Peter Simple edition by Frederick Marryat Reference eBooks
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Peter Simple edition by Frederick Marryat Reference eBooks
For those who have exhausted the Hornblower and Aubrey/Maturin novels, their cultural ancestor is Mr. Marryat. Although a 19th century author (both for good and ill), he provides the reader a good “fix” of naval adventure in this sprawling tale. It has everything— battles, storms, romance and an almost Dickens-like threat to the hero’s noble inheritance. In the vocabulary used it is possible to trace the sources that inspired Patrick O’Brian.I gave it 4 stars because it is dated in a way that truly great novels of the period, such as Jane Austen’s, are not. Characters reappear after years, making the plot seem contrived, and the intrigue of the inheritance requires an aristocratic sensibility to appreciate, an old fashioned point of view for the American reader. The text predates computer typesetting of course and has numerous typos that will perplex readers unfamiliar with period nautical terms and annoy those who know those terms well. An example is planshear instead of planksheer (gunwale).
However, it’s a fun read that will keep your attention till the happy ending where all the strands of the narrative are neatly pulled together. Who cares if it’s contrived?
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Peter Simple edition by Frederick Marryat Reference eBooks Reviews
First, let me say that Marryat is a great author and the story itself is fantastic. But the book I received was the cheapest piece of publishing I have ever seen. It looked like it was printed using a home computer with a dot matrix printer and bound by a second grader in art class.
Peter Simple is an early novel by Captain Frederick Marryat, he who actually served during the Napoleonic Wars and under the redoubtable Lord Cochrane to boot. As such, Marryat's sea novels are replete with details of life as actually experienced by the men and officers of the time. However, Marryat's a humorist, and his goal is to tell an entertaining tale, and with Peter Simple he succeeds admirably. Fans of Patrick O'Brian will discover source material in Marryat later adapted by POB in his Aubrey/Maturin novels.
The plot of Peter Simple is rather thin; it concerns the training of a young midshipman, Peter Simple, 'the greatest fool in his family,' and how he is cheated out of his inheritance, only to eventually regain it. Along the way he meets a cast of engaging characters who tell their own stories. The results is highly discursive, but the characters are so sympathetic and their tales are so amusing that you don't mind that these digressions are not actually forwarding the plot. Chief amongst them is master's mate O'Brien who befriends the foolish young midshipman and they become bosom friends who share many adventures. Case in point, at one point they are captured by the French, escape from a French prison, then disguised as a pair of stilt-walkers, stilt-walk across France to gain their freedom. Peter, being the younger and prettier of the two, is obliged to wear the female costume. In this guise he comes face to face with the French girl he adores much to his chagrin. Readers of Aubrey/Maturin will recollect their escape across France with Jack disguised as a dancing bear. Marryat is funnier.
The adventures in Peter Simple are not impossible, merely improbable, and that's all part of the fun. Marryat has a fertile imagination that can wed a nautical adventure tale with all sorts of comic and sentimental happenings -- and I mean 'sentimental' in a good way. Marryat believes in true love and honor and happily ever after; Peter Simple is a sort of nautical fairy tale. It was my good fortune to read it immediately after Voltaire's Candide, and there is much in common between the two. Both Candide and Peter Simple are fools naive, kind, good, generous, and woefully taken advantage of by the unscrupulous people around him, but are helped by various colorful friends who undergo adventures of their own. Candide's Dr. Pangloss was hanged by the Spanish Inquisition; Peter's friend O'Brien was murdered by brigands and buried in the sand. Pangloss owes his survival to the assistance of the doctor that intended to perform an autopsy on him; O'Brien survives thanks to having his nose trod on by a pretty girl who then digs him out.
Although there is a great deal of improbability in Peter Simple, it all derives from elements that are entirely believable in themselves. For example, when the brand new Mr Midshipman Simple reports on board, the other middies take advantage of him by charging tarts to his account. When he discovers the bill, he pays it because he's such an honorable young man that he refuses to deprive the bumboat woman of her money. He never manages to collect from the other middies, but he learns a hard lesson -- never run into debt and don't buy on credit. This tale of the tarts actually has a great many more chapters to it, with a detour through pastry shops and cheating at church, resulting in the wayward middies wearing tarts on their heads while on the quarterdeck. You may wonder how it is even possible to cheat while attending worship, but let me assure you, our middies are clever enough to figure it out.
A rambling tale, it is not the well-organized bit of literature we dignify with the name of 'novel,' which is why I gave it only four stars, but it's well worth a few hours of your time. Reading Peter Simple is like drinking in a tavern with old salts who never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
~review by M. Kei, author of The Sallee Rovers (Pirates of the Narrow Seas)
I was not used to the style of a "journal narrative" at first, and so, I could not tell whether I was reading someone's story or merely some sort of first-hand editorial regarding conditions and practices of 18th Century British naval life. However, as I continued to move forward, I found myself joining with the narrator in his adventures, which gave me the chance to not only experience them with him, but to observe his maturity as a man and his ability to "navigate" the waters of the British Admiralty as it existed in the period. Toward the end of the book, the author introduced subplots that the reader might reasonably believe had always been an incipient part of the narrator's story. The introduction of these subplots makes a sea change in the course of the narrative, creates a slightly different context in which adventures and conflict take place, and allows the book to reach a somewhat romantic--although not entirely unbelievable--ending.
This was the first book I've read by the author. I've been a huge fan of C.S. Forester, Patrick O'Brian, and Dewey Lambdin.
What I never knew was that Frederick Marryat preceded them all. Peter Simple is a wonderful, self-contained novel about the British Navy over two hundred years ago. It encompasses young Mr. Simple from his first days on ship as a midshipman up through his stature as a British Lord. All in all an enjoyable read.
I love everything written by Marryat. Unlike O'Brien or Forester, Marryat's novels and short stories are largely character driven dramas that happen to be in nautical settings. But you won't miss any of the naval action. Marryat was actually there, so there is authenticity through and through. The best thing about Marryat's novels is his sense of humor. The books are laugh out loud funny, and sometimes just plain silly. It's a very refreshing change from Hornblower or Bolitho novels which are oh so serious. Mind you Marryat lived in a different era. Sometimes the prejudices and outright racism of the time creeps in which can leave a bad taste in your mouth. But in the next chapter, Marryat will show you the other side of human nature which in his case is often very charitable and kind. You really get an idea of who he was and the time he lived in, along with a great story. Peter Simple is probably the most read and the best of Marryat's work, but by no means the only one of his stories worth reading. Mr. Midshipman Easy, the Phantom Ship, and Snarleyyow should all be read. Then get into the short stories. Great great storytelling.
For those who have exhausted the Hornblower and Aubrey/Maturin novels, their cultural ancestor is Mr. Marryat. Although a 19th century author (both for good and ill), he provides the reader a good “fix” of naval adventure in this sprawling tale. It has everything— battles, storms, romance and an almost Dickens-like threat to the hero’s noble inheritance. In the vocabulary used it is possible to trace the sources that inspired Patrick O’Brian.
I gave it 4 stars because it is dated in a way that truly great novels of the period, such as Jane Austen’s, are not. Characters reappear after years, making the plot seem contrived, and the intrigue of the inheritance requires an aristocratic sensibility to appreciate, an old fashioned point of view for the American reader. The text predates computer typesetting of course and has numerous typos that will perplex readers unfamiliar with period nautical terms and annoy those who know those terms well. An example is planshear instead of planksheer (gunwale).
However, it’s a fun read that will keep your attention till the happy ending where all the strands of the narrative are neatly pulled together. Who cares if it’s contrived?
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