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Mary Read - Sailor, Soldier, Pirate
Based on the life of the infamous eighteenth century pirate, "Mary Read" is an adventure that will leave you with the stink of gunpowder in your nostrils and the roll of the open ocean under your feet. Sail against the Scottish Pretender, charge into battle against the French, and plunder the Caribbean with the Brethren of the Seas!
622 pages, Paperback
First published May 13, 2008
26 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 14, 2021
Great story
Obviously very much research went into the writing of this book. I enjoyed the story. For me there was too much information. At times I was ready for the book to end. That is the reason I gave the book a 4 star itself 5.
Obviously very much research went into the writing of this book. I enjoyed the story. For me there was too much information. At times I was ready for the book to end. That is the reason I gave the book a 4 star itself 5.
August 18, 2012
Better deserving 3.5 stars than 3, this is an excellently researched novel of the life of Mary Read, one of history's female pirates. If I could have given 5 stars for research alone I would have.
However as a novel, it's a little disappointingly realised, mainly because the psychology of the main character seems a little unconnected from events. For instance the many battles she's involved in don't seem to affect her at a deeply personal level, except to propel her into a different sphere of work when she decides she's had enough. She's raped at a young age, but seems to forget about it entirely until she next sees the officer, at which point she decides to kill him. She reacts to events, but there's little sense of sustained development or change. Since character development is more of a fictional concern than an historical one, I wonder if the choice to make this a novel was the right one?
There's also a kind of flatness to the battle sections; first person is a narratorial position of extreme subjectivity, but most of the battle scenes are told largely in overview. This gave the main character a non-participatory feel. Despite the accuracy of clothing, manner and other details, there's something missing from the novel as a whole.
I'd say this is well worth the read for anyone curious about female pirates and piracy; however it's far more successful in its historical details than as a novel.
However as a novel, it's a little disappointingly realised, mainly because the psychology of the main character seems a little unconnected from events. For instance the many battles she's involved in don't seem to affect her at a deeply personal level, except to propel her into a different sphere of work when she decides she's had enough. She's raped at a young age, but seems to forget about it entirely until she next sees the officer, at which point she decides to kill him. She reacts to events, but there's little sense of sustained development or change. Since character development is more of a fictional concern than an historical one, I wonder if the choice to make this a novel was the right one?
There's also a kind of flatness to the battle sections; first person is a narratorial position of extreme subjectivity, but most of the battle scenes are told largely in overview. This gave the main character a non-participatory feel. Despite the accuracy of clothing, manner and other details, there's something missing from the novel as a whole.
I'd say this is well worth the read for anyone curious about female pirates and piracy; however it's far more successful in its historical details than as a novel.
November 12, 2016
As you can see by the other reviews, this book is quickly gaining a following. I am a maritime historian and not particularly drawn to reading fiction about pirates. Still, one day, while searching for some very specific detail on Bahamian characters, Cherie Pugh's name popped up. Pugh's historical detail stood out (no mild thing to a pirate historian like myself) so much that I had to get a Kindle copy... for the historical bits, mind you. While reading it, I was blown away by the writing! The characters are believable, vibrant, with real feelings... Mary Read herself is a complex character and a character of the modern day as well as the 18th century. I would recommend this book to readers of both fiction and non-fiction... to learn what it was like to be a woman in a man's world, the legal intricacies of being a pirate... if only to feel the briny breezes brushing your hair while riding ocean swells! This book gets to you...
March 9, 2016
Women Pirates
After watching Black Sail I became intrigued to learn more about women pirates and details of their lives. This book helped answer some of those questions.
After watching Black Sail I became intrigued to learn more about women pirates and details of their lives. This book helped answer some of those questions.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews