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The Gun
It is the time of Napoleon. The place is Spain, where his troops are busy propping up Joseph, Napoleon's brother, as king. Spaniards hate a master, and rebel. They fight a desperate, protracted, bitter and merciless guerilla war.
Into the hands of a guerilla band falls a remarkable cannon, an 18-pounder that transforms the rebels into a besieging army. With the gun they reduce fortresses, annihilate outposts, break the French in the field. In all this the guerillas are helped by English sea power.
"As the story of the Penisular War unfolds, as the gun is wheeled by its desperate men into the breach time and again, we come to love and trust the ungainly thing. Another of C.S. Forester's remarkable achievements." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)
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First published January 1, 1933
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About the author
C.S. Forester
236 books977 followersCecil Scott Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith, an English novelist who rose to fame with tales of adventure and military crusades. His most notable works were the 11-book Horatio Hornblower series, about naval warfare during the Napoleonic era, and The African Queen (1935; filmed in 1951 by John Huston). His novels A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours were jointly awarded the 1938 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.
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September 9, 2020This is the book which the Hollywood film The Pride and the Passion was inspired by . Being a Hollywood film the role of typical Spanish peasant was played by Frank Sinatra, while that of typical Spanish peasant woman was played by the Marchioness of Licata Scicolone Murillo, and the role of typical British hero was played by Cary Grant who iirc was from Bristol.
The story the book tells is rather like that of one of those films from the 1970s set in a post apocalyptic world in which some people put armour plating on a school bus which thus becomes the ultimate weapon of war, capable of defeating roving biker gangs or small to moderate sized armies.
In this case the ultimate weapon is an antique 18 pounder bronze cannon, most of the time Forester tells us how unwieldy and unmanoeurable this monster is, but by the end of the book he gets a bit bored of this this and it turns out to be quite zippy when it suits the plot.
The plot is that during the Peninsula war this monstrous gun is abandoned by retreating Spanish forces, then recovered by Spanish Guerrillas who then use it to turn the tide of the war and defeat Napoleon .
The book today might be categorised as Young Adult, though as it is inspired by Goya's the Horrors of War, it might be a bit dark than the typical book for today's youthful reader, but I would assume that Forester was targeting the age group who had finished reading King Solomon's mines and were ready for similar tales of adventure and daring and casual patriotism - because the secret of the mega cannon's success is BRITISH gunpowder which is not only superior to all others but is also available for purchase, please contact your dealer for credit terms and conditions - but hurry, because at these prices stocks can't last forever. Ahem, excuse me.
Anyway. Moving swiftly on, this is one of those books that doesn't seem to have been plotted or planned out by the author, but appears to have been made up as he went along - unlike his later book The Ship. So he runs with a main character (or an idea) for a while, then drops them in favour of somebody else. Though you might argue that the cannon itself is the main character, he certain gets to speak and quite loudly, and serves as love interest for several bold men,but lacks agency, direction or development. About page 100 I wondered where the story was going, but rather like that armoured school bus in a post apocalyptic wasteland, it is going nowhere in particular. Despite which it is a decent page turner.
Suitable for publication and enforced distribution among all the British Isles (God Save the Queen!), but liable to cause bemusement among Spanish readers who may raise an eyebrow at being told that Guerrilla war against the French was sustained purely by British efforts. Curiously the book features precisely one named female character, who remains naked and silent in bed for a couple of pages while her lover has an important conversation. This is a very male book, replete in phallic symbolism, that might leave you with the impression that war is a battle of the penises - which the best bronze one wins - just beware of getting lost in the bushes or stuck in the wrong hole. Beware of letting this book fall into the hands of overly impressionable teenagers, who might be inspired on the basis of it to think that because they have seen a war film or two that they can aim and fire a piece of artillery and conduct a siege.
The story the book tells is rather like that of one of those films from the 1970s set in a post apocalyptic world in which some people put armour plating on a school bus which thus becomes the ultimate weapon of war, capable of defeating roving biker gangs or small to moderate sized armies.
In this case the ultimate weapon is an antique 18 pounder bronze cannon, most of the time Forester tells us how unwieldy and unmanoeurable this monster is, but by the end of the book he gets a bit bored of this this and it turns out to be quite zippy when it suits the plot.
The plot is that during the Peninsula war this monstrous gun is abandoned by retreating Spanish forces, then recovered by Spanish Guerrillas who then use it to turn the tide of the war and defeat Napoleon .
The book today might be categorised as Young Adult, though as it is inspired by Goya's the Horrors of War, it might be a bit dark than the typical book for today's youthful reader, but I would assume that Forester was targeting the age group who had finished reading King Solomon's mines and were ready for similar tales of adventure and daring and casual patriotism - because the secret of the mega cannon's success is BRITISH gunpowder which is not only superior to all others but is also available for purchase, please contact your dealer for credit terms and conditions - but hurry, because at these prices stocks can't last forever. Ahem, excuse me.
Anyway. Moving swiftly on, this is one of those books that doesn't seem to have been plotted or planned out by the author, but appears to have been made up as he went along - unlike his later book The Ship. So he runs with a main character (or an idea) for a while, then drops them in favour of somebody else. Though you might argue that the cannon itself is the main character, he certain gets to speak and quite loudly, and serves as love interest for several bold men,but lacks agency, direction or development. About page 100 I wondered where the story was going, but rather like that armoured school bus in a post apocalyptic wasteland, it is going nowhere in particular. Despite which it is a decent page turner.
Suitable for publication and enforced distribution among all the British Isles (God Save the Queen!), but liable to cause bemusement among Spanish readers who may raise an eyebrow at being told that Guerrilla war against the French was sustained purely by British efforts. Curiously the book features precisely one named female character, who remains naked and silent in bed for a couple of pages while her lover has an important conversation. This is a very male book, replete in phallic symbolism, that might leave you with the impression that war is a battle of the penises - which the best bronze one wins - just beware of getting lost in the bushes or stuck in the wrong hole. Beware of letting this book fall into the hands of overly impressionable teenagers, who might be inspired on the basis of it to think that because they have seen a war film or two that they can aim and fire a piece of artillery and conduct a siege.
May 23, 2020
One of my favorite Forester novels. Have reread multiple times.
***
See that many reviews refer to 'The Gun' as an 18-pounder, referring to the weight of the shot. On page 7, Forester writes about the accident that caused the retreating Spanish army to abandon the gun: " ... It would take hours to put that three tons of bronze on to its wheels again."
***
quoting the opening paragraph:
"A defeated army was falling back through the mountains from Espinosa. Such was its condition that an ignorant observer would find it easier to guess that it had been defeated than that it had been an army. The twenty thousand men of whom it was composed were strung out along twenty miles of road; its sick and its dead littered the edges of the road for a hundred miles to the rear. At the head came such of the cavalry as were fortunate enough still to have horses to ride; they felt safer there than in their proper place covering the retreat. Next came the infantry in groups, in herds, or in ones and twos. Their white Bourbon uniforms were now in strips and tatters, and the skin, blue with disease and cold, showed through the rents. Perhaps half of them still retained their muskets, and of these perhaps a quarter had bayonets as well. Here and there little groups still displayed some soldierly bearing, and marched steadily beneath the cased regimental colours, but these groups were few, for most of the colours had been lost at Espinosa." ...
page 4 - "The very last unit in the Spanish column--if we except the dying--was a bigger, heavier, and more imposing gun than the iron six-pounders which led the artillery column. Thirteen feet long it was, and two feet in diameter at the breech and a foot in diameter at the muzzle. It was an eighteen-pounder bronze gun, of that handsome dark alloy which is still known as 'gunmetal.' ...
spoilers follow:
page 272 - "An eighteen-pounder round of canister contained four hundred musket balls. The thin tin box which held them served to lessen their spread just a little, like the choke bore of a shot gun. Four hundred bullets were flung at once with precision into the flank of the advancing lines. No infantry battalion--not even an English one--could have fired a volley of such deadliness. The Guard staggered with the shock."
page 275 - "Jorge eyed the lengthening distance between his gun and the target and called for grapeshot. An eighteen-pound round of grape contains only thirty balls, each a little more than half a pound each, but thirty balls, each claiming its two or three victims, can smash a hole in a mass of human bodies. ..."
