A review by ayedrianreads
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

While I’ve come to find out I don’t enjoy nonfiction writing as much as fiction writing, this one was a pleasant surprise. I didn’t notice in the moment, but in hindsight I think the writing style was the thing that drew me in. With other nonfiction books, while I may have liked the story/plot itself the writing was always a drag for me. I can proudly say it was not like this time around. I loved the details he included of the crew’s days, and while some days were very much like others, I think it was important to include those duplicates because it really illustrated the monotony of everyday life for the men while they were stranded. In a way, too, I felt I myself getting bored from their getting bored, and it actually made me empathize with the characters further. While I could cure my boredom by putting the book down, they couldn’t really cure their own boredom. It was very humbling to read.



As for the story itself, it was nothing short of brilliant. I can’t fathom everything they had to go through, even after reading a detailed account of it. The title is nowhere near a misnomer; this story really showed the indomitable human spirit in action. Given the double meaning, it was a very fit title. 

I honestly thought the story would be more grave and dark. Don’t get me wrong, I'm glad it wasn’t, but I think it just really showed how great a leader Shackleton was. For the most part, no one was selfish or didn’t want to cooperate, and the times that people were uncooperative, they quickly became useful again. The story could’ve easily taken a Lord of the Flies route. Also I’m glad no one died in the book or else it would’ve been a proper tearjerker! I was already slightly tearing up a few pages before the last. Truly one of the best survival stories I’ve ever read.