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Title: The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower
ISBN: 0750921099
Author:
C. Northcote
Publicate Date: 1998-09-25
Publish: 1998-09-25
List Price: $10.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $10.49
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $1.11
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| Customer Review: |
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1: SPOILER WARNING
The review by "Reviewer: Nicholas Dujmovic (Vienna, Virginia) " needs a spoiler warning. Good review ... but don't read it until you've read the actual book!
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2: Best read while reading the series
On my second go-round with the Hornblower corpus, I decided to take up Parkinson's "biography" of the fictional naval hero and read it more or less simultaneously with the novels. I'm convinced this is the best way to get the most out of CS Forester's work and Parkinson's treatment alike. Parkinson obviously has read through and thought about and thought through every aspect of Hornblower's "life", and he is so clearly very skilled as an historian of the period, that he really does seem to make Hornblower live, in many ways superior to what Forester crafted in his novels. (Heresy!)
As a student of history, I marvel at Parkinson's accomplishment and recognize that much of his work is done a bit tongue-in-cheek, which only adds to the enjoyment. I particularly like the way he took one single sentence in one of the books and spun it out for Hornblower in later life, making him a pioneer of naval steam power.
There's only one jarring note in the book, and that's in Hornblower's posthumously discovered explanation of what "really" happened in Renown. I can believe he propelled the old man down the hatchway--but I cannot believe Hornblower ordered his throat cut. Hornblower calculated ruthlessly, yes, but he was never that kind of monster. What am I saying? He's a fictional person! Anyway, it's a fun book for Hornblower fans.
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3: You'll buy this because you can't help it
If you are reading this you are a Hornblower addict, same as the rest of us. You need a fix.
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4: Well-written, utterly fascinating, and insightful.
For fans of C.S. Forester's "Horatio Hornblower" series, this book is a must and a delight. Horatio Hornblower was a fictional British naval officer during the time of the Napoleonic Wars, and his adventures are fictionalized in the Forester novels. I believe that the Hornblower series constitutes the best sea adventures in all of literature. Horatio Hornblower is unforgettable, both in the novels and in Parkinson's "Life and Times..."This book is a great read. It contains fascinating little facts about Hornblower, but in my opinion the best part of the book is that it chronicles Hornblower's career in a manner that allows the reader to compare the reality (which this book presents)with Forester's wonderful stories. The result is absolutely engrossing. I always thought that in Forester's novels Hornblower had too many adventures for one real person to have had. Parkinson does a fine job of showing us that if anything, Hornblower's life was filled with even more adventure than presented in Forester's novels. Parkinson answers numerous other questions I always had about Hornblower, such as why Bush was not promoted after the South American voyage, what Lady Barbara was really like and, most important--how did Captain Sawyer come to fall down the hold on HMS Renown? This book answers these questions and others as best it can, and this adds to the book's fascination. Another thing to like about this book is that it does a good job of placing Hornblower within 19th Century British society. The Forester novels pretty much concentrate on Hornblower's sea adventures. American readers in particular will appreciate Parkinson's insights into the nature of the society in which Hornblower lived, and Horblower's place within it. The next sentence will possibly confuse some readers. This book is a work of fiction. This book is well-written, well-researched and is quite simply a book that every Hornblower afficianado will want to own, read, and re-read.
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5: Parkinson's "biography" of H. Hornblower a Real Pleasur
I am an old hand at reading the Hornblower Series, having received the Book-of-the-Month Club offering of the first three novels back before WWII. Since then I have acquired all of the rest and have read them many times. Parkinson's fictional biography, which I acquired in 1972, is so well, and meticulously,written that it's difficult to believe Hornblower is fictional. However, this is a book for the devotee of the novels. It does "fill in the gaps" in the hero's life as well as providing the social and political setting in which the actions occur. It does not give the full details about HH's character, method of approaching and solving problems, or other essentials of his character as do the novels themselves. I recommend anyone new to HH, read the novels first before reading this book.
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