***
See that many reviews refer to 'The Gun' as an 18-pounder, referring to the weight of the shot. On page 7, Forester writes about the accident that caused the retreating Spanish army to abandon the gun: " ... It would take hours to put that three tons of bronze on to its wheels again."
***
quoting the opening paragraph:
"A defeated army was falling back through the mountains from Espinosa. Such was its condition that an ignorant observer would find it easier to guess that it had been defeated than that it had been an army. The twenty thousand men of whom it was composed were strung out along twenty miles of road; its sick and its dead littered the edges of the road for a hundred miles to the rear. At the head came such of the cavalry as were fortunate enough still to have horses to ride; they felt safer there than in their proper place covering the retreat. Next came the infantry in groups, in herds, or in ones and twos. Their white Bourbon uniforms were now in strips and tatters, and the skin, blue with disease and cold, showed through the rents. Perhaps half of them still retained their muskets, and of these perhaps a quarter had bayonets as well. Here and there little groups still displayed some soldierly bearing, and marched steadily beneath the cased regimental colours, but these groups were few, for most of the colours had been lost at Espinosa." ...
page 4 - "The very last unit in the Spanish column--if we except the dying--was a bigger, heavier, and more imposing gun than the iron six-pounders which led the artillery column. Thirteen feet long it was, and two feet in diameter at the breech and a foot in diameter at the muzzle. It was an eighteen-pounder bronze gun, of that handsome dark alloy which is still known as 'gunmetal.' ...
spoilers follow:
page 272 - "An eighteen-pounder round of canister contained four hundred musket balls. The thin tin box which held them served to lessen their spread just a little, like the choke bore of a shot gun. Four hundred bullets were flung at once with precision into the flank of the advancing lines. No infantry battalion--not even an English one--could have fired a volley of such deadliness. The Guard staggered with the shock."
page 275 - "Jorge eyed the lengthening distance between his gun and the target and called for grapeshot. An eighteen-pound round of grape contains only thirty balls, each a little more than half a pound each, but thirty balls, each claiming its two or three victims, can smash a hole in a mass of human bodies. ..."
April 4, 2016
This may perhaps be C.S. Forester's best novel, a non-Hornblower, standalone story. Its main character is a hulking, 18-pounder bronze cannon, apparently of venerable age even before the time of this story, Spain during the Napoleonic war. This gun, well-ornamented with heraldry and a Bible quote at its muzzle -- "And our mouths shall show forth Thy praise" -- is adrift in a grim period of Spanish history, a war of no mercy between occupying French forces and Spanish guerrilla bands. The gun falls in with one such rough band and the story follows it through all the chaos and savagery, as new characters roll the gun to new battles and sieges, seeing in this gun perhaps a key to destroying the hated French at last.
Forester paints a dark canvas worthy of Goya, and misses little of the cruelty and violence of the times, as characters come and go (or die, mostly) along the gun's progress. It's a magnificent epic, well-told -- the Hollywood film "Pride and the Passion" didn't do it justice. This novel, and Forester's The General, are brilliant in evoking a time, place and conflict, even more so than the Hornblower series. Highest recommendation.
Forester paints a dark canvas worthy of Goya, and misses little of the cruelty and violence of the times, as characters come and go (or die, mostly) along the gun's progress. It's a magnificent epic, well-told -- the Hollywood film "Pride and the Passion" didn't do it justice. This novel, and Forester's The General, are brilliant in evoking a time, place and conflict, even more so than the Hornblower series. Highest recommendation.
February 6, 2017
There was only one reason for me to read this: it was where my devotion to reading began.
