Off The Bookshelf US -Books The Pyrates The Pyrates New & Used The Pyrates Books CDS DVD's Nusic Electronics

Search Books - select a category

Buy The Pyrates online at Discounted New and Used prices. Delivered to your door with Off-The-Bookshelf.

The Pyrates
by: George MacDonald Fraser

Used Price: $212.79

Binding: Audio Cassette
EAN: 9781856959698
Format: Audiobook
ISBN: 1856959694
Label: ISIS Audio Books
Manufacturer: ISIS Audio Books
Publication Date: 1995-04
Publisher: ISIS Audio Books
Studio: ISIS Audio Books
Sales Rank: 6156766

Related Items:

Editorial Review:

Product Description:
On the far side of history, where only wild writers and film producers dare to venture - out yonder, in the old days and on the seas of high adventure, there were pyrates. They were a desperate crew.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- One of his best.
First something becomes a cornerstone of society then you parody it and that is when things start to get fun. Think of a book that you would write if you could jam every conceivable plot clique and character into 600 pages; Friaser did all that.

In typical buccaneer fashion there are damsels in distress, great escapes, sword fights, evil Spaniards, upright British officers, rouges a treasure, great men of the age and a whole lot more. There is also a handy 30 pages or so at the end to help the unwary separate fact from fiction.

A very good investment all round solid gold.

Rating:

- A tale that must be told
A brilliant book by one of my favorite authors. I stumbled on it by accident, while looking for Flashman. In a sense, this is even better: Flashie can sometimes get repetitive, but Fraser keeps this one moving. Virtually everyone and everything plays out in strict accordance with Pirate Cliche, with the exception of the cliffhanger ending. Walls between the narrator and the audience are broken down, so that Fraser can explain, for instance, what the background music or camera-eye view would be if this were a movie (and it should be-think of "Airplane","M.P. and the Holy Grail" and a solid Errol Flynn movie rolled into one.) I could say a lot more, but why bother? You should be reading the book. Trust me.

Rating:

- The pleasures of laughing out loud
Now that I've read all of the Flashman series, I went searching for something else written by George MacDonald Fraser. I came upon a book that he wrote some time ago entitled "Pyrates" (yes, that's the way he spells it).

This book is a hilarious spoof on all the pirate movies of the late 1930s...Errol Flynn, John Barrymore, et al. Our heroes are handsome down to their chins, our heroines are "real" blondes, at least according to Fraser (taking after Mickey Spillane's "I, The Jury"). Our villains are so evil that one even keeps losing his dentures.

But, as always, Fraser's writing has me guffawing as he (writing from the vantage of the 1980s) portrays things happening in the 1600s in current terms; ie, castaway sailors in the Indian Ocean were arrested by the Burmese ... Read More

Rating:

- Get Ready To Buckle Your Swash!
This has long been one of my favorite books. I've read it over and over so that I need to replace the copy that is falling apart. One does need to be familiar with the old pirate movies of the 1940s and 1950s to appreciate some of the jokes, but it is definitely in a class with the sort of antics that occur in Disney's Captain Jack Sparrow movies. Plus it has the added bonus of telling you what is real history and what is pure fancy on Fraser's part. My favorite character is the anti-hero, Col. Blood, who really did exist, no doubt with the same personality traits that Fraser has given him. I not only am ready to replace my copy but prepared to buy others as holiday gifts for the Captain Jack fanciers on my list.

Rating:

- The funniest book you'll read in years
Imagine the fantasy and imagination of The Princess Bride; take the joie de vivre of Pirates Of The Caribbean; mix it a little with the eccentricity of Carry On Don't Lose Your Head (leaving out the tackier parts of the humour) and then take each of your favourite pirate stereotypes (bad guys, good guys, black spots, needlessly evil Spaniards, sword fights and derring-do) and turn it into one of the most joyous and hilarious books you'll ever read. Oh, and some of the characters really existed, too, just to add a slight historical edge.

The Pyrates is perhaps the funniest book you'll read all year, perhaps it's the funniest book you'll read in many years. For a long, long time I thought it was the funniest book I was ever going to read.

One gets the clear impression ... Read More

Books : The Pyrates