- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; Television tie-in edition edition (7 Dec 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140294651
- ISBN-13: 978-0140294651
- Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 11 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,719,315 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Lieutenant Hornblower
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The second of C.S.Forester's classic seafaring adventure bestsellers featuring the intrepid hero of Nelson's navy, Horatio Hornblower.
About the Author
C.S Forester was born in Cairo in 1899, where his father was stationed as a government official. He studied medicine at Guy's Hospital, and after leaving Guy's without a degree he turned to writing as a career. On the outbreak of war he entered the Ministry of Information and later he sailed with the Royal Navy to collect material for The Ship. He made a voyage to the Bering Sea to gather material for a similar book on the United States Navy, and it was during this trip that he was stricken with arteriosclerosis, a disease which left him crippled. However, he continued to write and in the Hornblower novels created the most renowned sailor in contemporary fiction. He died in 1966.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Through the eyes of his fellow lieutenant, the rise of Hornblower is witnessed and indeed endured. The very idea that his success could affect his fellow officers is continually approached and discussed through the musings and observations of Lt.Bush. You are never quite sure how Bush feels about his subordinate. Especially as time and again Hornblower makes a decisive and charismatic entrance into the plot. This particular style of writing has left me with a much greater appreciation of our hero, and indeed a desire to read more.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
`Lieutenant Hornblower', although the second in the series chronologically, was actually the seventh to be written by CS Forester. It was published in 1952.
In the introduction, Bernard Cornwell writes how "Hornblower seems almost too good to be true, but Forester was wise enough to give his hero some quirks", to make him fallible. That fallibility is present in the very first sentence of the novel, where Hornblower's "uniform looked as if it had been put on in the dark and not adjusted since." The viewer of this scene is Lieutenant Bush, as he climbs aboard HMS Renown for the first time as the ship's third lieutenant: Hornblower is the ship's most junior lieutenant, rated fifth.
We are introduced to Lieutenant Bush for the first time in this instalment of the series. Indeed, this is very much Bush's book, for it is written mostly through his eyes. Despite his seniority at the beginning of the voyage, come the end Bush is calling Hornblower `Sir', but it would be unkind of me to reveal how this comes about. Indeed, as for the story itself, without giving too much of the game away, we start in an atmosphere of fear and mutual-suspicion between the captain and his officers on board HMS Renown even before they leave the waters of Plymouth Sound. Forester skilfully uses this kernel to construct a tale of mutinous thoughts and possible actions - one question is put to Hornblower by his fellow officers at many times throughout the book: "How did the captain comes to fall down the hatchway?" - but one that culminates in eventual triumph in the waters of the West Indies. We end the book, though, with a view of the sorry streets of peacetime Portsmouth and the methods Hornblower uses to escape destitution.
Along the way, Forester provides a convincing portrayal of the assault on the Spanish fort on Santo Domingo, a portrayal ripe with all its attendant chaos and adrenaline. And Forester is just as good describing the heat of battle at sea, when "Hell was unchained, and the smoke of hell was eddying ..." Not sure, though, that Forester was right to talk of "Red Revolutionary notions" in 1802, however much they may have been in his mind at the beginning of the Cold War in 1952.
I think this is one of the most enjoyable adventures in the Hornblower series as we see how the young lieutenant grows in stature to become the captain and then admiral of later years. Much of his character is, of course, already formed by the time the novel opens, but we also see how his natural talents as a strategist and as a leader of men begin to be recognised by his fellow officers and, more importantly, by the powers that be.
In the introduction, Bernard Cornwell writes how "Hornblower seems almost too good to be true, but Forester was wise enough to give his hero some quirks", to make him fallible. That fallibility is present in the very first sentence of the novel, where Hornblower's "uniform looked as if it had been put on in the dark and not adjusted since." The viewer of this scene is Lieutenant Bush, as he climbs aboard HMS Renown for the first time as the ship's third lieutenant: Hornblower is the ship's most junior lieutenant, rated fifth.
We are introduced to Lieutenant Bush for the first time in this instalment of the series. Indeed, this is very much Bush's book, for it is written mostly through his eyes. Despite his seniority at the beginning of the voyage, come the end Bush is calling Hornblower `Sir', but it would be unkind of me to reveal how this comes about. Indeed, as for the story itself, without giving too much of the game away, we start in an atmosphere of fear and mutual-suspicion between the captain and his officers on board HMS Renown even before they leave the waters of Plymouth Sound. Forester skilfully uses this kernel to construct a tale of mutinous thoughts and possible actions - one question is put to Hornblower by his fellow officers at many times throughout the book: "How did the captain comes to fall down the hatchway?" - but one that culminates in eventual triumph in the waters of the West Indies. We end the book, though, with a view of the sorry streets of peacetime Portsmouth and the methods Hornblower uses to escape destitution.
Along the way, Forester provides a convincing portrayal of the assault on the Spanish fort on Santo Domingo, a portrayal ripe with all its attendant chaos and adrenaline. And Forester is just as good describing the heat of battle at sea, when "Hell was unchained, and the smoke of hell was eddying ..." Not sure, though, that Forester was right to talk of "Red Revolutionary notions" in 1802, however much they may have been in his mind at the beginning of the Cold War in 1952.
I think this is one of the most enjoyable adventures in the Hornblower series as we see how the young lieutenant grows in stature to become the captain and then admiral of later years. Much of his character is, of course, already formed by the time the novel opens, but we also see how his natural talents as a strategist and as a leader of men begin to be recognised by his fellow officers and, more importantly, by the powers that be.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Though not written second, in chronological order Lieutenant Hornblower is the second of C.S. Forester's novels about a British naval hero who was in many ways the James Bond of his time. The novels had their period of great success and were well-thought of by many, with Ernest Hemingway saying that, "I recommend Forester to every literate I know".
Patrick O'Brian's subsequent similar maritime novels, with their expert nautical detail, showed up somewhat the limitations of Forester's style which is at times reminiscent of JK Rowling - good at telling a pacy story, less good at impressing with technical literary finesse. Yet for all the occasionally clunky phrases in Lieutenant Hornblower, there are also some moments of skilled authorship, as when Forester talks of alcohol being an essential part of the English seaman - just like his nose and ears.
Though the series of Hornblower books do lead one onto another as Hornblower rises through the ranks, they are freestanding and Lieutenant Hornblower works well as a stand-alone, lively drama which, fittingly, does not end at a moment of maritime confrontation but goes on to show how those rare events were the expectations to the usually rather more humdrum life of a naval officer, especially one concerned where their next posting might come from.
The book is fairly accurate in its historical setting in the early nineteenth century, making it not only an enjoyable pacy read but also a quick history primer about the state of England during the middle of the wars with France.
Patrick O'Brian's subsequent similar maritime novels, with their expert nautical detail, showed up somewhat the limitations of Forester's style which is at times reminiscent of JK Rowling - good at telling a pacy story, less good at impressing with technical literary finesse. Yet for all the occasionally clunky phrases in Lieutenant Hornblower, there are also some moments of skilled authorship, as when Forester talks of alcohol being an essential part of the English seaman - just like his nose and ears.
Though the series of Hornblower books do lead one onto another as Hornblower rises through the ranks, they are freestanding and Lieutenant Hornblower works well as a stand-alone, lively drama which, fittingly, does not end at a moment of maritime confrontation but goes on to show how those rare events were the expectations to the usually rather more humdrum life of a naval officer, especially one concerned where their next posting might come from.
The book is fairly accurate in its historical setting in the early nineteenth century, making it not only an enjoyable pacy read but also a quick history primer about the state of England during the middle of the wars with France.
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