A review by katie0528
The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party by Daniel James Brown

dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.25

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