Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride by Daniel James Brown

84 reviews

anemic_gecko's review against another edition

2.0

challenging dark informative slow-paced

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The indifferent stars above is an impressively detailed account of a fascinating and equally horrifying disaster faced by a group of American migrants in the mid 19th century. 

The drama, horror, and grim reality of the subject is dampened however by the clinical level of detail Brown goes into when discussing the events. 

When discussing a desperate fight for survival, with the victims having to choose between death or consuming the flesh of a loved one, you would expect a level of drama and emotion. Instead, the book is bloated with bizarre forays into tangential sub-topics such as the historical frequency of cannibalism in survival situations, the exact number of calories the members of the party would need, or details of various laws and customs present at the time. 

I understand why he felt the need to provide this context, but the pacing, detail, and timing of these descriptions massively reduces the impact of the very dramatic story it is attempting to tell. 

On the other hand, when brown is discussing his own journey, tracing the parties footsteps in the epilogue, he writes with a bit more artistic licence, full of metaphor and feelings, severely lacking from the rest of the book. The manner in which he wistfully describes his connection to a member of the party as he stands over her supposed burial site is so in contrast with the rest of his writing that it comes across as slightly arrogant more than anything else. 

As a side critique: being a non American who listened to the audiobook rather than read the account myself, I also had trouble keeping track of the names and locations mentioned.

Overall I think while the book is obviously well researched and written with passion, the prose, tone, and often contents betray the story. While this was a real life  disaster and should not be embellished for our entertainment, the reduction of the events to a flat account of every gory detail and all accompanying information is not much better.  

It’s harsh, but I genuinely believe most readers would benefit from simply reading the Donner Party’s Wikipedia page rather than this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder

midsummerbri's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark informative sad tense slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cannibalism, Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death

Minor: Colonisation

greendog95's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexism, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War

katie0528's review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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A heartbreaking retelling of the Donner Party's ill-fated journey across the western United States. It follows mostly in the steps of Sarah Graves, a young recently married woman who traveled with her family and new husband, eventually meeting up with the Donner and Reed families, and joining them on their doomed "shortcut" through Hasting's cutoff. Brown never minces words about the horrors the pioneers suffered, but often puts himself in their shoes, offering empathy and speculation about the mental agonies they must have endured.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation

Minor: War

emmasalandra's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder

constantreader867's review against another edition

4.0

dark informative sad tense slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Cannibalism, Death of parent

littlelotto's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Fire/Fire injury

Survival, Oregon trail, cannibalism, stranded, hypothermia

gcwolf98's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Excrement, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Content is put in a very informative way. I appreciated it was not glorifying the tragedy.

readingrubia's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Cannibalism, Death of parent

bookishkittennook's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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I chose this particular audiobook at random after exhausting my usual podcasts, and it turned out to be incredibly interesting, albeit with heavy subject matter. The author’s main focus of his research is Sarah Graves, one of the lesser-known survivors of the event known as The Forlorn Hope. Despite not having many direct accounts from Sarah herself, Brown has done extensive research on her, her family, and other settlers who made the trek to California in 1846. He also includes a relevant background that creates a fuller picture of Westward expansion and what choices ultimately led to the deaths of so many on the expedition to California. Brown incorporates how the science of survival played a role in who would potentially live while others perished.

When it comes to historical events like the tragedy of the Donner Party, it is important to consider the factors that led to it. Brown highlights the aggressive push by the U.S for westward expansion, the war to claim California as a territory from Mexico, and the misguided greed and ambition of individuals. The settlers, particularly the men, are not entirely faultless for their predicament in the mountains, and Brown does not sugarcoat the facts. He provides detailed descriptions of what daily life and survival were like for these immigrants and how they made the best of their circumstances despite terrible and overwhelming odds.  Although at times graphic and haunting, it is a deeply humanizing account of the infamous tragedy that made a foothold in American History. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail