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Reviews tagging 'Animal death'
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
109 reviews
mlander's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder and Animal death
sonygaystation's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
2.75
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
leahthebooklover's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
tense
4.5
"The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder" was riveting. It is non-fiction but reads like a historical fiction thriller. The author's extensive research is evident, but serves to enhance the story rather than bog it down. Much of the story is taken directly from the actual journals of the men who were a part of the ill-fated expedition. Dion Graham is an excellent narrator, weaving together this mesmerizing story with his expressive voice. His pacing is excellent, adding urgency and suspense to an already dramatic story. Author David Grann is best known for "Killers of the Flower Moon" (*now a major motion picture*) which I read about 1 1/2 years ago. I liked "The Wager" even more than "Flower Moon". I listened to it every free moment I had. It definitely "un-romanticizes" life on the high seas, but that's part of why it's so good - it vividly portrays the gritty, unadulterated, harrowing reality of the experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Death
Moderate: Blood, Murder, Bullying, Physical abuse, and War
Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Slavery
chrschn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
4.25
Extremely well researched and as captivating as any fictional naval adventure. Plenty of seafaring adventures to be had, as well as some incredible human endurance, which I’m not typically interested in reading about but was amazed by here.
Flew through this one, Grann is a very gifted author, telling the events so as to be informative but compelling. The events are thorough in their retelling, but without becoming a tedious logbook of what transpired. The two main “factions” for lack of a better word are both represented fairly and the events are not sensationalized, though he notes that other accounts have done so in order to paint the Admiralty in a more impressive light. Grann is rightfully critical of imperialism without the writing redirecting focus away from the crew of the Wager. Part of me wishes this was explored a bit further, but Grann trusts the reader to be able to put two and two together.
Flew through this one, Grann is a very gifted author, telling the events so as to be informative but compelling. The events are thorough in their retelling, but without becoming a tedious logbook of what transpired. The two main “factions” for lack of a better word are both represented fairly and the events are not sensationalized, though he notes that other accounts have done so in order to paint the Admiralty in a more impressive light. Grann is rightfully critical of imperialism without the writing redirecting focus away from the crew of the Wager. Part of me wishes this was explored a bit further, but Grann trusts the reader to be able to put two and two together.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Cannibalism, and Slavery
manocornuta666's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Cannibalism and Animal death
unlikelyplaces's review against another edition
4.75
The Wager - David Grann
🎧
⭐ - n/a (I don’t tend to rate non fiction)
I really need to read more non-fiction. I was obsessed with this the whole time I was listening to it.
So this is a non-fiction telling the story of the ship “The Wager” and its crew who were castaway on an island and then follows all the events and scandal surrounding it. Although this isn’t my usual period, I am a general history nerd plus, I’m well up for any historical scandal and drama so when I heard about this I knew I had to pick it up.
This is written in a really accessible, narrative way so if you don’t read a lot of non-fiction (like me) but are interested in history or people’s behaviour when faced with desperate situations, I’d definitely say that this is a good one to pick up.
You can tell that the author has taken all the different accounts of events into consideration to piece together a narrative, while not shying away from addressing the issues present at the time like colonialism and lack of scientific knowledge. It goes into enough detail to explain the context around the events without getting too bogged down in every tiny little piece of information and keeps it to a really streamlined narrative. I will say, it did take longer to get to the island than I thought and the beginning did feel a little slow but I can recognise that it was necessary to set the context.
So yes I really enjoyed this, it’s one of those stories that you hear about and just can’t believe that it actually happened. I absolutely flew through this because I just wanted to be listening to it all the time. I would love for someone to make this into a tv series! Highly recommend this one!
Content warnings: Gore, graphic illness descriptions, animal death, real world violence
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Gore
Moderate: Vomit and Violence
Minor: Cannibalism
flexandor's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
4.5
A wonderful retelling of the journey of the Wager and her crew.
The book follows different groups and their journey from desolation.
It also makes some wonderful and candid points about imperialism and empire and how they are perpetuated.
The book follows different groups and their journey from desolation.
It also makes some wonderful and candid points about imperialism and empire and how they are perpetuated.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death and Cannibalism
softanimal's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
medium-paced
5.0
This book gets five stars because in addition to being a fascinating and well-written historical narrative it also includes extremely important observations about the missing voices of black and indigenous witnesses and the impact of empire.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Gore, Colonisation, Abandonment, Animal death, and Confinement
jennyreadsalatte's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death
barkerjm's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
fast-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, and Murder