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A review by msrdr
Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest by Wade Davis
3.0
A chilling read. Pardon my poor humour. I mean Wade Davis’ Into The Silence is haunting, engrossing, and in a sense, immersive. It is a great work of biography and history that beautifully paints a portrait of several teams of British mountaineers in such a way as to explain the sentiments of the Empire and the generation’s emotions, yet alone the inspiring mystery of Mallory and the challenges of the first expeditions.
My disappoint with the book was limited to the first third, wherein Davis bounces back and forth introducing many characters and back stories, in particular, their war-time experiences. This is part of the magic book, as I’ve noted above, but it also seemed too fragmented and non-linear. That is to say, being introduced to as many characters as I was, I would have preferred to have spent a time observing the Great War before moving to the preparation for the expedition, rather than weaving between the two. This is perhaps a greatly subjective, stylistic preference, but nonetheless it accounts for my classification of this as a 3-star, rather than 4-star title.
My disappoint with the book was limited to the first third, wherein Davis bounces back and forth introducing many characters and back stories, in particular, their war-time experiences. This is part of the magic book, as I’ve noted above, but it also seemed too fragmented and non-linear. That is to say, being introduced to as many characters as I was, I would have preferred to have spent a time observing the Great War before moving to the preparation for the expedition, rather than weaving between the two. This is perhaps a greatly subjective, stylistic preference, but nonetheless it accounts for my classification of this as a 3-star, rather than 4-star title.