Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party by Daniel James Brown

20 reviews

daishaspencer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This is one of the most gut wrenching and horrific stories I’ve read. I found myself moved to tears many times placing myself as a young woman in the shoes of Sarah and her companions. The author wrote beautifully of the scenery in which the party found themselves, I could clearly see places I’ve never been (though I had to reference google maps a handful of times). This story is not without bias from the author, but no narrative non-fiction truly can be. This book has left me with a lasting impression of a story which I knew little about before. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Misogyny, Gore, Body horror, Animal death, Murder, Child death, Chronic illness, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Slavery, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Racism, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

weboury's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

cccannFantastic book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder, Cannibalism, Child death, Colonisation, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Confinement, and Sexism

amandamethot's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, Cannibalism, and Animal death

pgxpg's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Perfect balance of information and storytelling. Incredibly rich in detail with no stone left unturned. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: Abortion, Animal death, and Child death

jaibird's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Gun violence, Colonisation, Cannibalism, and Child death

Minor: Abortion

kpeps's review against another edition

dark informative tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Cannibalism, Medical content, Alcohol, Abandonment, Death, Animal death, and Colonisation

Moderate: Grief, Violence, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Gun violence, and Gore

mondovertigo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cannibalism, Death, Murder, Abandonment, Racism, Animal death, Death of parent, Grief, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: War

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Adult/minor relationship

freedomofchoys's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Absolutely amazing! Daniel James Brown's writing is more compelling and more narrative than any other non fiction books I've read. I couldn't put it down 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Confinement, Gore, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Blood, and Animal death

beccaand's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, Grief, Child death, Animal death, Murder, and Death of parent

kellymy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

It’s not always easy to make non-fiction enjoyable. This was well written, had a good pace, and I enjoyed the narrator. Good mix of factual retelling from survivor accounts and creative setting the scene with descriptive original content. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, Grief, Colonisation, Cannibalism, and Animal death