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Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the historical fiction discussion of POST CAPTAIN
by Patrick O'Brian.

This is the reading assignment for week twelve - (January 17, 2011 to January 23, 2011)

Week Twelve - January 17 - January 23 - Chapter 13 - p. 432-444

This is the fourth historical fiction group selected book.

We will open up a thread for each week's reading. Please make sure to post in the particular thread dedicated to those specific chapters and page numbers to avoid spoilers if you are catching up.

This book was kicked off on November 1st.

This discussion is being led by assisting moderator - Christopher. During the discussion of Master and Commander, Christopher volunteered to steer us through the second book in the series. Please support him in this effort.

We always enjoy the participation of all group members. Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other noted on line booksellers do have copies of the book and shipment can be expedited. The book can also be obtained easily at your local library, and may be available on Kindle or audible.

This thread opens up either today January 16th or tomorrow January 17th for discussion. This is a non spoiler thread.

Welcome,

~Bentley


TO ALWAYS SEE ALL WEEKS' THREADS SELECT VIEW ALL

Patrick O'Brian

Please feel free to research the complete Table of Contents and Syllabus on this thread and to see which version Christopher is using.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

Post Captain is the second book in the series and comes after Master and Commander.

Patrick O'Brian

Did you think it coincidental that when Stephen lets himself into Diana's cousin's house, now vacant, he mostly finds evidence of the cousin's madness? Is the book trying to tell us something about the wisdom, or craziness, of Stephen's pursuit of her? The scent of her he gets before he leaves appears to have little effect on him-in contrast to earlier parts of the book. What do you think?

I always found the bees annoying and a distraction. Now I think they function in any of a number of ways, including the book setting up an unrealistic hilarity that cannot last. For Jack, the Lively represents a utopian self-exile/prison. Perhaps the bees signify how unrealistic that is.

Yet although Jack painfully shuts out the possibility of reconnecting with Sophie at the end of the chapter, part of him inconsistent with the self-exile asserts itself when he directs the Livelies to practice their gunnery on some French forts. The real Jack cannot contain himself, try as he might.

Feel free to comment on these ideas or anything else you find interesting in this chapter or any other part of the book.

O'Brian was a master at placing the right word and circumstance at the exact location it should be in the book; so I doubt that anything was coincidence. Stephen portrays himself as an eccentric so I think craziness or lack of wisdom sometimes is lost on him. He sometimes seems possessed by Diana even though he tries not to be or pretend otherwise. I guess she is a little like a poison that lingers in someone's veins or a virus that never leaves one's body but stays dormant until your resistance is down. It is odd in a way that a brilliant man like Stephen found himself in this situation.

Giood points, all, Bentley. Love is weird. If, in fact, what Stephen feels for Diana is love.

That is what I am trying to figure out; what was the emotion that Stephen felt?

Well, certainly, he thinks he loves her. But it is clearly a confused relationship. I guess I didn't think it was all that different from romantic relationships in many books and in real life-not entirely healthy but compelling nonetheless. That's a gross overgeneralization, of course.

It is certainly not a healthy relationship for sure.