It is difficult to determine for whom Forester has written this book. On the one hand, it consists of a tone and storyline that seems to have emerged from some tale in Boy's Own, serving up goodly portions of duty and perseverance and, yes, resolution . But it also has its grisly and, for the time, almost frank sexual passages. And the arrival of its hero, Albert Brown, doesn't occur until almost one-third of the way through this short novel, after spending most of the initial character development on his wayward mother, Agatha. Then, to top it off, Brown's fate is treated almost incidentally, as I guess it would be, if seen as a token effect of battle and the arrival of "ships of iron" during World War I.

What to make of this hero, Brown? It is here that things get interesting. Brown is a creature of duty, a product of training, the compressed yield of hundreds of years of Royal Navy tradition within the empire. He is also a sociopath. Whether a young boy, a teenager, an apprentice to business, or an able bodied seaman, Brown moves through Forester's novel without an inner light, emotionless. He seems to have no soul. Conventions of commitment to mission take its place. And Albert takes action like a machine, a cog in the wheel of the navy, enduring until the ultimate moment.

This is all odd. Not only for a novel written in the jaded aftermath of World War I, which saw the emergence of pacifist fiction in both the high and popular arts. But it's also odd even in the context of writers of military action/adventure and even those still immersed in the legacy of Victorian empire. For example, I've just finished reading through H. Rider Haggard's Quatermain series. Haggard's hero is filled with self-doubt, remorse, introspection. Of course, Haggard questioned the morality of empire, but his Quatermain had a surprising depth of character for a hero of popular fiction. Forester's Brown has none of this. Yes, Brown on Resolution does contain elements of anti-war commentary, but most of that is within the context of a mechanical age that has outlawed romantic heroism. So what else could Brown be but a sociopath, a merciless killing machine who does not even feel anger or revenge as his motivation.

Again, for whom was this written? Not for a boy's adventure magazine. Not as a romance about war. But as a commentary on the dreadful nature of existence in the modern machine age? Perhaps it is targeted at those army of business clerks of the 1920s doomed to live a life that Albert only escaped from to serve in the navy--and meet with a costly end. It's a strange work of fiction. ( )

Accidentally cast away on the Pacific Island of Resolution, Leading Seaman Albert Brown, RN, waits to be rescued. It is early in the First World War and the Royal Navy is hunting German ships all over the globe. But it is not the Royal Navy that sails to Resolution but a damaged German cruiser! Armed only with a rifle L.S.Brown tries to prevent the German crew from coming on deck to effect repairs to their ship. Courage and duty.

An early Forester (1929) but with all the marks of the mature writer. A simple story, well told, with a feeling of authenticity to the technical parts.
A good read for a damp, grey and miserable winter's weekend. ( )

Written in 1929, about the First World War, it is the story of the impact of a single person, and the impact and consequences that flow from seemingly small events.

Interestingly, it is the first half of the book which I found most interesting, the story of a single man, a moment , well 5 days, out of the ordinary and all that comes from that.

A rainy day read

Bigship
10 June 2013 ( )

The story takes place on Resolution Island during the 1914-18 War.It tells of the heroism of Albert Brown,a Leading-Seaman who has been ship-wrecked and is able through pure chance to prevent the German cruiser Ziethen from sailing and wreaking havoc on British shipping. A first-class read ( )