemn the book (sometimes in startlingly harsh terms) and those who applaud it. I count myself firmly among the latter, but acknowledge that this volume differs significantly from earlier entries in the series. What some readers apparently view as an absence of skill and spirit on O'Brian's part, I find instead to be the product of a subtle and masterful command of the literary art. Death is a central theme, Death is a chief character of "The Hundred Days", and I find it not surprising at all that O'Brian has elected to use a style in keeping with that particular focus. I have seen numerous comments from dissatisfied readers decrying O'Brian's "failure" to deal with the deaths of major characters at length. With all due respect, I think that view misses the whole point of what and how O'Brian has written. The cheapest, most false piece of writing produced by any hack would have lavished sorrow upon these deaths; shedding shallow tears would have been the easy thing to do. The abruptness of these deaths, even the absence of healing mourning, heightens the pain and the sense of loss we feel. O'Brian has not written a book to make us "feel good". Instead he has painted for us a portrait of emotional constraint, the hues of the world washed over with the grey of an unexpressed grief. Only at rare moments are we pernitted to see the black gulf beneath Stephen's determined insistence to continue on after Diana's death. He is a man who is hiding even -- or, especially -- from himself the depth of his loss, while we see that grief has dulled his usual acuity. O'Brian has not tried to "entertain" us here, and those seeking light diversion would do better to look elsewhere. No, "The Hundred Days" is not an easy book, but it evidences an undiminished literary skill. I believe this novel to be O'Brian's finest writing in several years. Long after finishing it, "The Hundred Days" haunts me.

Rating:
Summary: Aubrey and Maturin After Napoleon One Last Time
Review: Patrick O'Brian shows he has not lost his gifts for writing an elegant maritime thriller in this second to last installment of the Aubrey-Maturin saga. It's 1815 and Napoleon has escaped from the Italian island of Elba, seizing power once more in Paris. Commodore Aubrey is sent with a small squadron of frigates and corvettes to the Adriatic coast to stop French warships sympathetic to Napoleon's cause from joining the newly recreated Imperial French Navy. After a successful completion of this mission, Aubrey and Maturin find themselves off the coast of North Africa, in search of a Moslem Arab ruler sympathetic to Napoleon and the gold treasure he is sending to Napoleon's forces. Without question, this is one of the most exciting installments in the Aubrey-Maturin saga, replete with unexpected encounters and other suprises in store for the reader, such as reunions with several long-lost friends and the tragic, unexpected loss of one of their followers.

Rating:
Summary: THe Hundred Days
Review: Jack and the rest of his squadron must intercept a shipment of gold sent to the Muslim mercenaries from Napoleon in order for them to join him in war. Jack must first sail through the Adriatic ports and sink and destroy any one who plans to join Napoleon.

I personally did not like the book. The book moved to slowly, and was about something that I'm not really interested in. However, people who are interested in war stories and sailors would enjoy this book. Someone who is excited by Napoleon might also like the book. With a little more action and a faster pace, this would be a great novel. In the book The Hundred Days by Patrick O'Brian the main character is Jack Aubrey.

Rating:
Summary: Joint Review of All Aubrey-Maturin Books
Review: Some critics have referred to the Aubrey/Maturin books as one long novel united not only by their historical setting but also by the central plot element of the Aubrey/Maturin friendship. Having read these fine books over a period of several years, I decided to evaluate their cumulative integrity by reading them consecutively in order of publication over a period of a few weeks. This turned out to be a rewarding enterprise. For readers unfamiliar with these books, they describe the experiences of a Royal Navy officer and his close friend and traveling companion, a naval surgeon. The experiences cover a broad swath of the Napoleonic Wars and virtually the whole globe.
Rereading all the books confirmed that O'Brian is a superb writer and that his ability to evoke the past is outstanding. O'Brian has numerous gifts as a writer. He is the master of the long, careful description, and the short, telling episode. His ability to construct ingenious but creditable plots is first-rate, probably because he based much of the action of his books on actual events. For example, some of the episodes of Jack Aubrey's career are based on the life of the famous frigate captain, Lord Cochrane. O'Brian excels also in his depiction of characters. His ability to develop psychologically creditable characters through a combination of dialogue, comments by other characters, and description is tremendous. O'Brien's interest in psychology went well beyond normal character development, some books contain excellent case studies of anxiety, depression, and mania.
Reading O'Brien gives vivid view of the early 19th century. The historian Bernard Bailyn, writing of colonial America, stated once that the 18th century world was not only pre-industrial but also pre-humanitarian (paraphrase). This is true as well for the early 19th century depicted by O'Brien. The casual and invariable presence of violence, brutality, and death is a theme running through all the books. The constant threats to life are the product not only of natural forces beyond human control, particularly the weather and disease, but also of relative human indifference to suffering. There is nothing particularly romantic about the world O'Brien describes but it also a certain grim grandeur. O'Brien also shows the somewhat transitional nature of the early 19th century. The British Navy and its vessals were the apogee of what could be achieved by pre-industrial technology. This is true both of the technology itself and the social organization needed to produce and use the massive sailing vessals. Aubrey's navy is an organization reflecting its society; an order based on deference, rigid hierarchy, primitive notions of honor, favoritism, and very, very corrupt. At the same time, it was one of the largest and most effective bureaucracies in human history to that time. The nature of service exacted great penalities for failure in a particularly environment, and great success was rewarded greatly. In some ways, it was a ruthless meritocracy whose structure and success anticipates the great expansion of government power and capacity seen in the rest of the 19th century.
O'Brian is also the great writer about male friendship. There are important female characters in these books but since most of the action takes place at sea, male characters predominate. The friendship between Aubrey and Maturin is the central armature of the books and is a brilliant creation. The position of women in these books is ambiguous. There are sympathetic characters, notably Aubrey's long suffering wife. Other women figures, notably Maturin's wife, leave a less positive impression. On board ship, women tend to have a disruptive, even malign influence.
How did O'Brian manage to sustain his achievement over 20 books? Beyond his technical abilities as a writer and the instrinsic interest of the subject, O'Brien made a series of very intelligent choices. He has not one but two major protagonists. The contrasting but equally interesting figures of Aubrey and Maturin allowed O'Brien to a particularly rich opportunity to expose different facets of character development and to vary plots carefully. This is quite difficult and I'm not aware of any other writer who has been able to accomplish such sustained development of two major protagonists for such a prolonged period. O'Brian's use of his historical setting is very creative. The scenes and events in the books literally span the whole globe as Aubrey and Maturin encounter numerous cultures and societies. The naval setting allowed him also to introduce numerous new and interesting characters. O'Brian was able to make his stories attractive to many audiences. Several of these stories can be enjoyed as psychological novels, as adventure stories, as suspense novels, and even one as a legal thriller. O'Brian was also a very funny writer, successful at both broad, low humor, and sophisticated wit. Finally, O'Brian made efforts to link some of the books together. While a number are complete in themselves, others form components of extended, multi-book narratives. Desolation Island, Fortune of War, and The Surgeon's Mate are one such grouping. Treason's Harbor, The Far Side of the World, and The Reverse of the Medal are another. The Letter of Marque and the ensuing 4 books, centered around a circumnavigation, are another.
Though the average quality of the books is remarkably high, some are better than others. I suspect that different readers will have different favorites. I personally prefer some of the books with greater psychological elements. The first book, Master and Commander, is one of my favorites. The last 2 or 3, while good, are not as strong as earlier books. I suspect O'Brian's stream of invention was beginning to diminish. All can be read profitably as stand alone works though there is definitely something to be gained by reading in consecutive order.

Rating:
Summary: Killick gets his comeuppence . . . !
Review: This nineteenth installment in the series is something of a return to the blood-and-thunder days of the earlier volumes, as Jack Aubrey, pausing at Madeira with his family before setting off on a putative hydrographic expedition to Chile (as always when Dr. Maturin is involved, there's a good deal more here than meets the eye), is told of Bonaparte's escape from Elba -- and is ordered to hoist his commodore's pennant once more, to take command of all the available ships in the area, and to repair at once to Gibralter to seal up the Med and protect Allied shipping. Then he's off to the Adriatic to disable the French ship-building activities in the region and to cut off the shipment of an astonishing amount of gold from North Africa to the Balkan Moslems to encourage them to intercede on the Emperor's behalf against the Russians and Austrians. Okay, there's a lot of politics here -- but it's a side of the last days of the Napoleonic Empire most of us know little if anything about, and there's plenty of skullduggery on Stephen Maturin's part as well as naval action against an Algerine galley. And not to forget the Adventure of the Unicorn's Horn and the Hand of Glory, which is one of the falling-down funniest episodes O'Brian has ever produced. On the other hand, there are two quite shocking deaths, too, one early in the book and one late, . . . but that, as they say, is life. An excellent entry in the saga.

Rating:
Summary: What a weird collection...
Review: A couple of years later and I stroll in and see such a weird collection of remarks! It seems that people either love this installment or absolutely loathe it. By my rating, you can see that I enjoyed it immensely. I think that O'Brian lived up to his reputation as a sophisticated storyteller. Yes, Diana's death is a mere mention - but the author creates such a deeply painful upset that feels very real - we grieve with Stephen from the shock - and if we are open to it, we appreciate the story even more. And yes, Bonden's demise is equally jarring, but that's life at sea (especially during that time). My one critique of O'Brian - there should have been more death among Aubrey's and Maturin's closest friends and followers - that is, if history were followed more closely. So - to the naysayers I say -"you are heard, but you do not speak for everybody." I love this book as I love the entire series.