Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

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

124 reviews

dogswithnogs's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death, Slavery, and Torture

brittney_weber's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative sad tense slow-paced

4.5

This book was a random grab at the library. It's very much outside my typical genres, but I saw the cover and read the title and thought "Ooh, interesting!" And it was, in fact, very fascinating. 

I feel like the author took the time to really research and learn about each of the men involved with the Wager, as well as all they went through and were exposed to. Honestly, parts of it were hard to read, imagining the hardships these men went through after being shipwrecked. The decisions they made. There were a few times I asked myself what I would've done in that situation. Would I have stayed faithful to my captian? Would I have joined a band of people going against the captian's idea of what was best and forged our own plan? And that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the choices these men faced. What do you do when there's not enough food? What about when there's not enough space on the rickety little boat your using to find your way back home?

The beginning of the book did drag a bit as the author laid the foundation of who these men were and the daily manning of a ship, but overall this was a fascinating read about human nature when faced with the most dire of circumstances.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, and Cannibalism

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

amygibbs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.0

This book seemed well researched and the story was very interesting.   Made me wonder what I would have done in those circumstances...probably died in fairness.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Death

ktdee9's review against another edition

informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Medical content, and War

cait's review against another edition

adventurous informative mysterious sad slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

xenlinde's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

withoutfeathers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Racism, Slavery, Violence, and War

mateogaleano's review against another edition

adventurous informative tense fast-paced

3.75

After reading Killers of the Flower, I had to pick up this book (from Target). Like KOTFM, The Wager weaves the collected facts into a captivating narrative. Enjoyed this book. Worst part was the dog. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death

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