71st out of 252 books
—
297 voters
Pirate Freedom
by
Gene Wolfe
As a young parish priest, Father Christopher has heard many confessions, but his own tale is more astounding than any revelation he has ever encountered in the confessional . . . for Chris was once a pirate captain, hundreds of years before his birth.
Fresh from the monastery, the former novice finds himself inexplicably transported back to the Golden Age of Piracy, where a...more
Fresh from the monastery, the former novice finds himself inexplicably transported back to the Golden Age of Piracy, where a...more
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
November 13th 2007
by Tor Books
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The one where Chris is a novice in a 21st-century Cuban monastery until suddenly, in the night, he's thrown back to the age of piracy. The book takes the form of a memoir which a present-day Chris, now a priest, is writing as he plans how he can get back to the past and to the woman he loves.
Gene Wolfe or no Gene Wolfe, I didn't think much of this.
Chris's voice sounds really just like the writing voice of a person who doesn't write; it's straightforward to the point of being simpleminded, and it...more
Gene Wolfe or no Gene Wolfe, I didn't think much of this.
Chris's voice sounds really just like the writing voice of a person who doesn't write; it's straightforward to the point of being simpleminded, and it...more
Gene Wolfe is my favorite sci-fi author, and this book has his distinctive voice. All of his protaganists are tall, handsome (but don't think they are handsome), skilled (but don't think they are skilled), successful in strange ways, and they all follow a rather unexpected & tortuous path through life, they have amazing memories, and in general the story is told as a memoir. I wonder how close or far this description is from the author himself. This was slow to start, and not quite as engros...more
Not really one of my favorites of Wolfe's, but still has the merits of some of the others. A young priest, Chris, is inexplicably transported from modern day Cuba to the time of Buccaneers and thievery on the high seas of the Carribean. Chris wastes little time in getting wrapped up in the life of a pirate, using his education, talent, language skills, and savy to rob the Spanish at every turn. As with other Wolfe books, he makes you meet him half way by not spelling everything out. To pick up o...more
I greatly enjoyed this. I'm not sure what point the supernatural aspect played in this, other than to introduce a twist, as the story could've stood without it. Perhaps it was needed to underscore the contrast between the narrator's former life and his present one. Either way, I'm not one to tell Wolfe how to write a book.
Anyone who thinks they're into pirates, whether it's sporting a Jolly Roger on your car/jacket/courier bat or showing up for each Pirates of the Caribbean premiere, owes it to...more
Anyone who thinks they're into pirates, whether it's sporting a Jolly Roger on your car/jacket/courier bat or showing up for each Pirates of the Caribbean premiere, owes it to...more
It's not everyday you read about a time-traveling ex-pirate priest, but despite the intriguing premise, Pirate Freedom is disappointing. Like Gregor's transformation into a giant insect in Kafka's The Metamorphosis, the priest-pirate narrator is transported back in time without his knowledge or volition, yet appears unconcerned with returning to the way things were. Penniless, his hunger chips away at the narrator's resolve to live the Christian values he has been taught at the monastery where h...more
Worthless. Top complaints:
1. Poorly written. Every couple of pages the narrator says things like "many other things happened that day, but it would take too much time to list them here now." Stop telling me about all the things you aren't telling me! It happens over and over again. Unbearable.
2. Misogynist drivel. The only two female characters are (of course) both madly in love with the main character. He tries to paint the main lady as a feisty she-pirate, a spirited adventuress. According tho...more
1. Poorly written. Every couple of pages the narrator says things like "many other things happened that day, but it would take too much time to list them here now." Stop telling me about all the things you aren't telling me! It happens over and over again. Unbearable.
2. Misogynist drivel. The only two female characters are (of course) both madly in love with the main character. He tries to paint the main lady as a feisty she-pirate, a spirited adventuress. According tho...more
May 10, 2010
Norbert
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone who loves a great, thoughtful story
There was so much that was great in this story it's hard for me to figure out where to begin.
This is the tale of a boy studying in a Cuban monastery in the late 2000's who becomes a pirate in the late 1600's, told by that same boy, years later, when he is a priest. Right there that ought to tell you about the level of character development here. Like all Gene Wolfe books, you have to contend with the unreliable narrator, meaning you can't necessarily trust what you're being told, only that it's...more
This is the tale of a boy studying in a Cuban monastery in the late 2000's who becomes a pirate in the late 1600's, told by that same boy, years later, when he is a priest. Right there that ought to tell you about the level of character development here. Like all Gene Wolfe books, you have to contend with the unreliable narrator, meaning you can't necessarily trust what you're being told, only that it's...more
Based on dozens of other reviews I can see that you either like this or hate it. I liked it very much. I believe the problem for some is the tone of the narrator who is an ordained Catholic Priest. He is writing his memoirs while serving as a priest in a small parish. His tone is reflective and is (in my experience) consistent with a man who has committed himself to serving God. He is very non-judgmental and completely un-appologetic for the many terrible things that he has witnessed and done. H...more
A wonderful book. Probably the most reader friendly book I've read of Wolfe's, though I think that might contribute to the lack of a fifth star from me. There are certain things one comes to expect from Wolfe, and the need to sit down and analyze what the hell you just read is one of them. Aporia is one of Wolfe's most skillfully leveraged tools, and Pirate Freedom is (relatively) straight forward.
Again, not that that's a bad thing. If you're new to Wolfe, and not used to texts as puzzles, this...more
Again, not that that's a bad thing. If you're new to Wolfe, and not used to texts as puzzles, this...more
You know that Wolfe is going to deliver fine prose and solid characterization so the question always becomes: how is the plot? The answer: pretty good, but it didn't blow me away. It was both way too straightforward (in the straightforward pirate parts) and rather confusing (the frame story* as well as the initial Novia/Estrallita storyline). Also: if you aren't thrilled with how he writes female characters, this isn't going to change your mind about Wolfe at all. In fact, I found it quite annoy...more
It’s hard not to approach a Gene Wolfe novel with high expectations. After all, the man is responsible for some of the most brilliantly mind-bending science fiction and fantasy written in the last few decades. Such high expectations can make it hard to write an objective review (if such a thing is even possible) when the new book in question is quite good but just doesn’t blow you away like, say, his Book of the New Sun or The Wizard Knight. Make no mistake: Pirate Freedom is a great piece of fi...more
Having never read a Gene Wolfe book I didn't know what to expect besides hopefully a good Sci-Fi story. Although the book itself wasn't too bad it seemed to me that the main character was bouncing back and forth between the present (being a priest) and the past (being a pirate) without ever explaining how he was doing the time traveling. Reading other reviews people said that Chris (the main character) was writing about the pirate days as a memoir. I didn't take it that way. He seemed to be movi...more
This is so out of my league, I don't even. Apparently this author is well beloved by fantasy addicts. I couldn't make heads or tails of his writing. Seriously. It was the most bizarre thing. The main character talked about everything in such a calm, non-caring manner that read half the book without even realizing it. I kept thinking, "Oh, well, this is just the introduction... It'll get better." But it most certainly did not. For example, I believe Chris (the protagonist) goes back in time a cou...more
Pirate Freedom is a story about Father Christopher, a Catholic priest, who has heard many confessions from his parishioners. However, he decides to reveal his past as a pirate and how his own confession made him become a man of the cloth.
His adventures as a pirate made this novel akin to Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson or the Aubrey-Maturin books by Patrick O’Brian than a traditional science fiction novel or the science fantasies that Wolfe is known for.
Moreover, Wolfe is known for hav...more
His adventures as a pirate made this novel akin to Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson or the Aubrey-Maturin books by Patrick O’Brian than a traditional science fiction novel or the science fantasies that Wolfe is known for.
Moreover, Wolfe is known for hav...more
I had a little trouble in the midsection of this novel with a subplot involving two women, two men, and the narrator. Nobody broke from character, but their motivations were sometimes obscured by my own failure to keep narrative threads straight.
That said, this is a surprisingly thoughtful and genre-bending tale. Gene Wolfe writes credibly about both pirates and priests. Where other novelists would content themselves with characters who were one or the other, Wolfe uses time travel to successful...more
That said, this is a surprisingly thoughtful and genre-bending tale. Gene Wolfe writes credibly about both pirates and priests. Where other novelists would content themselves with characters who were one or the other, Wolfe uses time travel to successful...more
Recently read and enjoyed: "Pirate Freedom" and "An Evil Guest", both by Gene Wolfe. What can I tell you that will make you want to read these books? They can be dismissed as genre fiction. They are also finely-crafted page-turners you dreamily fall into and come up from blinking. A few days ago someone in a café actually had to speak loudly to me, twice, to divert my attention from the Gene Wolfe book I was reading. I smiled and begged her pardon of course, and passed the sugar bowl. Both books...more
In my reading, Wolfe's easiest and most accessible book; which has costs in profundity and power. Still an enjoyably weird Wolfe-ian story: a young almost-priest walks out of the monastery into the past, and becomes a pirate, with much swashing and buckling, and a confusing array of women who throw themselves at the poor fellow. (Actually, that last repetitive element may have been the most swashy part, and cost Wolfe a star.) The cognitive dissonance between the two professions could have been...more
Gene Wolfe's reputation is overblown. I loved The Fifth Head of Cerberus and enjoyed the collection of short stories in The Death of Doctor Island. But his longer fantasy fiction always put me off, in the same sense that being invited to play Dungeons & Dragons with a pack of socially awkward teenagers might put one off. I threw Pirate Freedom across the room halfway through, when Wolfe abandoned the effort of storytelling and simply had his time-traveling priest/pirate sit on his ass and ex...more
Apr 26, 2012
Perry Whitford
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Admirer's of superior, morally challenging ripping yarns.
A ripping good yarn from Wolfe, beautifully written in his sparse, latter-day style, but an ethically ambiguous one which has still got me scratching my head some time after finishing it, to the extent that I am beginning to have serious doubts about Wolfe'e worldview now, or at least my perspicacity in unravelling it!
Father Chris is an American priest of Sicilian descent whose father was a gangster. As a youngster he was schooled by monks in Cuba where he magically steps back in time to the 17t...more
Father Chris is an American priest of Sicilian descent whose father was a gangster. As a youngster he was schooled by monks in Cuba where he magically steps back in time to the 17t...more
Feb 18, 2012
Carl
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fantasysci-fi,
adventure
[Edit: You might want to check out my blog post about Gene Wolfe's Wizard-Knight duology. I mention this book there, and got some good comments about this book and the others from another fan. http://vikingsbooksetc.wordpress.com/... ]
Actually finished this over a month ago, along with a few other books, but with illness and teaching and other things I just haven't been able to get things posted on goodreads lately. Not much time now, but I will say that this book feels very similar to the Wizar...more
Actually finished this over a month ago, along with a few other books, but with illness and teaching and other things I just haven't been able to get things posted on goodreads lately. Not much time now, but I will say that this book feels very similar to the Wizar...more
Pirate Freedom revolves around the memoirs of a present day priest about his life as an adolescent acolyte in a modern day monastery who through some never quite explained fluke is thrown back into the golden age. Soon the protagonist is put into many situations where he experiences many situations of highs and lows, moral dilemmas, lust, love, internal strife, betrayal and forgiveness.
It is a tale of pirates, of priests, of slaves and of the wealthy. But more importantly, it is a tale of the si...more
It is a tale of pirates, of priests, of slaves and of the wealthy. But more importantly, it is a tale of the si...more
"Pirate Freedom" was remarkably good; much like virtually everything Wolfe writes. Based on his past work Wolfe has set a staggeringly high bar for himself; I now expect anything written by him to be insightful, ingenious, surprising, delightfully cryptic, staggeringly well researched, and poetic to boot. "Pirate Freedom" didn't knock my socks off by these standards, but it still shines like a jewel in the muck. It leaves you with the same feeling you get when you put down the Arthur Miller you'...more
I'll confess that I'd like to be "better" at reviewing books; all I can say, a few minutes after finishing this book, is that Wolfe is becoming one of my favorite authors. It seems to me that his great fascination is with the assertion of righteousness as well as humility, especially from the perspective of a single solider within a larger war he cannot and does not really try to understand. I don't know; maybe that's it. Still, I very much look forward to whatever books or stories of his I read...more
Gene Wolfe is getting old. I hate to acknowledge it, but it is so. This book uses what is becoming an over-used plot, the same main character (basically) as The Wizard, The Knight and Soldier of Sidon, and puts him in the Golden Age of Piracy. Despite the opposing views of a priest and a pirate, he avoids most discussions of internal turmoil by the simple expedient of lying or "forgetfulness".
In the end, the excursions to the present distract from what could be a nice adventure romp, while addi...more
In the end, the excursions to the present distract from what could be a nice adventure romp, while addi...more
Gene Wolfe is one of my favorite authors. He is a genius of narrative structure. True to form, this book is a bit of mind-bender, time-warp, wrapped in a very authentic historical pirate story. As a fan of pirate history, I've never read anything that's made the history seem so real. I recommend this to anybody that wants a cutthroat, no frills pirate story or to anybody that likes to read clever novels.
This book had all of the familiar Gene Wolfe elements that the other reviewers have mentioned, except my favorite--the crazy, mind-blowing stuff that could only come from this man's bizarre imagination. Without that, all we have here is a fast-moving, somewhat pedantic narrative full of lots of mundane details. This is one of his lesser efforts.
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Gene Wolfe is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying a Catholic. He is a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the field.
The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is given by SFWA for ‘lifetime achievement in science fict...more
More about Gene Wolfe...
The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is given by SFWA for ‘lifetime achievement in science fict...more
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“That was when I found out that the best way in the world to make yourself feel better when you have hit bottom is to try to get somebody else to feel better. There are certain things in life that are truly worth knowing, and that is one of the big ones.”
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