Although there was a brief, earlier period in which I got through a fair amount of young person's literature, mainly the Jennings novels by Anthony Buckeridge and things like Just William, Biggles and Billy Bunter, and a few dubious youth-cult pulp-novels about skinheads and bikers. Then I stopped reading recreationally.
Throughout "big" school, my only connection to books was whatever title was set for English lessons. The Gun was one of the last set books before my final exam in English Literature. I remember it was a hot summer's day and I'd taken to revising in the garden, sitting on the dry lawn with my exercise books and text books scattered about me. I was supposed to be revising Geography but was fed up with it; it proved to be my worst subject, a resounding fail. In the heat of the afternoon, I stopped cribbing about oxbow lake formation, limestone seams and strata. Casting my eyes around the lawn at the books, I picked up the only one which remotely promised entertaining distraction from boring revision, and I did something that we never did once in class, when studying prose: I started reading the first sentence on page one, chapter one.
Any prejudice I may have harboured towards literature fell away. This was really reading!; I remembered doing that, experiencing enjoyable escapism. I kept reading for a while, forgot about geography, took the exam, failed the exam, but I rediscovered books. And it's all down to The Gun.
My tastes have probably developed over the years and I cannot say I liked The Gun as much as I imagined I might. It's a no angles, period military yarn featuring heroes and battles. The writing is engaging enough, and I dare say it's well informed with detail about regimental uniforms and terminology, but the subject isn't my cup of tea. Still, I'm grateful to it for turning me on to regular and continuous reading, and I'm satisfied to have revisited The Gun and ticked a box.
Although there was a brief, earlier period in which I got through a fair amount of young person's literature, mainly the Jennings novels by Anthony Buckeridge and things like Just William, Biggles and Billy Bunter, and a few dubious youth-cult pulp-novels about skinheads and bikers. Then I stopped reading recreationally.
Throughout "big" school, my only connection to books was whatever title was set for English lessons. The Gun was one of the last set books before my final exam in English Literature. I remember it was a hot summer's day and I'd taken to revising in the garden, sitting on the dry lawn with my exercise books and text books scattered about me. I was supposed to be revising Geography but was fed up with it; it proved to be my worst subject, a resounding fail. In the heat of the afternoon, I stopped cribbing about oxbow lake formation, limestone seams and strata. Casting my eyes around the lawn at the books, I picked up the only one which remotely promised entertaining distraction from boring revision, and I did something that we never did once in class, when studying prose: I started reading the first sentence on page one, chapter one.
Any prejudice I may have harboured towards literature fell away. This was really reading!; I remembered doing that, experiencing enjoyable escapism. I kept reading for a while, forgot about geography, took the exam, failed the exam, but I rediscovered books. And it's all down to The Gun.
My tastes have probably developed over the years and I cannot say I liked The Gun as much as I imagined I might. It's a no angles, period military yarn featuring heroes and battles. The writing is engaging enough, and I dare say it's well informed with detail about regimental uniforms and terminology, but the subject isn't my cup of tea. Still, I'm grateful to it for turning me on to regular and continuous reading, and I'm satisfied to have revisited The Gun and ticked a box.
February 2, 2021
Surprisingly unfocused work. The protagonist is "The Gun" itself. While the story of the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion is spread out over three different partisan heroes who take up command over an 18 pound siege gun. Their fates fall indifferently compared to that of the great cannon. All three come from varied, impoverished backgrounds. But they all rise to the occasion in a sort of Darwinian struggle to oust invaders from their territory. This novel carries the whiff of grape shot and cannister fire. But it never sells enough interest into the people fighting--on either side.
Note about the film version: This is an instance in which the film version, The Pride and the Passion, succeeded where the novel failed. Even the presence of a mini-gangster like Frank Sinatra couldn't detract from the sense of greater glory that Cary Grant and Sophia Loren created.
Note about the film version: This is an instance in which the film version, The Pride and the Passion, succeeded where the novel failed. Even the presence of a mini-gangster like Frank Sinatra couldn't detract from the sense of greater glory that Cary Grant and Sophia Loren created.
