Talk:The Commodore (novel)

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This article is maintained by the Napoleonic fiction working group, which may be able to help with questions about the topic, as well as verification and sources.

Locations and references to real places, real science

I added locations to the Plot summary, to clarify the two attack sequences. I found some of the place names near Benin's coast, but not the islands. Are they real? The encounter with the French squadron off Ireland, I really had no notion where they were fighting, other than waters off West Cork, the rural section of County Cork. Can someone else pin that down better? I do hope so. There are many species of plants and animals mentioned in this book, but there is no section for listing them, yet. It seems better to have most of the wiki links in sections other than the Plot summary. Only the cute little potto makes it into the Plot summary. I hope someone with a better sense of battles takes a look at the summary, to be sure it is accurate. I regrouped the ships, as it seemed easier than having a group called Others. The four editorial reviews I found really like this book. I wish I could find some British reviews on line or elsewhere, not just quotes of quotes, as are available at the W. W. Norton web site. This book is really very good, it seems to deserve a yet better article here. --Prairieplant (talk) 08:31, 30 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

There is a review by James Teacher of this novel, originally in The Spectator. One sentence is included in the World Cat summary of the book, and a different sentence is in Dean King's book, shown at https://books.google.com/books?id=Un1RDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT1412&lpg=PT1412&dq=%22James+Teacher%22++Spectator&source=bl&ots=Ysp7n5Q3OJ&sig=iW794o-p8tMPepPdHR-1NPBoW8k&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjBjYnPypDZAhUQzlkKHcOzCKIQ6AEIRDAF#v=onepage&q=%22James%20Teacher%22%20%20Spectator&f=false . I will keep trying to find the original review on line. --Prairieplant (talk) 05:48, 6 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Search at The Spectator web page does not go farther back than 2002. It is interesting that there are articles of "my favorite authors" that include O'Brian in this century, but it does not get the 1994 or 1995 reviews by James Teacher. Ah well. --Prairieplant (talk) 06:07, 6 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Here are the quotes from World Cat, which says Publisher is the source. Publisher Synopsis

'...full of the energy that comes from a writer having struck a vein... Patrick O'Brian is unquestionably the Homer of the Napoleonic wars.' James Hamilton- Paterson

'You are in for the treat of your lives. Thank God for Patrick O'Brian: his genius illuminates the literature of the English language, and lightens the lives of those who read him.' Kevin Myers, Irish Times

'One of the most brilliantly sustained pieces of historical fictional writing this century.' James Teacher, Spectator --Prairieplant (talk) 06:11, 6 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

From the W W Norton page for this novel, and the full review did not yet appear for me .

“The Commodore is so satisfying...because it is crowded with so many different kinds of pleasures. O'Brian's genius is in his ability to arrange all this material upon the well-constructed frame of an adventure plot....A lyric poet working in the epic form.” — John Ferguson, Boston Sunday Globe --Prairieplant (talk) 06:32, 6 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]