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Jonathan: Boy Seaman
A teenage boy joins the Royal Navy and finds action, adventure... and love (Includes explicit gay sexual content)
797 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 10, 2020
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9 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 29, 2020
Written about another era this still feels up to date. There's great characterisation, not just for our main characters, but those who form a team around them are well drawn. We learn about each of our core characters gradually, as we do in real life, and they become friends.
The plot is a good mixture of real life aboard a stone training frigate and a very real HMS Eagle as the characters develop, as they grow up. They age well, just enough, and keep their awe at their new world. There are Boys Own Paper adventures. The author, tongue in cheek, has one mention it to another. Without the adventures life as a Junior Rating would become a journal instead of a story.
I never needed to suspend disbelief at any point during the tale. Every element was plausible and handled well. Grey Funnel Line slang was explained simply by one of the cast not understanding it and needing to be told. I suppose bells of the watch was a technical detail too far? That mattered not at all once I realised it.
I liked both halves as I read them. Having entered the second half I found I liked it more, but the first half is simply younger lads in a different situation.
This book was good enough for me to wish for a second volume, but the writer in me thinks it is also complete as it stands.
The plot is a good mixture of real life aboard a stone training frigate and a very real HMS Eagle as the characters develop, as they grow up. They age well, just enough, and keep their awe at their new world. There are Boys Own Paper adventures. The author, tongue in cheek, has one mention it to another. Without the adventures life as a Junior Rating would become a journal instead of a story.
I never needed to suspend disbelief at any point during the tale. Every element was plausible and handled well. Grey Funnel Line slang was explained simply by one of the cast not understanding it and needing to be told. I suppose bells of the watch was a technical detail too far? That mattered not at all once I realised it.
I liked both halves as I read them. Having entered the second half I found I liked it more, but the first half is simply younger lads in a different situation.
This book was good enough for me to wish for a second volume, but the writer in me thinks it is also complete as it stands.
July 10, 2023
I’m not sure how the writer thought it was a good idea to skirt with paedophilia by normalising sexual relations between under-age men and adults, and worse, to leer like a ghoul as he wrote spanking scenes that finished with a jerk-off session.
Once I’d skimmed past those gross early scenes the rest of the book was better. He portrayed life aboard a naval vessel in the late 1960s really well, I thought, although he still couldn’t resist throwing in unnecessary sex scenes that didn’t enhance the book in any way. Even the rape scene was written erotically.
My other complaint was how every character sounded exactly the same. Honestly, I had no idea who was talking at any one time, so I just assumed the author was every character and read it this way.
I guess the title should have given itself away - Jonathan: Boy Seaman (read Semen), but I didn’t think he actually meant BOY.
Perhaps the author thought no one would care about his genuine experiences in the navy, so instead chose to write an erotica novel thinking it would generate more money. If so it’s a shame. Now perhaps he can write a real account and steer clear of dubious sex scenes.
Once I’d skimmed past those gross early scenes the rest of the book was better. He portrayed life aboard a naval vessel in the late 1960s really well, I thought, although he still couldn’t resist throwing in unnecessary sex scenes that didn’t enhance the book in any way. Even the rape scene was written erotically.
My other complaint was how every character sounded exactly the same. Honestly, I had no idea who was talking at any one time, so I just assumed the author was every character and read it this way.
I guess the title should have given itself away - Jonathan: Boy Seaman (read Semen), but I didn’t think he actually meant BOY.
Perhaps the author thought no one would care about his genuine experiences in the navy, so instead chose to write an erotica novel thinking it would generate more money. If so it’s a shame. Now perhaps he can write a real account and steer clear of dubious sex scenes.
March 6, 2022
Excellent read
This was the best book I have read for quite a while. The two main characters are gay and are able to have sexual liaisons when circumstances allowed.
These liaisons are always described very tastefully, and should not offend anyone who is unsure about reading the book and not being gay themselves might not like the serial encounters that occur.
I never served in the Royal Navy (R.N.) and as I am now disabled with Multiple Sclerosis, I obviously never will, but I enjoyed the settings both aboard HMS Eagle and the different places the ship docked at, especially Gibraltar and Valletta in Malta as these are places that I have travelled to in the past.
I cannot find any other books by Paul James Lewis, but if he did write any books as interesting as this one, I would happily read them.
This was the best book I have read for quite a while. The two main characters are gay and are able to have sexual liaisons when circumstances allowed.
These liaisons are always described very tastefully, and should not offend anyone who is unsure about reading the book and not being gay themselves might not like the serial encounters that occur.
I never served in the Royal Navy (R.N.) and as I am now disabled with Multiple Sclerosis, I obviously never will, but I enjoyed the settings both aboard HMS Eagle and the different places the ship docked at, especially Gibraltar and Valletta in Malta as these are places that I have travelled to in the past.
I cannot find any other books by Paul James Lewis, but if he did write any books as interesting as this one, I would happily read them.
June 4, 2023
Sorry, but too formulaic for me. Read 30% then put it aside. I began to think that this had originally been published as weekly / monthly episodes. Each chapter could almost stand alone as a short story.,
August 9, 2022
This was, on the whole, a really good read. I would have given 4.5 or 4.75 stars if I could - the thing that dropped it for me was the incorrect German. (It won't bother you if you don't know German so don't let this put you off reading the book.) Dass war schön doesn't actually make sense - it should be das war schön.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews