Joaquim Rocha
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Book review: Mutiny on the Bounty

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    Joaquim Rocha
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  • Principal Software Engineering Manager at Microsoft

Mutiny on the Bounty Mutiny on the Bounty by John Boyne

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was offered to me and, having read some good critics about the author’s previous books, specially “The Boy in Striped Pajamas”, I was looking forward to check how this book was and put my dislike of nautical adventures behind my back.

The books tells the (mis)adventures of 14 year old John Jacob Turnstile on board the HMS Bounty from his own thoughts and words. Turnstile gets the position of Captain’s servant boy as an alternative to spend time in jail after getting caught in an act of thievery. While the ship heads towards Tahiti, the young boy shows the reader how hard life on the sea can be and how harder it seems to have been in the 18th century.

While all this seems like an interesting adventure to read about, I found most of the book quite boring. Page after page I was think there were more words used to make it sound like 18th century’s English than actually to tell interesting events and catching the attention of the reader. Things move really slowly in the book. I was urging for the mutiny to happen in hope that the book got more interesting. Surprisingly, a while after the mutiny (you realize I’m trying to avoid any spoilers here by not mentioning what exactly happened that while after), the events seem to suggest that then would come some new and interesting things but it seems the book enters in fast forward mode and the whole story is finished in just a few pages leaving you with a feeling that either the pages number was too much for the author to keep writing or he was running out of time and had to rush things.

I would recommend this book only if you are a fan of reading about sea adventures in past centuries. If you do not specially enjoy such a scenario for an adventure, then do not read this book, the pace is slow and and it make you feel you are wasting your time.

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