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Reviews tagging 'Child death'
Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride by Daniel James Brown
126 reviews
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Excrement, Cannibalism, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
The book itself is a solid book, but the Audiobook is poorly done. You can hear the microphone hum throughout the entire book, and the narrator reads the whole book in the same tone. At first, you think it's a good tone, but after about an hour of the same exact cadence, regardless of what is happening in the book, it becomes grating.
Which is such a shame, because the book itself takes a stab at the haunting story of the Donner party in what I feel is a creative way. For every harrowing event the party encounters, the author brings us to the present and explains the psychology behind their actions, as well as how that shows up in other more present day scenarios.
Biggest takeaway from this book: men are weeeeeak and women are the stronger species.
I kid, but women did survive in larger numbers than men, and the book explains why.
Also don't take shortcuts. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is and you'll die. If you're lucky (or unlucky depending on how you look at it I guess) you might survive but have to eat your friends and family along the way.
This book made me want to watch 1883 again.
Which is such a shame, because the book itself takes a stab at the haunting story of the Donner party in what I feel is a creative way. For every harrowing event the party encounters, the author brings us to the present and explains the psychology behind their actions, as well as how that shows up in other more present day scenarios.
Biggest takeaway from this book: men are weeeeeak and women are the stronger species.
I kid, but women did survive in larger numbers than men, and the book explains why.
Also don't take shortcuts. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is and you'll die. If you're lucky (or unlucky depending on how you look at it I guess) you might survive but have to eat your friends and family along the way.
This book made me want to watch 1883 again.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Cannibalism, Murder
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Cannibalism
adventurous
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
As someone who has grown up hearing jokes after joke about the Donner party, I loved that this book seemed to focus more on the people involved rather than the gruesomeness of what they had to do to survive.
I also appreciated the medical breakdown of what their bodies were going through, it definitely helps you appreciate the horror of their experience, even despite the cannibalism.
Additionally, Brown's focus on the human aspect allows you to appreciate their resilience - building whole cabins during the snow, crafting snowshoes out of spare supplies, and trekking forward in ten to twelve feet of snow hoping they were heading in the right direction.
Some parts of this book are very gruesome, and there are people who committed evil acts, but you're left with the uncomfortable feeling that the majority of the Donner party were normal people trying their best to survive.
(Also I loved at the end where Brown lists what happened to everyone after they reached California, it reminded me of movies where they do that)
I also appreciated the medical breakdown of what their bodies were going through, it definitely helps you appreciate the horror of their experience, even despite the cannibalism.
Additionally, Brown's focus on the human aspect allows you to appreciate their resilience - building whole cabins during the snow, crafting snowshoes out of spare supplies, and trekking forward in ten to twelve feet of snow hoping they were heading in the right direction.
Some parts of this book are very gruesome, and there are people who committed evil acts, but you're left with the uncomfortable feeling that the majority of the Donner party were normal people trying their best to survive.
(Also I loved at the end where Brown lists what happened to everyone after they reached California, it reminded me of movies where they do that)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder
Moderate: Violence, Death of parent
Minor: Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Definitely a harrowing read (even if you know the story, it’s still rough to read). But it was a fast and exciting read! I don’t know that “enjoy” is the right word for a story like this one, but it was certainly a fascinating and highly engaging read. The book was also a lot more emotional than I expected. Probably won’t ever read this one again due to the subject matter, but I don’t regret reading it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Cannibalism, Murder
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
What a BOOK. Rarely have I found a historical book with such beautiful, compelling prose. The author's respect and thoughtfulness for the event is clear throughout, but he doesn't pull any punches. Knowing it's nonfiction is terrifying.
There are lots of side tangents in this book, but I personally found them interesting and a nice break from the misery.