September 28, 2017
This is a book about the French Invasions of Spain and a cannon used throughout the war by several Spanish armies and rebels. It is a story about war and the massacres that it brings to the lives of the men who fight for freedom and the invaders who want more power.
At the beginning the premisse sounds good and the story development has a nice pace, however, near the end, it starts to be a little bit boring and the pace seems to slow a bit. The stranger thing? The only woman in the book appears in the last three pages...
Overall it is a good book, specially if the reader wants to know more about Spain or the French Invasions of the Iberian Peninsula.
At the beginning the premisse sounds good and the story development has a nice pace, however, near the end, it starts to be a little bit boring and the pace seems to slow a bit. The stranger thing? The only woman in the book appears in the last three pages...
Overall it is a good book, specially if the reader wants to know more about Spain or the French Invasions of the Iberian Peninsula.
December 23, 2010
Wow, is this a boring narrative written for the post WWII adolescent market. All narrative, little dramatic story telling. The main character is a giant bronze gun that Spanish partisans use to slaughter the French Infantry. Forester wrote a bad story, yet, nevertheless, he really knows how to tell a story. Skip this one.
September 24, 2015
After the richness of the Hornblower series, I found this story somewhat dry. There just was not enough energy in it. The star of the story is a big bronze eighteen-pounder cannon that Spanish guerrillas steal from French forces during the Peninsular War. The effects that The Gun has on the lives of the freedom fighters is a study but I never became highly enthusiastic.
June 4, 2025
The premise is cool and it is a really unique way to tell the story. Definitely learnt a lot about the Peninsular War. Although you don’t stay long with the characters they are developed enough for their actions to be engaging. However, by the end I was finding it repetitive. Maybe that was the point. The cycles of war and all. Mainly though it was an enjoyable read. Forestor is a very vivid writer and at times you can forget that he was not actually there.
February 5, 2021
To my mind probably his best book - believe I liked it even better than the (great) Hornblower novels and the (magnificent) The Ship (which only a few days ago I rated four(-plus) stars, suddenly realizing, on reading Goodreads reviews, that I'd read that a long time ago). Fine rendition on Youtube by a mr. Richard Brown (?) - see my comment there.
September 23, 2023
A favourite author from decades past and I was thrilled to discover a work I had not read. It did not disappoint - a great tale, masterfully told. A bit of history and cultural insight. Written 90 years ago and no sign of being dated.
May 29, 2022
I love CS Foresters Hornblower series those looking forward to this one. Really enjoyable story about an 18 pounder gun. It switches many hands during the Franco Spanish war in the 1800s. I really enjoy his writing in this book reminded me a lot of Hemingway's style of writing.
July 26, 2012
A few years ago I read Forester's Hornblower series of books and thoroughly enjoyed them so when I was given this book I was very enthusiastic about reading it. Sadly I was a somewhat disappointed with it.
The book is the story of an old ornate artillery piece abandonned by the defeated regular Spanish Army, during their battle against the French during the Peninsula War, which is found and pressed into service by freedom fighters as they attempt to harry the French rearguard. Before discovering the gun the guerillos can merely harry the French garrisons supply lines but with it they are more able to take the battle to the garrisons themselves. As their success grows so other groups of guerillos join the force with whomever is in command of the gun has overall command of these disparate groups. This however,presents problems of another kind and is no guarantee of survival.
There are some interesting character vignettes but the real star of the show is the gun itself. For this reason the story is told somewhat along the lines of a history textbook and a rather dry with little zip because of it.
Before reading this I knew very little about the Peninsula War so at least my knowledge of that conflict has broadened a little more, that alone made it an interesting book but I'm afraid only an average one IMHO.
