We Joined the Navy

by John Winton

We Joined the Navy Michael Joseph Ltd; First Edition (December 1959)

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Irish Literature, British Literature

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

A former officer in the Royal Navy, John Pratt was the author of a variety of fiction and non-fiction works published under the pen name John Winton. Pratt also served for 14 years as an obituarist for The Daily Telegraph.

Reviews

[Roland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought and read the Swedish version in 1964, a few months before I entetred the Swedish navy officers school outside Stockholm, Before I really knew what to expect. Now re-reading it 55 years later I recognized much of what life was like in the Swedish navy and on the cadet cruise. Nostalgia!

[John Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will make anyone who was in the Navy risk an early demise due to excess laughter. It captures the idiosyncrasies and personalities of the Royal Navy perfectly. Everyone you sailed with and all the silly things that happened are there.

[Geoff Woodland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read this book fifty years ago it still manages to make me laugh in parts. This was Tim Winton's first book and he went on to right 'follow-ups', of them all I liked this first one the best.

[Barbara White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this many years ago, and it’s still one of the four or five books I’ve read which made me giggle. I had to stop reading in on the underground cos people were beginning to look at me. The interview scene in particular, was really rather believable and the character of The Bodger, well I’ve met people like that, who enliven a room when they walk into it. Read it. Enjoy.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe you need to be British to appreciate it? Dry, disjointed, and with oddly ill-defined and unmemorable characters besides the drunk, this 'comic' novel set amid the post-war training of naval recruits disappoints.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and humorous. An enjoyable read. My father was in the RN for 31 years. He died in 1972 and I could almost hear him joining in with the conversations and see him in his uniform again...

[Mike Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny, I can recgnise a lot of it from my time in the RN

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

a favourite book of my father Terry who was in the Navy. The interview scene with the question is quite wonderful

[John Mangan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this book in 1963 (aged 10) having seen the film directed by Wendy Toye. To my surprise, the film took great liberties with the plot, jamming in a whole American subplot that never appeared in the book.

It was my first experience of the compromises UK film-makers once felt necessary to attract an American audience but not my last.

That said, I re-read this book only a few weeks ago and my adult self was pleasantly surprised to find how well-written it was and how funny. It also now positively reeks of the early 1960's zeitgeist although the casual sexism and racism of the period is a little harder to digest. However, that's how the world was in 1963 so let's not apply a 21st Century censure to a 20th Century artefact.

I've now finished the follow-up ("We Saw The Sea") which also maintains the wit quotient and the writing excellence of the first book and now I'm looking for more by this author.

As a piece of trivia, as an actor, I once worked with the wonderful Wendy Toye and my memories of her film brought back many fond memories and stories.

[Pauline Wharton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a book I would normally ever have read, - it follows a group of naval recruits at Dartmouth through their officer training - but I found it amongst the book swap at a caravan site on the Algarve, when I'd run out of English books to read. It turned out to be a real find, laugh aloud funny. Some of the humour is quite black. I handed it on to my husband who also found it very funny, but I must say other people I've offered it to don't seem to get it. I suppose it depends on your sense of humour, but I loved it.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've seldom laughed so much in my life while reading a book.its hilarious.