I stumbled upon this a couple of weeks ago in Fopp. Since joining The Organ, I rarely buy books as publishers bombard us with them. Yet I have a penchant for anything about the Age of Sail and Harry Thompson's fictionalised account of Darwin's voyage to the Galapagos looked interesting. And it was £2.
The main character is actually Robert FitzRoy, the captain of HMS Beagle. He is by far more compelling than Thompson's Darwin: intelligent, manic depressive, a holy roller whose beliefs are put to test by Darwin's emerging theories. FitzRoy's downfall - he butts heads with his superiors because he does the morally right thing no matter what the consequences to his career or bank balance - is poignant.
The problem is the bulk of the book (and what bulk - 744 pages) is largely discussions between Darwin and FitzRoy as they wrangle over transmutation of the species. This is an argument that was cutting edge in the 1820s. Now, excepting the born-again troglodytes who live in America's Deep South, it is old hat. Darwin and FitzRoy's arguments become tiresome quickly; I felt like I was trapped, forced to listen to two super-keen 18-year-old university students who just read Nietzsche for the first time. Judicious editing of about 400 pages could have saved this book.
Thompson was a TV writer and producer, known for his work on Have I Got News for You and his part in creating the Ali G character. He died in 2005 after, according to his bio on the book, "a brave fight" against cancer. No one seems to ever have a cowardly fight against cancer, do they?
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