Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by whatkaylareads
How to Survive the Titanic: Or, the Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay by Frances Wilson
2.0
This was really odd. I’ve never read a book like it. It reminded me of being in high school when your teacher would assign a paper comparing two subjects. The author here compared J. Bruce Ismay, managing director of the Titanic who survived its sinking, with the book Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. Lord Jim was written before the Titanic, and while it’s main character is comparable to Ismay in that he survived a sinking ship only to face major consequences later, it was a bit much to write a whole book about it.
This book was very well researched, so I don’t want to take away from the hard work the author put into it, but Wilson could hardly conceal her disdain for Ismay. Admittedly, he was a very polarizing figure. Many wanted to blame someone for the horrific loss of life, but there were so many conflicting accounts of how Ismay behaved that night that I find it hard to form much of an opinion on him. I find it hard to believe he was as calculating as some seem to think. It’s easy to judge the way people react to traumatic situations when you weren’t there. I find it more believable that, in the midst of the chaos of the sinking, Ismay saw an opportunity to save himself before the ship went down and took it without much thought. Self-preservation is a strong instinct. I wish Wilson had done less editorializing and just let the available information speak for itself.
This book was very well researched, so I don’t want to take away from the hard work the author put into it, but Wilson could hardly conceal her disdain for Ismay. Admittedly, he was a very polarizing figure. Many wanted to blame someone for the horrific loss of life, but there were so many conflicting accounts of how Ismay behaved that night that I find it hard to form much of an opinion on him. I find it hard to believe he was as calculating as some seem to think. It’s easy to judge the way people react to traumatic situations when you weren’t there. I find it more believable that, in the midst of the chaos of the sinking, Ismay saw an opportunity to save himself before the ship went down and took it without much thought. Self-preservation is a strong instinct. I wish Wilson had done less editorializing and just let the available information speak for itself.