There are lots of side tangents in this book, but I personally found them interesting and a nice break from the misery.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent
Moderate: Colonisation
Minor: Mental illness, War, Pandemic/Epidemic
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
I knew nothing about the donner party beyond they cannibalize each other in a mountain pass. This did tell me, in excruciating (tedious, dry, and dull) detail, of the trek to California of a group of people with all the attendant horrors that befell them.
For whatever reason Dan explains every person's motivations (which he also admits he doesn't know
... Dan. Why?), and intersperses an equivalent modern day anecdote to the CURRENT predicament as though this will help the reader understand. Dan, sweet summer child, I did not need the medical definition along with every possible symptom of hypothermia, PLUS a modern day example of it with full cast included, to understand the description of people in the donner party experiencing hypothermia meant they were experiencing hypothermia. This happens multiple times with different experiences. I wanted to scream. This man is insufferable.
It was also slow as all hell. It took 60% to get to the point where they eat each other, and then it feels like Dan wants to both speed run and bore you to death with the logistics of who ate whom and why and when and did you know that's probably really taumatizing for at least some of them? Ad nauseum. We also make time in the last 40% to detail their lives after the people eating tragedy. AND Dan had some final parting thoughts... because I really cared about those.🙄
I wish I liked this better. I hated the authorial voice in this (I also hated the narrator's voice which didn't help). In the prologue, Dan, an adult man, wants to insert himself into a young girl's journey through a tragic experience. Ugh. And, of course, we couldn't center that woman at the end. No. We need to center Dan in the epilogue driving along the approximate route of the donner party and thinking about how his daughters aren't brave enough to be like Sarah to round out what was meant to give me a visceral connection to the people in the donner party. Failure, Dan. Failure.
I am confused why it's so long. I could edit at least a third of it out, half if I made Dan rewrite it properly, and convey the same things. The lack of care or interest in the natives in this (they felt like set dressing. I suppose when you center people on an expedition to colonize someone else's land that's bound to happen) also pissed me off. You're willing to ponitifcate on these white folk running around like idiots, but I guess you didn't get any native stories from that time?
FYI: This is not a good story to listen to (due to writing, not content) which sucks for anyone who wants or needs that medium.
For whatever reason Dan explains every person's motivations (which he also admits he doesn't know
... Dan. Why?), and intersperses an equivalent modern day anecdote to the CURRENT predicament as though this will help the reader understand. Dan, sweet summer child, I did not need the medical definition along with every possible symptom of hypothermia, PLUS a modern day example of it with full cast included, to understand the description of people in the donner party experiencing hypothermia meant they were experiencing hypothermia. This happens multiple times with different experiences. I wanted to scream. This man is insufferable.
It was also slow as all hell. It took 60% to get to the point where they eat each other, and then it feels like Dan wants to both speed run and bore you to death with the logistics of who ate whom and why and when and did you know that's probably really taumatizing for at least some of them? Ad nauseum. We also make time in the last 40% to detail their lives after the people eating tragedy. AND Dan had some final parting thoughts... because I really cared about those.🙄
I wish I liked this better. I hated the authorial voice in this (I also hated the narrator's voice which didn't help). In the prologue, Dan, an adult man, wants to insert himself into a young girl's journey through a tragic experience. Ugh. And, of course, we couldn't center that woman at the end. No. We need to center Dan in the epilogue driving along the approximate route of the donner party and thinking about how his daughters aren't brave enough to be like Sarah to round out what was meant to give me a visceral connection to the people in the donner party. Failure, Dan. Failure.
I am confused why it's so long. I could edit at least a third of it out, half if I made Dan rewrite it properly, and convey the same things. The lack of care or interest in the natives in this (they felt like set dressing. I suppose when you center people on an expedition to colonize someone else's land that's bound to happen) also pissed me off. You're willing to ponitifcate on these white folk running around like idiots, but I guess you didn't get any native stories from that time?
FYI: This is not a good story to listen to (due to writing, not content) which sucks for anyone who wants or needs that medium.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Pregnancy
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, Cannibalism