(no subject)

[solitary_summer]

Finished Post Captain, and, hm. It's not as if I didn't enjoy it, because I did, very much so. Or that I regret having already ordered the next two volumes. Might as well admit it, I've come as close to developing a 'literary crush' (Jack) as ever in recent (or not-so-recent) memory.

However, some of my reservations from M&C still stand.

PC on the whole is a little more focused than M&C, but it still has a rambling, episodical quality; O'Brian's particular style makes it at times oddly sketchy and almost uneven. On the one hand the change of pace between more detailed descriptions and hasty impressionist sketches, consisting mostly of fragments and half sentences, makes for an interesting reading, on the other hand it does give it an almost abbreviated half-finished air, as if O'Brian was jotting this down for his private amusement mostly, fleshing out scenes that interested him, leaving others alone, and generally not giving too much thought to structure or plot. It does maybe even lend the books a further touch of realism, because life, after all, most of the time doesn't sort itself into great dramatic arcs, but as a work of literature is leaves something to be desired...

As for the romantic sub-plot... ((Not that one.)) But in all seriousness, and putting aside the slash coloured glasses for the moment, what makes the books so special, the main theme, to which everything else is rather secondary, is the friendship between Jack and Stephen, and this is where O'Brian is at his best. Brilliant characterisation, emotions, psychology, subtlety, and he's got the balance of 'show' vs. 'tell' down to a fine art; all their scenes together are pleasure to read.

Which is all very well in M&C, but makes for an a little strange effect here. I don't think it is just a personal perception that somehow the question of Jack's success with Sophia is never so pressing a concern to the reader as his rift with Stephen and its resolution, which, synchronised as it is with the near-suicidal attack on Chaulieu and the sinking of the ill-fated Polychrest, constitutes as much of a dramatic climax as this book is capable of. Granted, it's perhaps that to a certain extent O'Brian with his Austen-esque style simply fucks with one's expectations, because in a way we seem to be programmed to expect, when there's genuine romance/love, for it to automatically become the central issue of any given plot. But still, here one can't quite help the feeling that at least part of the romance plot, the rivalry over Diana, is there merely in order to further develop their friendship through a crisis, give them a deeper insight into each others' personalities...

((And putting on the slash-coloured glasses again... it'll be hard for Jack and Sophia to be more married than he and Stephen are in this book. I'm just saying...))


And damn it, now I want the movie dvd.