Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

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

26 reviews

zeldazonks's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Manages to be incredibly compelling and informative as well as highlight the hypocrisy, cruelty and nonsensical nature of colonialism. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was fantastic, I devoured this in two days.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Abandonment, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Death, Colonisation, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cannibalism

zsabella's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, War, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, Medical content, Medical trauma, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Slavery, Racism, and Animal death

sarasreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective tense fast-paced

4.5

This was pretty unputdownable. So much was happening all of the time it read much more like fiction than nonfiction, which I enjoy. It can get pretty gruesome, so know that going in. It can be harder to stomach since it's a true story. But I flew through this and will definitely read more from this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Colonisation, Cannibalism, and Classism

Minor: Racism, War, and Slavery

ekcd_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Child death, Death of parent, Excrement, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Slavery, Cursing, Death, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Trafficking, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, War, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Confinement, Physical abuse, and Racism

knkoch's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative medium-paced

3.75

I found this worthwhile and informative, if bleak in its reminders of the way naval stories like this are shaped by the huge and destructive forces of imperialism and ruthless extraction of resources. All the human folly that went into conscripting hundreds of deathly ill men to run ships that take thousands of century-old trees to build just to attempt needlessly difficult cape passages, only to shipwreck in an extremely challenging climate and

waste the lives of hundreds of people from disease and starvation!

I really liked that David Grann gave great context into the Indigenous tribes the men from this ship interacted with and the impact that naval expeditions had on them and all others in South and North America in the eighteenth century especially. It felt like he was resetting the image of journeys like these, moving away from glory and adventure into the grinding hardship, weaknesses of leadership, imperial greed, racist assumptions of superiority/inferiority, and endless jockeying between major European empires like Spain and England. Grann developed the historical characters well, and clearly established how naval honor codes, class, and rank influenced the events at sea and land. Shocked to learn that

the value of the seized Spanish galleon, then the greatest single event war bounty seized, was dwarfed by the full millions-of-pounds cost of the entire expedition to seize it.

And yet, we can't forget that history can be so easily spun into self-congratulatory stories that flatter rather than invite critical examination. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Eating disorder, Murder, Body horror, Medical content, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Gun violence, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Xenophobia

Minor: Cannibalism

Eating disorder: Much discussion of starvation, but not sure what TW may fit better.

samchase112's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book truly swept me away!!! I was enthralled by the writing, the narrative, and the narrator. I lost time listening to this story, and took walks to get further. David Grann made me feel like I was traversing the hazardous seas, searching the desolate island, and scribbling on the page with these men — truly impressive. I’ll be recommending this book (and especially the audiobook!) for a while to come!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, Gun violence, War, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Murder, Racism, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, and Medical content

Minor: Suicide, Cannibalism, and Genocide

sonygaystation's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad slow-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Minor: War, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, and Vomit

tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Cannibalism and Medical content

mmccombs's review against another edition

adventurous informative slow-paced

3.5

I leave this book unsure exactly how I feel about it (and wanting to watch Master and Commander, and also very thankful I don’t have to experience life on a ship in 1740). This was adventurous, well-written, and focused in a way that helped this story feel manageable. But I also finished this wondering if this was the story to tell or the way to tell it. The last like 3 chapters were the most interesting to me, asking questions about imperialism and what stories remain through time as a result of that imperialism. At its core, this was a story of white supremacy and imperialist incompetence, but we are still left to be wowed by the survivalist, seafaring-ness of it all. The little story Grann shares at the end of the book, almost as an afterthought, of the true “mutiny” of Indigenous, enslaved men taking over the Spanish ship immediately sparked my interest, more so than the story told this entire time. I’m always down for a story that expels the grand mythos surrounding “brave, cunning, European explorers” to show that most of them were bloodthirsty and inept, a degree away from murdering each other out of their own self interest. I’m just unsure if this book did that enough or if I came in with the wrong expectations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Murder, Racism, Gore, Colonisation, and Medical content

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