"Два адмирала" — увлекательный роман знаменитого на весь мир американского писателя Джеймса Фенимора Купера (англ. James Fenimore Cooper, 1789 – 1851).*** У пожилого баронета сэра Вичерли Вичекмоба было четыре младших брата. Трое из них погибли в молодости и остался последний — Томас. Детей у сэра Вичерли нет и он надеется оставить все наследство брату, но брат тоже умирает, и вопрос наследства остается открытым... Мировую славу Джеймсу Куперу принесли его произведения "Зверобой", "Следопыт", "Поселенцы", "Лионель Ликольн или осада Бостона", "Блуждающий огонь", "На суше и на море", "Колония на кратере", "Морские львы", "Сатанстое", "Землемер", "Краснокожие". Джеймс Фенимор Купер вошел в историю л&
James Fenimore Cooper was a popular and prolific American writer. He is best known for his historical novel The Last of the Mohicans, one of the Leatherstocking Tales stories, and he also wrote political fiction, maritime fiction, travelogues, and essays on the American politics of the time. His daughter Susan Fenimore Cooper was also a writer.
The Two Admirals does not rank as one of Cooper’s best works. Its lack of organization and sheer contempt for the rules of writing threaten the interest of the modern reader, accustomed to focused narratives with fast pacing and tidy plot lines. Cooper begins the story slowly, describing first obscure English law and then a number of characters who will ultimately prove only secondary to the plot. This introduction sets the tone of the entire book as often the amount of space given to certain characters and scenes suggests their importance to the plot when Cooper never meant them to have any significance at all. The belated introduction of the titular characters does little to advance the work if one assumes the author meant it as a nautical adventure; only after three hundred pages do the men finally take to sea. The book lacks so greatly in unity that a coherent summary of it requires the omission of most of the plot.
None of this means, however, that the story will prove uninteresting to readers, especially those who already know and love Cooper. Disappointment comes largely from the expectation that the author, in mentioning admirals in his title, meant to tell a sea tale. However, if one understands the title as referring to the friendship of the admirals and the book as a character study and not necessarily an adventure (though Cooper does ultimately deliver an exciting naval engagement), The Two Admirals provides a solid and satisfying reading experience.
Like most of Cooper's works, it's very descriptive. It would be better if I knew the difference between the main mast &the mizzen mast, but that's my problem. I used a reader so I could easily look up the definitions of words &have the French phrases translated. I liked this better than some ood his other works
A fun saga by a great author. I was worried the "old" English might be a problem and others commented that the Kindle quality of Cooper's old books left much to be desired. I found no fault with either. Simply a delightful read with multiple plots. I may look to additional classics in the near future.