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Title: Patrick O'Brian : A Life by Dean King ISBN: 0805059776 Publisher: Owl Books Pub. Date: March, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.11
Rating: 5
Summary: Hats off!
Comment: This book would stand as an outstanding biography even had its subject cooperated fully. It is well-written, exhaustively detailed, sensitive to the subject yet unsparingly honest in detailing his shortcomings -- in short, it is everything you could ask for in a biography. But the fact the subject, Patrick O'Brian, was not merely uncooperative, but lived a life veiled in layer after layer of secrecy, makes what Dean King has accomplished here nothing short of astonishing. Each detail, from O'Brian's momentous identity change to minor but telling glimpses of his childhood and domestic life, is the result of dogged, tireless legwork. Amassing enough details for a magazine profile would have been difficult enough. Yet here is a big, hefty book crammed with choice details, seamless and complete.
While one certainly expects that King will get his critical and popular due for producing the first serious biography of a cherished writer, it is O'Brian who emerges as the big winner here. For all his flinty evasions and prickly protestations, O'Brian, who died recently, could not have asked for a more fair or just portrait of his life, nor a more thoughtful analysis of his works. This book will only add to the enjoyment and understanding that O'Brian's millions of admirers get from the novels.
Rating: 5
Summary: Most able seamanship
Comment: This would have been an outstanding biography even had its subject, Patrick O'Brian, cooperated completely, opened a cache of diaries and papers, and welcomed Dean King to have a go. "A Life Revealed" is well-written, detailed, fast-moving and as entertaining as it is informative, positive in portraying O'Brian's great talent yet honest in confronting his shortcomings; in short, it is everything you could want in a biography. The fact that O'Brian not only did not cooperate, but lived a life veiled in layer after layer of secrecy, makes what Dean King has achieved here nothing short of astonishing. Every detail in this book, from the momentous events surrounding Russ/O'Brian's identity change to minor but telling details about his childhood and domestic life, is the result of dogged, painstaking legwork.
One certainly expects that Dean King will get his critical and popular due for having produced the first serious biography of a cherished writer. But the biggest winner to emerge here is O'Brian himself. O'Brian, who died recently, could not have hoped for a more just treatment of his life, nor a more thoughtful consideration of his work. For all of O'Brian's prickly insistence on keeping his life a secret, this biography can only add to the depth of understanding and enjoyment that O'Brian's millions of fans get from his novels.
Rating: 4
Summary: An Intrusive Tribute
Comment: Dean King has published two companions to O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series (Harbours and High Seas, and A Sea of Words) and this is his companion to the life of the author. He has uncovered many of the secrets that O'Brian would have preferred to remain hidden, and he has given an insight into the literary background and writing style of O'Brian that will delight anybody interested in his works, especially the twenty volume epic canon of Captain Jack Aubrey RN and Surgeon Stephen Maturin FRS.
King has dug deep into O'Brian's family, discovering spies, crank doctors, salty seadogs, bad fathers and errant husbands enough for a whole shelf full of fiction. He has chronicled O'Brian's life through its several changes, especially the golden afternoon of his writing career, when he was discovered by the world's readers and became a heroic figure, writing best-seller after best-seller from his vineyard home in the South of France.
While in many ways it is an intrusion that Patrick O'Brian would have been apalled to see published, it is also a tribute by one of his foremost fans. Make up your own mind when you read this.
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Title: A Sea of Words: A Lexicon and Companion for Patrick O'Brian's Seafaring Tales by Dean King, John B. Hattendorf, J. Worth Estes ISBN: 0805066152 Publisher: Owl Books Pub. Date: October, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Harbors and High Seas: An Atlas and Geographical Guide to the Complete Aubrey-Maturin Novels of Patrick O'Brian by Dean King, John B. Hattendorf ISBN: 0805066144 Publisher: Owl Books Pub. Date: October, 2000 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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Title: Lobscouse and Spotted Dog: Which It's a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels (Patrick O'Brian) by Anne Chotzinoff Grossman, Lisa Grossman Thomas, Patrick O'Brian ISBN: 0393320944 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: September, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Joseph Banks: A Life by Patrick O'Brian ISBN: 0226616282 Publisher: University of Chicago Press (Trd) Pub. Date: October, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.35 |
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Title: The Golden Ocean by Patrick O'Brian ISBN: 0393315371 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: October, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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