Review: Hornblower: Flying Colours by C. S. Forester

Trade paperback, 294 pages
Published 1966 (originally 1938-39)
Acquired May 2007 
Previously read May 2008 
Reread January 2019

Flying Colours by C. S. Forester

1810-11
What is my third Hornblower book in this readthrough was in my original read of the series my final one. Back in 2008 I wrote:

This is the last of the Hornblower books that I own-- obviously it's time to make another trip to the used bookstore. Overall, this one was honestly something of a disappointment. Hornblower doesn't really succeed in this one because of his natural brilliance; he succeeds mostly because of a series of unlikely coincidences. The house he takes refuge in in France just happens to host someone sympathetic to his cause, the harbor he visits just happens to have a captured English ship there, the harbor also just happens to have a passing group of prisoners he can liberate and enlist [...], and his wife and Lady Barbara's husband just happen to die in time for a marriage. Hornblower's various marital indiscretions, though probably realistic, make him less than sympathetic, and I just don't like Lady Barbara. (God, the scene where his learning that she's taken his son in makes him feel a rush of affection aggravated me to no end. His wife taking care of the kids never seemed to do much for his feelings for her!) Still, the seafaring bits (rare though they are in this volume) never fail to disappoint as always. My least favorite book in the series so far.

This time I liked it more, and I would definitely rate it above some of the books Forester wrote later, like Hornblower and the Atropos. Yes, a lot of things go in Hornblower's favor, but the thing that makes Hornblower succeed isn't those opportunities, it's the way he seizes hold of them. He's lucky with what happens to his carriage in the snow, but taking hold of that opportunity and getting Bush and Brown out of there requires genius and determination. It's a harrowing, thrilling sequence. Though one wants some good naval adventures in a Hornblower novel, I actually felt the contrast between this book and the previous ones worked very well. It's a tragic notion that Hornblower, Bush, and Brown actually have the best time of their life while hiding in Napoleonic France-- it's a much less hard life than that in the Royal Navy. I like the different side to all three characters we get here. Brown was in the previous book, but not up to much of note; here he pops. I always like Bush's stolidness; here he puts up with an awful lot!

As always, I have thoughts on Hornblower's relationships. Here my theory that Laby Barbara is meant to show how duty constrains his personal life as much as his professional one breaks down because here Hornblower totally has an affair with Marie, which means he's cheating on Maria and on Lady Barbara! He has neither respect for the commitment he's made to Maria, nor for the torch he supposedly carries for Barbara. What is up with you, dude, except that you will take sex and affection where you can get it? (The novel carefully makes him not an initiator... it just kind of "happens.") It's weird that a man who twists himself into knots with self-control in other aspects of his life has none here, and I just don't quite know how to reconcile it with my mental image of Hornblower.

Well, I kind of do. The main thing we know about Hornblower is that Hornblower Must Suffer. He accomplishes much, but he never quite succeeds. His battle in Beat to Quarters was an amazing success that went relatively unheralded due to circumstances. So keeping him apart from Lady Barbara adds to his suffering. Though then at the end of the book, Hornblower gets everything he ever wanted, including Lady Barbara. I wasn't really into this, because I think Hornblower works best when he's scrapping, trying to make the best of a bad situation. Making him successful, rich, renowned, and loved undermines what makes Hornblower Hornblower (as we'll see in Commodore Hornblower). But Forester thought this would be his last Hornblower novel, so I can forgive a happy ending; the issue isn't really with Flying Colours, then, but with the fact that three more novels followed it chronologically.