Reviews with content warning for Genocide - The Lost City of Z: a legendary British explorer's deadly quest to uncover the secrets of the Amazon

Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

The Lost City of Z: a legendary British explorer's deadly quest to uncover the secrets of the Amazon by David Grann

7 reviews

iblamewizards's review against another edition

adventurous informative medium-paced

4.0

What I was not expecting when I started reading The Lost City of Z was the body horror! David Grann writes horrifically (and beautifully) about the physical toil and horrors that early explorers of the Amazon had to go through.

The Lost City of Z is perfectly paced, and wonderfully written. Grann editorialises frequently, but uses the historical record to do so, so I never felt like things were unrealistic. It also leant the book an air of an old-school adventure story, rather than being a dry non-fiction tome.

My one criticism is that while Grann does not infantilise or denigrate the indigenous peoples of South America in his own parts of the narrative, this is still, at its heart, a story of colonialism and empire. I would have liked this story, and these histories told with more input from indigenous voices rather than relying on the tales of adventure and daring that led so many men to their deaths. I also felt like Nina, Fawcett's wife was too much of an afterthought for so much of the story. Although, credit where credit is due, Grann does make a very clear point of showing that Fawcett's exploits were only possible because his wife put her own dreams and ambitions to the side, sacrificing everything and living in genteel poverty to make it possible for Fawcett to pursue his.

All in all, this was a wonderful, engrossing read, but do be prepared for a lot of body horror, death, and some confronting tales of animal cruelty.

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grace_b_3's review against another edition

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informative sad slow-paced

2.0

I really liked Killers of the Flower Moon, but this one wasn’t as compelling for me.

This was an earlier book by Grann, so part of it may be him figuring out his writing style and such. I didn’t like how present he was in the narrative of this book.

I also found the subject matter of Killers more interesting. There were things in this book that I would like to learn more about (mainly about the various Amazonian tribes and the lost civilization found there), but the focus, Fawcett, is what I found the least interesting. I did like the angle of his family and learning how his and Jack’s disappearance affected them, but the actual narrative of various expeditions to the Amazon was not what kept me reading. Exploring the Amazon seems like a horrible experience and reading about someone repeatedly subjecting themself and others to it just wasn’t for me.

If you find people pushing themselves to the limits of their endurance in harsh environments compelling, this might be the book for you.

Especially if you enjoy a story with a tragic, doomed air—from the start you know he went into and never came out and the book is just building towards that moment.

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