Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
medium-paced
My heart.
Violet Jessop was a truly amazing woman. She went through so much even before she survived both theTitanic and Britannic sinkings.
Her story went in depth on who she was as a human being and that really puts the whole thing in perspective. You always hear how many people were on the Titanic, but you don't always associate that number with human lives and everything they went through.
Violet went through numerous illnesses as a child, heartbreak as an adult, and powered through it all working in a field where you aren't always considered human. According to Violet, the Americans passengers she worked with always treated her like a human being rather than just a servant and I did find that interesting.
Here's something that I found both interesting and annoying. Things haven't really changed since then and that's really sad.
If you are a history buff or just love reading about the Titanic, pick this up.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
Review of Titanic Survivor
By: Violet Jessop, Edited & Annotated by: John Maxtone-Graham
It is rare to find a memoir from the crew members of Titanic and it is even rarer to find one about someone who survived both Titanic and Britannica disasters. Violet tells not only about her experiences as a stewardess on Titanic and Britannica, but her life. She is Irish, but grew up in Argentina. Her first job was a governess, while her mother was the one working on ships, but Violet had to take her mother’s place when her father died. The family needed money and her mother could no longer do the job. She talks about being a governess and the pros and cons of being a stewardess on a ship. She has a love, hate with the job it seems. It allowed her to see the world and interact with a variety of people, but she would have to deal with rude passengers. She did say she liked the American passengers as they were nicer and kinder to her. Chapters aren’t that long and feels like she is just summing up what happened to her, but two chapters were devoted to her experience on Titanic. She describes the chaos and her emotions in detail during that time. On the Britannica she was a nurse during WWI and talks about that time, as well, in vivid detail. She talks about interactions with patients and in the editor’s notes it talks about how her niece said she was perfect for the job as a nurse, because she is good at taking care of others. She only has two chapters that focus on her romantic life having one great love this guy from Australia, Ted. I got the vibe the guy gave off was he was not good with committing and Violet gives the impression she never truly loved anybody else. The editor, Maxtone-Graham met her on a cruise and tells how she had a taken care of his mother and he gives notes. He also adds information she didn’t include and gives commentary on the things she says. Reading about a survivor who was crew member, but I wish she had devoted more time on Titanic. If you’re more interested in Titanic itself this might not be a satisfying.
By: Violet Jessop, Edited & Annotated by: John Maxtone-Graham
It is rare to find a memoir from the crew members of Titanic and it is even rarer to find one about someone who survived both Titanic and Britannica disasters. Violet tells not only about her experiences as a stewardess on Titanic and Britannica, but her life. She is Irish, but grew up in Argentina. Her first job was a governess, while her mother was the one working on ships, but Violet had to take her mother’s place when her father died. The family needed money and her mother could no longer do the job. She talks about being a governess and the pros and cons of being a stewardess on a ship. She has a love, hate with the job it seems. It allowed her to see the world and interact with a variety of people, but she would have to deal with rude passengers. She did say she liked the American passengers as they were nicer and kinder to her. Chapters aren’t that long and feels like she is just summing up what happened to her, but two chapters were devoted to her experience on Titanic. She describes the chaos and her emotions in detail during that time. On the Britannica she was a nurse during WWI and talks about that time, as well, in vivid detail. She talks about interactions with patients and in the editor’s notes it talks about how her niece said she was perfect for the job as a nurse, because she is good at taking care of others. She only has two chapters that focus on her romantic life having one great love this guy from Australia, Ted. I got the vibe the guy gave off was he was not good with committing and Violet gives the impression she never truly loved anybody else. The editor, Maxtone-Graham met her on a cruise and tells how she had a taken care of his mother and he gives notes. He also adds information she didn’t include and gives commentary on the things she says. Reading about a survivor who was crew member, but I wish she had devoted more time on Titanic. If you’re more interested in Titanic itself this might not be a satisfying.
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Wow, I first noticed this book back in 2008-9 when I was shelving biographies. I finally got the chance to pick it up and read it and I am so glad I did. What an amazing life this woman had. While the fact she survived two very famous shipwrecks is amazing, the rest of the details of her life, including those surrounding those two events are just astonishing. I am in awe of this woman's ability to survive.
Violet Jessup is certainly an interesting person. A woman who spent 42 years of her life working for various ship lines at sea. This is even more remarkable as she not only survived the sinking of the Titanic but also the sinking of the Britannia and still went back to service on ships.
There is interesting information about both sinkings such as the people in the rescue ships of the Titanic saw a ship in the distance and thought it was coming to rescue them. And that many people died horridly in the sinking of the Britannia because of the captains determination to get to shallower waters.
As a read the book was more a collection of tales than a cohesive story. It is disjointed but interesting. It’s not my favorite book but it’s definitely worth the read.
There is interesting information about both sinkings such as the people in the rescue ships of the Titanic saw a ship in the distance and thought it was coming to rescue them. And that many people died horridly in the sinking of the Britannia because of the captains determination to get to shallower waters.
As a read the book was more a collection of tales than a cohesive story. It is disjointed but interesting. It’s not my favorite book but it’s definitely worth the read.
Read this years ago, a wonderful account of the worker bees perspective of the event.
After reading this book it's impossible to say that Violet Jessop led a boring life. These memoirs were fascinating to read, from Violet's childhood through to her employment as a stewardess, her time aboard the doomed Titanic, her role as a nurse during WW1 and her encounters with so many different and brilliantly bizarre people as her return to work as a stewardess took her around the world. Violet tells her story with wonderful wit and insight.
Why have I only given the book 4 stars and not 5 then? Well, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, this book is riddled with typos, not because there were some words which were spelt differently during the early 1900s but because, as far as I can tell, whoever typed up and proof read Violet's memoirs couldn't spot a mistake if one hit them in the face. There were just simple mistakes like 'thrllied' instead of 'thrilled', but when it felt as though a similar mistake popped up in almost every chapter it was distracting and more than a little annoying.
And secondly, the title of these memoirs is very, very misleading. If you picked this book up, like I did, with the hope of a detailed account of the events leading up to and during the sinking of the Titanic then you'd be very disappointed. In this entire book there are two chapters devoted to the Titanic and neither of them went into a huge amount of detail. However, I still highly recommend this book simply because this woman's life was fascinating, but if you are hoping for the majority of the memoirs to concern the Titanic you will be dissatisfied.
All in all this book was captivating, and I recommend it to any lover of history or non-fiction.
Why have I only given the book 4 stars and not 5 then? Well, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, this book is riddled with typos, not because there were some words which were spelt differently during the early 1900s but because, as far as I can tell, whoever typed up and proof read Violet's memoirs couldn't spot a mistake if one hit them in the face. There were just simple mistakes like 'thrllied' instead of 'thrilled', but when it felt as though a similar mistake popped up in almost every chapter it was distracting and more than a little annoying.
And secondly, the title of these memoirs is very, very misleading. If you picked this book up, like I did, with the hope of a detailed account of the events leading up to and during the sinking of the Titanic then you'd be very disappointed. In this entire book there are two chapters devoted to the Titanic and neither of them went into a huge amount of detail. However, I still highly recommend this book simply because this woman's life was fascinating, but if you are hoping for the majority of the memoirs to concern the Titanic you will be dissatisfied.
All in all this book was captivating, and I recommend it to any lover of history or non-fiction.