El Ayudante del Cirujano (The Surgeon's Mate)

Escrito por Patrick O'Brian

Narrado por Martin Untrojb

Los días de Stephen Maturin en la inteligencia británica lo han metido en un lío de problemas en The Surgeon's Mate, séptimo libro de la serie de aventuras 'Aubrey-Maturin' de Patrick O'Brian.

Jack Aubrey y Stephen Maturin son ordenados a casa por el buque de despacho para llevar la noticia de su última victoria al gobierno. Pero Maturin es un hombre marcado por los estragos que ha causado en la red de inteligencia francesa en el Nuevo Mundo, y la atención de dos corsarias pronto se vuelve amenazante. La persecución que sigue a través de las nieblas y las aguas poco profundas de los Grandes Bancos es tensa -e inesperada en su culminación-.

Aubrey y Maturin deben soportar un barco fundador, capturado por los franceses, y una estancia menos que agradable en la infame prisión del templo de París. Mientras tanto, en París, Diana Villiers espera ansiosamente el regreso seguro de Maturin.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: BookaVivo
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 27 abr 2021
• ISBN: 9781638111238

Patrick O'Brian

Patrick O’Brian (1914-2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist, biographer and translator from French. His translations include Henri Charrière’s Papillon, Jean Lacouture’s biography of Charles de Gaulle and many of Simone de Beauvoir’s later works, including Les Belles Images, All Said and Done and A Very Easy Death.

Comentarios para El Ayudante del Cirujano (The Surgeon's Mate)

[kslade-1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Another great novel in the series with Capt. Jack Aubrey and his surgeon friend, Maturin.

[eilonwy_anne · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

A good installment into which to sink one's reading teeth.As he continues to stretch himself and his characters, Patrick O'Brian finds a rather different task for them to undertake than the grand cruises and endless chases of the open sea, and a setting more rich in the dangers of coastal fortifications and the looming leeshore. New characters include the droll Jagiello, and new situations abound, including some almost reminiscent of Dumas.

[darthdeverell · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

The Surgeon’s Mate, Patrick O’Brian’s seventh book in his Aubrey-Maturin series, sees Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin sheltering in Halifax, Nova Scotia after their escape as prisoners of war in Boston at the end of the previous novel. Both eagerly await a return to England, Stephen worried about Diana Villiers’ legal troubles following her connection to the American, Mr. Johnson, and Jack troubled about the running of his estate back home, where a confidence man swindled Aubrey into investing in a lead smelting operation with promises of a fortune. After returning to England, Maturin enlists Jack to aid him in a mission to turn Catalan forces defending Grimsholm Island in the Baltic against their French allegiance and to the American side. Though they succeed, Aubrey’s ship, the Ariel, runs aground on French soil in the Channel, leading to their capture. From there, Maturin must work to protect his status as an intelligence agent and secure their quick escape back to England.Like his previous novels, O’Brian perfectly recreates the world of the Napoleonic War in 1812, using Maturin’s intelligence connections to discuss much of the land war, such as Napoleon’s victory at Luetzen after his defeat in Moscow (pg. 100). The title, Surgeon’s Mate, serves as a triple entendre, referring to the ship’s surgeon’s mate, Maturin’s intelligence work (as in checkmate), and his relationship and eventual marriage to Diana Villiers, his mate. Similar to the second novel, Post Captain, this novel largely focuses on Maturin’s espionage work with he serving as the primary protagonist of the pair. This Folio Society edition reprints the original text with insets containing historical portraits and sketches to illustrate some of the scenes. A great contribution to the Aubrey-Maturin series and the first of twelve to focus on what O’Brian described as an extended 1812, with these dozen books taking place between the beginning of June 1813 and November 1813.

[kcslade · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Good addition to Capt. Aubrey / Dr. Maturin sea battle series.

[rameau_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

A welcome return to form after the previous The Fortune of War. Aubrey and Maturin are chased through the Grand Banks, have to persuade the Catalan garrison on the island fortress on Grimsholm to defect, and attempt to escape from a French prison. Lots of great moments, especially Maturin's speech on coincidence.

[mazeway · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Another winner. O'Brian is such a generous author, never tormenting our heroes more than we can bear and rewarding us with little delights.

[myfanwy_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

The Surgeon's Mate is number seven after Master and Commander, Post Captain, H.M.S. Surprise, The Mauritius Command, Desolation Island, and The Fortune of War.Last we left our friends Aubrey and Maturin, they were in the New World having just escaped Boston and succeeded in battle against an American ship. This book focuses on the consequences of the previous book's exploits. We see two unwanted pregnancies, financial ruin, and of course plenty of danger and derring-do. Most of the book focuses on Maturin, acting as an intelligence agent for the British against the French. Being an officer prisoner of war is all fun and games until he is recognized and suddenly an inconvenient delay becomes a life-threatening danger.As always, the writing is impeccable. Aubrey remains the commander with the perfect mind for making the most of the present and an abominable mind for understanding nuance and temptation and future consequences. Maturin is rational and cold but we see his heart bow yet again under the weight of Diana Villiers' presence. The characters are wonderfully fallible and the plot unpredictable. The battle may be won only to have the ship cast against a reef. An ordinary engagement between ships may change the face of the war by killing a general. You never know what will happen next!Once again, all I can say is Bravo! or should I say Huzzah! All the best to the King's Navy!

[malcrf · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

O'Brian delivers with his typical excellence. Thumping storyline, evocative prose, rich characterisation and you feel like you're reading a combination of an exhilarating page-turner and a thoroughly reasearched naval history tome.

