There's something about a good story of adversity at sea to get the blood pumping. Robert Louis Stevenson figured that out. He made a name for himself by writing stories of pirates. In "Mutiny on the Bounty", Nordhoff and Hall have hit a home run by writing about mutiny. Their novel takes place in 1789 - 1794 on board the British armed merchantman "Bounty", which traveled from England to Tahiti to pick up a load of Breadfruit trees with the purpose of planting the trees in the West Indies to provide a cheap source of food for slaves in the new world. Although this is a novel, the story of the mutiny is a true story, with lots of drama to go around.This story actually has five parts to it. The first part is the story of the voyage from England to Tahiti, which highlights the brutality of life in the British navy and the sacrifices of life at sea. The second part is the stay at Tahiti, which is a great description of the natives on the island and the paradise that is life in the South Pacific. The third part is the story of the mutiny itself, which is full of drama. The fourth part is the story of the trip back to England which involved imprisonment and a shipwreck and a desperate trek through thousands of miles of open ocean. The fifth part is the story of the trial of the mutineers, which was also full of drama. The story keeps the reader riveted. The characters are very well developed and the story has lots of twists and surprises. It is interesting that Captain Bligh was such a tyrannical commander. I often find it interesting that naval officers in works of fiction tend to be so much more psychotic and controlling than officers of other services. Consider Captain Queeg in the "Caine Mutiny" and Captain Ahab in "Moby Dick". Bligh may actually be the worst captain of the lot, although Nordhoff and Hall make him a complex and interesting guy. I would highly recommend "Mutiny on the Bounty" to anyone.
The British (and to a lesser degree the American) Navy in the age of sail has become a staple setting of modern English-language historical fiction, exemplified by the works of Patrick O'Brian and others. While Melville's Billy Budd and White Jacket are certainly forerunners of the trend, the main impetus to the subgenre was probably C. S. Forrester's Hornblower series; but this novel by Nordhoff and Hall was roughly contemporary with Forrester's work, and also well deserves a reading by fans of the above writers. (It's actually the opening book of a Bounty trilogy, though it's the only volume that I've read.) While it's a work of fiction, it closely follows the historical events of the H.M.S. Bounty mutiny, through the eyes of Midshipman Roger Byam, portrayed as one of the loyal crew members who were forced to remain with the mutineers because of insufficient room in the longboats used to set Bligh and his other loyalists adrift at sea (and later unjustly charged as accomplices in the mutiny).I recall the book as having a straightforward, well-written style and an eventful plot that easily held my interest (among other things, the narrator ultimately endures an open-boat sea voyage that parallels that of Bligh and his crew earlier). The fact that it has been adapted as a movie at least twice testifies to the popular interest it has evoked; and Bligh probably "enjoys" (if that's the word!) his status as an icon for bullying tyranny to the power of this literary portrayal, and the cinematic ones based on it, to brand itself in people's minds. The authors do use a significant amount of sail-age nautical jargon and naval terminology that won't be intelligible to all readers (as a teen, for instance, I had no clue what the role of a "master-at-arms" is. or was, and the names of various parts of the ship and its rigging were Greek to me), but the novel fascinated me nonetheless!
Do You like book Mutiny On The Bounty (1989)?
This is another one I read a long time ago—in 1985 I believe, the first summer I went to sea on a seismic boat. I brought books with me that were either nautical or “exotic” to my then 22 year old mind. I brought Mutiny, Moby Dick, a Borges story collection, and Guerillas by V.S. Naipaul. The latter two were “exotic” in my mind by virtue of being writers from little known (by me) third world countries. Anyway, Naipaul and Borges subsequently became two of my favorite writers. But I loved Mutiny and Moby Dick as well.Rereading Mutiny is a very interesting experience. It can’t be read quite the same way after having read all of Patrick O’Brian's novels. My knowledge of life aboard a English naval vessel in the age of sail is infinitely richer than it was in 1985. While Nordhoff and Hall don’t approach O’Brian as stylists, and are limited creatively with what they can do with the characters (since all the characters except for the narrator were real people who did actual things during and after the voyage of the Bounty, which as far as I can tell Nordhoff and Hall try to be very accurate about), the book benefits from their painstaking accuracy and unwillingness to shy from the unpleasantness associated with sea life. And it’s a ripping yarn.
—Robert W
I had never read a seafaring epic story before the classic Treasure Island and having felt yet in the mood I continued on to the well known Mutiny on the Bounty. This is a far more serious novel dealing with much more mature themes. It took me a bit of time to get into the pacing of the narrative since it follows a much more patient pace than more modern novels. At times I felt myself wishing he would get to the point more quickly but tried to chalk that up to my contemporary attention span. The authors however fill their novel with a breadth of detail that I found quite satisfying. It was easy to be enveloped in the atmosphere both aboard ship and in the tahitian paradise. If I have a strong complaint about the novel it is in the dialogue, all of which seemed to maintain such a high register even among the salty sailors that it stretched credibility. The protagonists spoke in idealized "high british" language that felt a bit forced at times. Nevertheless I found myself enjoying the story's events more and more as I neared the end.
—Nathan
I read this book over and over . . . and over . . . and over, when I was growing up. I was endlessly fascinated by the romance of the sea, the details of shipboard life, the well-drawn personalities of each of the Bounty's officers and crew, the alluring Polynesian women, and of course by the brutality of captain Bligh, the tragedy of Fletcher Christian, and the buildup of suspense around the fate of poor, innocent Roger Byam. I was shocked to learn, a few years ago, that historians have concluded that the book is essentially a whitewash job, with little basis in truth. Apparently, fletcher christian was just a spoiled brat, and byam a sneaky, sniveling turncoat who escaped justice only through the intercession of influential relatives. To me, this was even worse than discovering that Wyatt Earp was little more than a bloodthirsty bully. I still can't quite bring myself to believe it.
—Bob
