What is a ‘man’s’ book?

My book group has just read Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brien. Published in 1969, it is the first in the twenty-book series set in the Napoleonic wars and built around two primary characters: Jack Aubrey (the eponymous commander) and Dr Stephen Maturin, physician and naturalist, whom Aubrey recruits as his surgeon when he is given his first command. Would we like it? Some commentators and critics have described it as a ‘man’s’ book. Well, this was a red rag to a bull for the (all female) book group, if you’ll pardon the misgendered expression. So, is Master and Commander a ‘man’s’ book? And if so, why? What constitutes a ‘man’s’ book and indeed, what is a ‘woman’s’?

There are some key elements to Master and Commander that might help us answer these questions. Almost all the characters are men. The handful of women are fleeting and superficial, included to enable (or hinder) Captain Aubrey and the plot. Indeed, one of his first actions when he takes over the sloop-of-war, the Sophie, is to remove all the women. This then, is an authentically male world, but does this mean that women don’t want to read about it? Not necessarily... Another thought: large parts of this book are given over to seamanship in the Royal Navy in the eighteenth century. Very early on we learn an awful lot about how to sail a sloop, how a sloop differs from a frigate etc. It is very well written, but the language is laced with naval jargon. I love a historical novel, but I didn’t need that much technical detail, so I just skimmed it. Is that because I’m a woman? Or just that my personal interest in the details of maritime history has boundaries? And Master and Commander is about war, traditionally a man’s field. But I have spent my whole career researching and writing about women’s experience of war, so that one doesn’t work for me either. Also, much of the time they feel more like pirates than the navy which gives an added dimension to the plot.

I began the novel thinking how exciting it was to be beginning a long historical fiction series. A third of the way in I wasn’t sure. Perhaps I would never know what happens to Jack Aubrey and co after this first outing. However, as I read on, I began to be won over. I still skimmed the technical stuff, but I got the idea. I knew when they were winning and when not, and I began to be very impressed by the period detail which is immersive, and drawn to the characters who are well rounded and compelling. Jack Aubrey is flawed enough to earn the reader’s sympathy, not the conventional hero we might expect. Stephen Maturin emerges as an even more enticing and multi-layered character. By the end of the novel I found that I did want to know more and concluded that labelling Master and Commander a ‘man’s’ book is probably doing it a disservice.

Next time, what is a ‘woman’s’ book…