The book is the story of an old ornate artillery piece abandonned by the defeated regular Spanish Army, during their battle against the French during the Peninsula War, which is found and pressed into service by freedom fighters as they attempt to harry the French rearguard. Before discovering the gun the guerillos can merely harry the French garrisons supply lines but with it they are more able to take the battle to the garrisons themselves. As their success grows so other groups of guerillos join the force with whomever is in command of the gun has overall command of these disparate groups. This however,presents problems of another kind and is no guarantee of survival.
There are some interesting character vignettes but the real star of the show is the gun itself. For this reason the story is told somewhat along the lines of a history textbook and a rather dry with little zip because of it.
Before reading this I knew very little about the Peninsula War so at least my knowledge of that conflict has broadened a little more, that alone made it an interesting book but I'm afraid only an average one IMHO.
January 17, 2020
During the Napoleonic Wars a group of Spanish peasants come across a great siege piece, an 18 pound cannon. They take it upon themselves to use this bounty to throw the French out of their country. What follows is an epic journey across Spain against the greatest army Europe had seen since the Romans.
The gun acts as a talisman. Each man in turn that gains control of it gains great power. The peasants and the partisans flock to follow whoever has the cannon, with the idea of being part of a great victory over the invaders. Each man who controls the cannon responds to his newfound power in different ways. Some are simple opportunists, some true military leaders, some become tyrants, and one is inspired beyond his station to achieve great things. While the tales of great battles and sieges is engaging, the true story is about people. The leaders, both among the Spanish and the French, are revealed in their true character. As with most of Forester's stories, the battle scenes are fantastic but the real object is the development of fighting men faced with both adversity and triumph. A great novel of campaign and leadership.
The gun acts as a talisman. Each man in turn that gains control of it gains great power. The peasants and the partisans flock to follow whoever has the cannon, with the idea of being part of a great victory over the invaders. Each man who controls the cannon responds to his newfound power in different ways. Some are simple opportunists, some true military leaders, some become tyrants, and one is inspired beyond his station to achieve great things. While the tales of great battles and sieges is engaging, the true story is about people. The leaders, both among the Spanish and the French, are revealed in their true character. As with most of Forester's stories, the battle scenes are fantastic but the real object is the development of fighting men faced with both adversity and triumph. A great novel of campaign and leadership.
December 30, 2019
Coming to this from only knowing the film The Pride and the Passion, the book was not what I was expecting. (Essentially the film and the book have only the gun itself and Spain in common).
I enjoyed the book, though the tale was told in a very matter of fact, passionless way - but I have come to expect and accept this from Forester.
I enjoyed the book, though the tale was told in a very matter of fact, passionless way - but I have come to expect and accept this from Forester.
July 25, 2011
A classic of military historical fiction, an old school good book. Forester influenced Bernard Cornwall in writing Sharpe, but Forester's books, though fewer, are better.
September 1, 2019
Vintage Forester. Always a pleasure.
October 11, 2022
I was very disappointed with this book. I accept that it is one of the author's early books, but I found it difficult to follow the writing style. The sentence construction is, for the most part, awkward and clumsy. It did not flow easily, as it could have done with more forethought.
By the time "CSF" had moved on to Hornblower, he appears to have modified his style and thus made reading the text much easier. If I could make one criticism, it would be that not everyone is able to understand the finer points of sailing. Too much technical jargon makes it difficult to visualise the scenes described. However, I have read all the Hornblower novels, most of them twice, and would recommend them to anyone who likes such period works, eg Alexander Kent and his Richard Bolitho novels. Or Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe's exploits. not forgetting the Viking novels involving his fictitious hero "Uhtred of Bebbanburg".
By the time "CSF" had moved on to Hornblower, he appears to have modified his style and thus made reading the text much easier. If I could make one criticism, it would be that not everyone is able to understand the finer points of sailing. Too much technical jargon makes it difficult to visualise the scenes described. However, I have read all the Hornblower novels, most of them twice, and would recommend them to anyone who likes such period works, eg Alexander Kent and his Richard Bolitho novels. Or Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe's exploits. not forgetting the Viking novels involving his fictitious hero "Uhtred of Bebbanburg".
October 5, 2022
Let's hop into the way-back machine and get off in the spring of 1973 in Boulder, Colorado. We find ourselves in the Glen Miller Ballroom in the UMC building, where, on a Friday(Saturday?) evening the championship match of the 1973 U. of Colorado Trivia Bowl is taking place. Ramona and Her Trained Burro Bob(them) versus Gregorian Chance(us). The toss-up question at hand asks for the title of a war/adventure film starring Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren and Cary Grant. The question may have also referenced this book, the one on which the film was based. I KNEW the answer, but my brain would not release it to my tongue. As a team we played poorly and lost the match. I contributed to the poor performance(I choked), although we did come back the next year with a somewhat different lineup and won the thing. Still... one ALWAYS remembers the screw-ups.
November 21, 2021
This is a bit dry even by C.S.Forester's standards. The Hornblower novels even have has the hero a man who is often awkward and slow to join in a joke. Possibly Mr. Forester in similar. What he does so well always is to capture the feel of a time with attention to historical detail and thoughtful placement in plot. This novel is no exception though the plot is certainly simple enough. Simple but unusual in that the central hero of the piece is primarily the gun. It's controllers are relatively thinly drawn and pretty much as soon as they start to get interesting they lose control of the gun / die. The novel is set in the Peninsula War and is in the hands of a Spanish junta using it to good effect to recapture cities in the plains.
October 28, 2022
I read this in an urge to try reading more "short books". This was an interesting choice for me as I don't read much military fiction. The story mainly focuses on ... well, a gun. It's an unusual piece of work and it has an unusual focus. It works quite well though it can at times be a little dry, but it was interestingly done. I liked how the gun was woven into the story. It's a story I think I'd like to come back to and reread again some day, but after having let it settle for a while. I think I'd get more out of it and may enjoy it more.
April 5, 2018
Brief novel about the triumphs of an eighteen-pound siege gun as it passes from guerilla to guerilla, inspiring a Spanish rebellion on the plains against the tyrant Napoleon. From the pen of C.S. Forester, best known for his Horatio Hornblower books, "The Gun" demonstrates that Forester is as good on land as he is upon the seas. For those who insist it's not a Forester book without a ship, well -- there is a naval scene.
June 3, 2024
Gripping account of life as a Spanish guerrilla fighter in the Peninsular Wars. The huge cannon is dug up from underneath a pile of rubble then trundled across the mountains to bombard towns occupied by the invading French. The gun has a character and journey of its own as different men take over its command, diverting the French away from Wellington is doing in the south. Great account of the hardships faced by the Spanish in this period.
May 7, 2020
Good but weak ending
Recommended to soldiers and politicians who are in a position to send fight people to their deaths. Also of interest are the seeds of irregular war, and its direct translation to other Spanish speaking areas of the new world. Should be read with Rifleman Dodd.
Recommended to soldiers and politicians who are in a position to send fight people to their deaths. Also of interest are the seeds of irregular war, and its direct translation to other Spanish speaking areas of the new world. Should be read with Rifleman Dodd.
October 12, 2020
A set text when I was 11. It’s a very skilful novel about the Peninsular War, unusual in that the main protagonist is the gun itself (no human character survives from one end of the book to the other). The narrative is closely focused, finely-grained, and unsentimental. It is also probably responsible for much of my cultural attitude to the French, the Spanish, and Catholic priests.
June 6, 2022
Enjoyable story about the futility of war and the hazards of power. The writing has good momentum and few frills - for a book about chest-beating warfare, Forester is pleasantly sparse on descriptions of the battles themselves. Sometimes he quite literally says that it isn't worth describing. Makes for an enjoyable read - would have rated higher if I found the subject matter more engaging.
March 4, 2018
Another book that I read after seeing the movie as a youngster. The book was better but the movie was enjoyable.
November 19, 2019
A rip roaring yarn set in the peninsula war
January 1, 2021
An excellent anti-war war book.
January 4, 2021
A boy's book. Gory, revolting and pointless.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews