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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The price of resolution, 7 May 2003
This book is a gem. I have not read it for 20 years and was hoping to find a copy, but sadly it seems to be out of print. No doubt I will track one down, and I recommend that you do so too.Brown on Resolution is a simple tale, almost a parable, and but for its occasional fussiness it could almost have been penned by Hemingway. The story is on the surface rather jingoistic, relating the tale of a young mariner who overcomes dreadful physical privation in pursuit of an herioc feat. But when the boy unexpectedly discovers the fierce and tenacious courage of a warrior within him, we see that these are merely the traits that he has inherited from his stubborn and gritty mother. Pathetically, the mother's qualities will destroy the son she fought to bring into the world, and all glory is waste. This is a book that you will probably read in one sitting. But guard your copy, because they seem to be in short supply.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant and tragic tale, 31 Aug 2006
Forester warns you in the first line of this book not to expect a happy ending: it opens with the words "Leading Seaman Albert Brown lay dying on Resolution."
About the only similarities with the author's Hornblower books is that both are very well written and both include a masterly depiction of war at sea.
The book tells the story of the life of Albert Brown from conception to the single handed battle he fights against the German armoured cruiser "Zeithen" at the start of tbe First World War. (Incidentally, it's about time they brought back the cat and gave a dozen lashes to every lazy journalist or blurb writer who misuses the word "battleship" when actually referring to a cruiser or battlecruiser.)
"Brown on Resolution" is a story about heroism and duty, on the part of Albert Brown himself and the mother who throws away what could have been a comfortable middle class life to raise him. It also has a deeply ironic message about the difference between success and glory: Brown strikes a great blow for his country, but in circumstances which mean that neither he nor anyone back home ever knows it. The last sentence of the book is even more memorable than the first: I won't quote it in full to avoid spoiling the tale but it includes the words "No one would ever know".
This book inspired the film "Forever England" which was one of the first to star Sir John Mills. Both book and film came out between the first and second world wars. Interestingly, even all those years ago the film industry could take the idea of a tragic ending but not the idea that nobody knows what the hero has done, so they slightly modified the final scene. If you want to know how, you'll have to read the book and watch the film.
I am told that "Brown on Resolution" also inspired the 1950's film "Sailor of the King" but that film was rather more significantly altered and has a happy ending.
If you are into sea stories or tales or heroism, and you ever see a copy of this book in a bookshop or a library, grab it at once. I originally read an ancient copy in the school library when I was about 12, then bought a copy of the paperback which I found for sale in a cafe when it was reprinted 30 years ago, and those are almost the only copies of this book that I've ever seen.
If you want to read a more upbeat C.S. Forester story of war at sea in the 20th Century, there are three which I can particularly recommend. These are "The Good Shepherd" which is about a convoy escort mission during the battle of the Atlantic; "The man in the yellow raft" about action in a US destroyer during the Pacific war; and best of all "The Ship" which is an absolutely brilliant account of a light cruiser in action while defending a Malta convoy against greatly superior forces.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superfluous, Outstanding., 21 Jun 2005
I read this at about 14, given an old copy by my Mum. She married a Brown and I carry the name but my dim mind only slowly dawned that she thought it great for reasons other than the name. She had a 1950's paperback (pre-dating her marriage) that now has covers etc missing but what I remember (although at the time I had no nanm for it) is the pathos; the glory and the sadness. READ IT if you can. Don't let modern coverage of Hornblower put you off. You've heard of the Great American Novel (Steinbeck/Hemingway etc). This is the Great British Novel. Simple if you want yet complex on a deeper level if you want that too.
I love it and always will.
Also check out African Queen by the same author. Easier to get hold of I guess....? Better than the film. I own that one too and love it.
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by C.S. Forester
by C.S. Forester
by C. S. Forester
by C.S. Forester
by C.S. Forester
