Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

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

4 reviews

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.

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

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous informative medium-paced

4.0

This was a really interesting story of Antarctic adventure and bad decisions. Several people on board the ship kept detailed diaries (and later wrote memoirs of varying accuracy) so many events are illustrated in the participants' own words. This really gives you a feel of the group dynamics on board, which is important in an isolation story about a small group. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Chronic illness, Medical content, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Colonisation, Death, Excrement, Racism, and Vomit

Minor: Addiction, Cannibalism, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, and Infidelity

sirissacgluten's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative tense slow-paced

4.0

I love reading about the Arctic, so I decided to venture southward and learn more about its polar (ha) opposite. Madhouse at the End of the Earth is a detailed, gripping account of the Belgica expedition in the late 1890s. Julian Sancton has deftly recreated the unforgiving Antarctic landscapes the crew encountered, using excerpts from the sailors’ diaries to bring the ship’s fraught tensions to life.

It took the story awhile to get to the southernmost continent, and I wasn’t as captivated by the backstory as I was by the time spent in Antarctica (though it was helpful groundwork for certain decisions and dynamics). I was especially intrigued by the ship surgeon (Frederick Cook, who later became an infamous huckster after oil schemes and widespread doubt over his purported discovery of the North Pole). Cook’s innovative tactics and keen observations saved the Belgica and her passengers more than once.

4/5: An entertaining (and stressful) story of polar exploration gone awry. Perfect for fans of other survival stories and anything Arctic/Antarctic.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Colonisation and Violence

Minor: Cannibalism