Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

75 reviews

barkerjm's review against another edition

adventurous informative fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, and Murder

madmaura's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Confinement, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cannibalism, Classism, Animal death, Grief, Blood, Child death, and Alcoholism

koboldmartian's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

5/5. 

I do not really have any good experience reading non-fiction so forgive me if this review is not as eloquent, but this was the most gripping and fascinating non-fiction story I have ever read. David Grann's writing is so immersive and clear and painted such a vivid picture of the turmoil, and horrors that these men were put through. 

The book is structured beautifully, it flowed well, I was angry at people, I sympathized with people, I was disgusted by what they did or what they had to do, I was all the proper emotions needed to read this book. 

This book was so educating and the life that people had to live back then on the ocean is just absolutely terrible. The entire time, I felt pulled by both "parties" involved in this stories and I don't think you can really blame anyone of the decisions made in this situation; it really makes you think about what you would do put in these men's shoes. 

I will be picking up Grann's other works to read and this book has opened the floodgates for non-fiction for me. I hope to read more especially if they are this engaging. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Animal death, Cannibalism, Cultural appropriation, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Vomit, Gun violence, Medical content, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Death, Abandonment, Alcohol, Trafficking, Chronic illness, Child death, Death of parent, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Racism, Violence, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Suicide, and War

sherlocktomes's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

David Grann back with another excellent blend of informative, entertaining and somewhat reflective writing. 

Highly researched, approachable and balanced, this account details the birth and death of The Wager, a ship in 1700’s Britain tasked with colonising and plundering native and non native peoples to increase the British empires hold over the worlds land and resources.

Grann helps paint a vision of the sheer unrelenting and unpredictable nature of the sea, at times you wonder how much more these sailors can endure, and yet the story carries on. 

As with KOTFM, I felt I would have liked more commitment from the author towards documenting the extent of the genocidal and colonial actions of so many western countries at this time, particularly their treatment of native peoples who, on the whole, were far more intelligent, resourceful and organised than the people who reduced them to a stereotype of “savages”. I do feel more of a background of the British empire as it stood at that time, and their use of the Navy to do so would have been beneficial for giving more context for the average reader. 

Overall, a thorough and very enjoyable read (albeit grim and miserable). 5/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Colonisation, Murder, Child death, Death, Confinement, and Suicide

Moderate: War, Racism, and Slavery

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.5

David Grann is one of the best nonfiction authors today. He writes on a multitude of subjects; this book is about a shipwreck and subsequent mutiny in the 1740s. 

He describes the plight of the officers, trying to outfit their ships with no money and few worthy crewmen, as well as that of the unwitting men press ganged (ie, kidnapped by the Royal Navy) onto ships they were ill-equipped to crew. No matter that some were sick, criminal, juvenile, or elderly, all were rounded up in a time of war and forced to serve. 

The ship split into factions rather than working as a whole so in a time of crisis, it was no surprise that any discontent would devolve into mutiny. Alcohol, disease, starvation, and fear exacerbated the stresses on everyone. Before the benefits of vitamins were known, scurvy could wipe out a crew both physically and mentally. On top of typhus and shipwrecks, sometimes less than 20% of a crew made it back home. 

Grann explains how this volatility affected the voyage of the Wager, and how the chain of command fell apart once the shipwrecked men were on shore. His copious research reveals that there were too many different versions of truth to know which was the most factual. The Admiralty wanted the embarrassment to just fade away so the court martial didn’t address any of the real issues. 

I didn’t feel as much a part of this book as with Killers of the Flower Moon. I was wracked with guilt as I read what the white people did to the Osage and I felt complicit. I didn’t have that closeness to The Wager. Considering how dire the circumstances, that’s likely a good thing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Colonisation, Death, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Racism, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and War

giovik93's review against another edition

adventurous informative inspiring fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Death

Moderate: Slavery, Violence, Murder, and War

Minor: Cannibalism

cait's review against another edition

adventurous informative mysterious sad slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, War, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Violence, Vomit, Torture, Abandonment, Animal death, Excrement, Gore, Ableism, Confinement, Classism, Murder, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Medical content, Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Child death, Chronic illness, Grief, Hate crime, Mental illness, and Slavery

marietheo's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative sad tense fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Slavery, Gore, Medical content, Cannibalism, Torture, Death, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Confinement, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, and War

sampcupp's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Murder, Mental illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, War, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Alcohol and Slavery

abicaro17's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative inspiring mysterious slow-paced

4.0

This starts out incredibly slow but after chapter 5 grows into a story of mutiny, murder, and survival. You become involved in this insane story of how a British ship and its sailors fight off scurvy, the rough seas, and other crewman to eventually end up back in England depleted and desolate anywhere from a year to five years later. I'm traditionally cautious of non fiction historical books because I find them tedious and boring but, with The Wager, once the initial accounts of send off and troubles at sea are finished, you're immersed into a tumultuous account of the shipwreck. It was interesting and full bodied. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death of parent, Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Slavery, Suicide, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Classism, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship