Reviews tagging 'Child death'

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

20 reviews

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

daughterofatom's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative medium-paced

4.0

I enjoyed this. I appreciate the authors non judgemental perspective, never casting blame or guilt on any party, and keeps first hand accounts of native people in perspective. It's a tale of mutiny and horrible situations, but you never think "dang what a villain", you see the motivations of each party and are given ample details about the people to not just see them as pawns. They all had families at home they hoped to return to, some were on their first voyage, some were seasoned enough to doubt some choices. Great read for anyone looking to learn about 1700s seafaring, British navy shenanigans, or for folks looking for empathetic compelling tales of souls stuck in a true no win scenario 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Colonisation, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Xenophobia, War, Gun violence, Genocide, and Animal death

Minor: Medical content, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Classism, Excrement, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Trafficking, and Racism

maison's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Classism, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Violence, Racism, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Slavery, Racial slurs, and Animal death

Minor: Cannibalism and Child death

bibliomania_express's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

5.0

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann is a gripping and thought-provoking account of the voyage and shipwreck of HMS Wager in the 1740s. Drawing on primary sources and thorough archival research, Grann reconstructs the hardships of the voyage from before the ships set sail, through its perilous journey, shipwreck, mutiny, and court-martial. If you are squeamish about descriptions of disease and death, take care, but I do think Grann tow the lines of factual without going into excessive details. 

The story of the Wager is heartbreaking and amazing, with falliable human ingenuity and the unrelenting power of hope coming up against the forces of nature, disease, delerium, and himan depravity. 

I really enjoyed Grann's writing. He made the story feel engaging as a living narrative rather than a historical account. I also appreciated how he took the time to call out the intrisic racism and imperialist motives of the venture. He made space for the indigenous peoples of South America, the African slave trade, and even class divides amongst the British. 

I was mainly surprised by how the court martial ended, and I appreciated Grann's discussion of why it went the way it did. 

Overall, a fantastic book.
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, Animal cruelty, Animal death, War, Medical content, Violence, Chronic illness, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Murder, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Torture, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Slavery, Child death, and Cannibalism

marioosa517's review against another edition

adventurous informative tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Racism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Blood, Gun violence, Death, Murder, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, War, Excrement, Cannibalism, Confinement, Vomit, and Child death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

creativerunnings's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Violence, Abandonment, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, War, Child death, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Cannibalism

linneak's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Murder, Classism, Medical trauma, War, Xenophobia, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Child death, Blood, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Confinement, Torture, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Trafficking, Grief, Slavery, and Colonisation

alisonvh's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative fast-paced

3.5

This book is well written and has a fascinating subject, but it just didn’t grab me for some reason.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Colonisation, Animal death, Death, Child death, Violence, Terminal illness, Murder, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Chronic illness

Minor: Cannibalism

chalkletters's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

2.75

During my book club’s nominations, I voted for The Wager without realising it was non-fiction. Usually, I find non-fiction books, especially non-fiction history books, a little dry and difficult to get absorbed in for long periods of time so, despite the promise of shipwreck, mutiny and murder, I took on The Wager with some trepidation.

As it turned out, David Grann’s writing style is particularly easy to read: he tells the story of The Wager almost as it were a novel, in linear order and from multiple viewpoints, keeping the focus on the narrative and not on the process of research. Characters who could easily have merged into one mass of navy sailors had distinct personalities and characteristics: particularly John Byron, grandfather to the poet George Gordon Byron, whose works provided illuminating quotations at relevant points.

David Grann’s introduction set up an interesting opposition between two different contemporary versions of what happened on Wager Island, but this set up an expectation which wasn’t entirely met by the text. While questions were raised about who, and which actions, were morally correct, there seemed to be little dispute over the actual facts of what happened. The ending, too, was surprisingly simple and easy given that there had been hints of a great argument. 

The bulk of The Wager is focused on the journey, the shipwreck and the aftermath. There’s no shortage of action and harrowing details of life at sea in the 1740s. This isn’t the kind of book you read to put yourself in the shoes of the main character and fulfil the wish for an exciting life. Instead, it’s best taken from a safe distance as a display of the human survival spirit. 

While I was impressed with David Grann’s writing, I didn’t particularly enjoy the story as much as I might have hoped.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Death, Gun violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Child death, Violence, War, and Suicide

lectora21's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Cannibalism, Child death, Animal death, Gore, Racism, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Slavery