[othemts · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

The Aubrey/Maturin series picks up where The Fortune of War left off, and the surgeon's mate of the title is not Stephen Maturin's surgical assistant but his on again/off again romantic interest Diana Villiers.I'm always turned of by the Villiers storylines because she is a dull and disagreeable character. Fortunately the Maturin-Villiers story is balance by some seafaring adventure and battles, spying and intrigue, and even our lead characters locked in a French prison. I'm a bit thrown by the timeline as it seems this book takes place 4 years prior to The Fortune of War but it's a rollicking good tale all the same

[booksfordinner · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Good God these books are incredible.

[tadad_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

One of the better volumes in a great series. The dry humor as Aubrey and Maturin make fun of each others lack of expertise outside their own field really stands out in this one. This series is still going strong.

[bragan_8 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Book seven in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series features some complications in the personal lives of its characters on land and a delicate mission for them to carry out by sea. I really enjoyed this one. Like many of them, it maybe gets a bit slow in the middle, but even during long passages about doing things with sails, I never stopped thinking happily about how much I like these characters. And the ending is fantastic, full of engaging and unexpected developments. I swear, there was one moment when I actually exclaimed out loud as I was reading.

[tjsjohanna_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

The story here covers a lot of ocean. Beginning with a chase across the Atlantic from Halifax to England, Jack and Stephen take on a key mission in the Baltic, suffer a shipwreck off the coast of France, spend time as prisoners in the Tower in Paris, before escaping to return to England. The interconnected stories are interesting and kept me reading to find out what would happen next. There are some truly poetic passages and just as many amusing ones. Jack continues inept on land, although when pressed (such as when pursuing escape from prison) his great competence comes to forefront, even out of his ship. Stephen continues to surprise.

[elenchus_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

In which Aubrey and Maturin sail from Halifax to London via Diligence, a private packet hired by the Royal Navy to carry official news of a long-awaited victory against the Americans. Villiers is aboard, not yet a British citizen, and Johnson's offense at both her departure and her taking possession again of the diamonds he bought her, the Blue Peter, are assumed responsible for the privateers giving chase through the Grand Banks. Maturin and Villiers end up in Paris to elude ensuing political and social complications. Meantime, having lost his commission to the HMS Acasta due to delays, Aubrey is asked to undertake a political and military mission to Grimsholm in command of the sloop HMS Ariel, with Maturin aboard to direct the onshore tactics. Events lead to further actions in the Channel and in France.//Jack fetching the post while at Ashgrove Cottage, intercepting the frequent letters from Miss Amanda Smith, who implies she bears his child from assignations in Halifax, and announces she needs funds in order to visit. Kimber's con of Jack's mines proves to have blossomed like a cancer in Jack's absence, and Jack begins efforts to surgically remove it by consulting Pufendorf, a lawyer recommended by Stephen, and Skinner, recommended by Blaine.Stephen presents before the Institut de France on the solitaire of Rodrigues, a personal triumph as naturalist, perhaps never to be equaled in his lifetime. Jack reminisces of his time playing Ophelia while a mid.The Baltic naval joke of naming a captured Russian ship Humbug, risking charge of mutiny for any unfortunate lieutenant on watch who must name it to his captain, on deck. [197]Imprisoned in the Temple Prison in Paris, and glimpses into the French intelligence service, leavened with a humourous sub-plot between their colleague Jagiello, a Swedish officer in the Lithuanian army, and the French maid who brings their food. Jagiello bewitches both gentleman and ladies with his looks and manner, but rivals Stephen in injury sustained aboard. In fact, Stephen again falls between ships, but Jack anticipates this and nothing comes of it. Later unfortunately, Stephen falls between a boat and the jetty, in Grimsholm, and is rescued after calling out in Catalan; it is perhaps a ruse? We meet Duhamel, D'Anglars, Durand, Colonel Hector, Fauvet, Delaris, Laurie, and Major Glapier: it is unclear who of these if any will figure in later novels. O'Brian names both a Rousseau (jailer at Temple Prison) and a Wittgenstein (Ariel's quartermaster).Babbington to the rescue in HMS Oedipus, ultimately officiating in the onboard wedding of Stephen and Diana following another fierce row over their recurring misunderstandings concerning practicality and romance in marriage.Gower's endpaper maps in the Folio Society edition a particular pleasure, detailed review of the Channel, a relevant quarter in Paris, and the Baltic; outdone only by his double-spread interior map featuring the Ariel's journey from the North Sea and through the Baltic.As ever consulting Seltzer's Chronology, Surgeon's Mate is the first of the next eleven novels "which all take place in the repeating year of 1813." If true, this is astonishing if only for all that must take place in six months (the last novel left off in June). Consider that one or more of the previous novels spanned as much as four years! Seltzer notes that in 1808, British spy James Robertson persuades the Marquis de la Romana and 15,000 Spanish [sic] troops stationed in the Baltic to defect, with Admiral Keats transporting these back to Spain; apparently the inspiration for Jack and Stephen's foray to Grimsholm.Schuyler's "Butcher's Bill" is invaluable in tracking the myriad names throughout.

[nodosaurus · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

The Surgeon's Mate is book 7 in the Aubrey-Maturin stories. This book continues following the escape from America, Jack and Stephen end up dealing with French imprisonment. The book further explores the relationship between Dr. Maturin and Diana Villiers, while we see almost nothing of Aubrey's own family. I'm continually impressed with Patrick O'Brian's knowledge, not just of the management and operation of tall ships and the British Admiralty, but of the English culture and politics as well. Of course, I'm presuming he is accurate. :)The stories are well written and I always look forward to the next adventure.