Sharpe's Rifles!

[annathepiper]

Hey, framlingem! I have now finished the first of the Sharpe books, Sharpe's Rifles! Picoreview: Fun! And if a historical battle novel can be called "fluffy", that's sort of the impression I got--but that wasn't a bad thing. Definitely enjoyable, adventuresome reading.


It didn't strike me as a match for the Aubrey/Maturin novels yet in terms of strength of character development or sheer mastery of writing, which is what contributed to my finding them "fluffier" in some ways than the O'Brian books I've read so far. But again, not so much a bad thing. I definitely liked Sharpe and Harper and how they progressed from Harper trying to beat the crap out of him so the men could mutiny and leave him, to Harper grudgingly agreeing to be made his Sergeant. And the part where Harper tells one of the men that he's seen Sharpe's type before ("will fall in love with anything in a petticoat") and that it's a good thing Sharpe has him to look after him now was, indeed, priceless. ;)

I also liked Major Vivar as a character, and Louisa was a fetching spitfire! The scenes where Sharpe got all shy and embarrassed around her were what finally got me from finding Sharpe just "interesting" to "actively charming". And I was simultaneously disappointed for him that he didn't actually get the girl and relieved--since Harper was quite right in his opinion that it just wasn't Sharpe's time yet for a wife.

Many of the motivations I saw in the development of Sharpe's character were familiar to me from the Aubrey/Maturin books, things like an officer coming up out of the ranks losing his easy camaraderie with the men (we see a bit of that with Jack Aubrey in Master and Commander, the book that is) and the implicit shame of a man in his thirties still being only a Lieutenant (which we get a bit of in the film version of Master and Commander, when Jack chews out Hollom). And while Sharpe's personal history puts him further down the social ladder than Jack's does, certainly the idea of a man of low birth coming up through the ranks and achieving fame and recognition by his prowess in battle is familiar as well. So all of these combined to make me immediately sympathetic to Sharpe.

I'll definitely be buying the next one, and I'll look forward to checking out the movie adaptations to see how Sean Bean brings Sharpe to life.

Comments

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I've read them all. They are fluff. Given the time they were written (I think they started some 20 years ago), and the nature of that market, they were vey good. They stay about the same level of complexity, and there's a chunk in the middle bits were a running sub-plot gets tiresome, but all in all, they are pretty good brain-candy.

TK

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I hated the BBC series. Perhaps if I'd not read 13, or so, of them (I recall waiting with fevered annoyance for one to come into the shop... back when I was running my family's used book store), I might have been more forgiving, but I thought the acting a bit forced.

TK

[mamishka.livejournal.com]

Lemme know when you're ready to start watching Sean Bean as Sharpe. >;)

[annathepiper]

Oh, I think I'm ready! How's your schedule looking with SIFF stuff these days?

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

Really? I like them - but then, I started watching them and _then_ read the books.

I never found them particularly artistically inspired, but they were a lot of fun.

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

I never said they were Great, Thought-Provoking Literature ;) They are fun, though.

I seem to remember that Cornwell described Rifles as a "male love story", in which Sharpe needs to get Harper to like him.

Harper is King.

[annathepiper]

*giggles merrily* Doesn't have to be high lit-tra-cher to be fun, nope! And I shall indeed get to like Harper. ^_^

[annathepiper]

There's some value in just fun, fluffy entertainment! I look forward to seeing the flicks. :)

[annathepiper]

Cool, thanks for the input. Certainly they'll be more amusing brain candy than some of the other sorts of fluffy books I read sometimes. ;)

[annathepiper]

Heh, well, I figure I shall expect of the movie versions about what I'm expecting of the books: light, fluffy entertainment. ;) And since I shall be mostly watching them to see if Sean Bean is suitably ogleworthy, I shan't have terribly high expectations.