Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey Into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton

13 reviews

poppippin's review

adventurous challenging informative tense slow-paced

3.5

A good story, a writing style a bit too flourished. My main issue is that the author is too enamoured with the subjects of his book to properly question their actions and motives. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Dementia, and Animal cruelty

jrwarburton96's review

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

An epic and fascinating story of human survival. Would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys non-fiction stories, and particularly anyone who has an interest in the Golden Age of Polar Exploration.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, and Gore

Minor: Suicide and Alcohol

modernhobbitvibes's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.0

I CANNOT find the bookstagrammer who recommended this in a video, but shout out to them, this was kind of a banger.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Terminal illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Violence and Gore

Minor: Racism, Colonisation, and Suicide

Entire book is about survival situations in extreme conditions, including the risk of death by starvation/freezing and explicit death by drowning. There is also discussion of the effects of global warming in the author's notes.

jlswitchblades's review

adventurous dark informative slow-paced

5.0

this book captivated me from start to finish. roald amundsen is the only guy ever who could simply choose to not have depression.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

singlier's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey Into the Dark Antarctic Night by
Julian Sancton 4/5 🏔️s

This nonfiction text tells the story of the Belgica, one of the first expeditions to chart the South Pole led, by Belgian commandment Adrien der Gerlach. Although based on diary entries from the crew (of the 18 man crew, 10 kept diaries of the expedition), the book reads in most cases like a novel: it's not sensationalized, but it approaches it's subject matter with unflinching detail. Centering on the first four officers of the ship, de Gerlach, Roald Amundsen, Frederick Cook, and Georges Lecointe, the book paints a vivid picture of each man, laying out their personalities, drives, goals, and ambitious as they impacted the decisions made throughout the expedition. 

See, the Belgica is famous not only for being one of the first ships to map the coast of Antarctica, but for being the first ship to survive a winter in the Antarctic. The extensive record keeping kept by the crew and the ships doctor has made this exploration a case study in human behavior within isolated environments, and has impacted the way humans prepare for space travel, deep sea travel, as well as other forms of extreme isolation. Cook's theories of maintaining mental stability, born out of his experience on the ship, represent some of the first documents indicating a relationship between light and human health (think of seasonal affective disorder). His knowledge of first nations practices of hunting and food preparation are also the main reason his crew survived, and helped legitimize indigenous techniques of health and wellness in the eyes of white scholars during this period.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it. The amount of research the author put into it really shows in the descriptions of the landscape and the characterization of the men onboard, helping to humanize this story of nearly one hundred years ago.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Mental illness, Violence, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, and Death

firerosearien's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

mondovertigo's review

adventurous dark informative tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Death, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Confinement, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Child death and Death of parent

rubymacbeth's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

A captivating story; I like that Julian Sancton really made an effort to delve into the psyche of all the main characters — it made the story that much more gripping, and the harsh landscape of Antarctica that much more vivid and disturbingly beautiful. My only reservation was that we need less books that focus on the privilege of white men and their exploits, but this isn’t a criticism of the book per se. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Violence

zosiablue's review

adventurous dark inspiring tense fast-paced

4.0

(4.5) Dang this was EXHILARATING. So character driven - even the boat - that I felt UPSET by the end for each of their fates, even if it wasn't a bad fate! I love polar exploration stories & this might be one of the best.

As a note, there was a lot of penguin killing and eating. So much penguin eating that I never want to see that word again. Another note: Cook and Amundsen were obviously boyfriends and should've kissed.

I didn't expect this, but the chapters after the expedition were just as jaw-dropping. Each person should have a movie made about them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

spooderman's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Sexism, Drug use, Excrement, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Addiction, Infidelity, Cancer, Cannibalism, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts