Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

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

9 reviews

jrae_miller's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Blood, Colonisation, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

buenas_l's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Cannibalism

kalaser's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Colonisation, Gun violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racism, Slavery, and Violence

afterplague's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

3.5

The Wager is a fascinating true(ish) tale of the HMS Wager's journey and subsequent wreck around the tip of South America. I find Grann's version of events to be believable, interesting, and backed by a huge amount of research and notation.
My main issue with this book is simply how long it took to get started. There was so much interesting information, but there was also so much information that was not necessary at all. At times it felt like I was reading a retelling of a castaway adventure with amazing tension and descriptions that had me cringing, and others it felt like I was reading a history textbook and studying for an exam. 
I was rooting for the men, and I was fascinated by watching their "society" crumble when faced with hardships. I'm amazed that any of them survived at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Cannibalism and Slavery

If you're worried about cannibalism mentions they are quite minor and never explicitly described

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

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

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

oliviamich's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Slavery, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, and War

Minor: Cannibalism, Animal death, and Sexual harassment

angela_iseli's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Murder, Abandonment, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, War, and Cannibalism