Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Les Naufragés du Wager by David Grann

21 reviews

bibliophilistine's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Murder, Colonisation, and War

danimacuk's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

bergha1998's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

3.75

It was a very interesting and compelling story. It definitely helped that he focused on some of the main characters who had told their stories in books. I enjoyed it a lot. 

“You miss his form, and the sound of his voice, for habit had made them almost necessary to you, and each of your senses feels the loss.”

“Empires preserve their power with the stories that they tell, but just as critical are the stories they don’t—the dark silences they impose, the pages they tear out.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

tobias_ewing's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

3.5

A gritty and realistic view of life at sea, the book just can't seem to break out of the constant slog of despair. Interesting, but ultimately difficult to consume and not one I'd jump to revisit anytime soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Murder

knkoch's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative medium-paced

3.75

I found this worthwhile and informative, if bleak in its reminders of the way naval stories like this are shaped by the huge and destructive forces of imperialism and ruthless extraction of resources. All the human folly that went into conscripting hundreds of deathly ill men to run ships that take thousands of century-old trees to build just to attempt needlessly difficult cape passages, only to shipwreck in an extremely challenging climate and

waste the lives of hundreds of people from disease and starvation!

I really liked that David Grann gave great context into the Indigenous tribes the men from this ship interacted with and the impact that naval expeditions had on them and all others in South and North America in the eighteenth century especially. It felt like he was resetting the image of journeys like these, moving away from glory and adventure into the grinding hardship, weaknesses of leadership, imperial greed, racist assumptions of superiority/inferiority, and endless jockeying between major European empires like Spain and England. Grann developed the historical characters well, and clearly established how naval honor codes, class, and rank influenced the events at sea and land. Shocked to learn that

the value of the seized Spanish galleon, then the greatest single event war bounty seized, was dwarfed by the full millions-of-pounds cost of the entire expedition to seize it.

And yet, we can't forget that history can be so easily spun into self-congratulatory stories that flatter rather than invite critical examination. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Terminal illness, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Racism, Xenophobia, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Cannibalism

Eating disorder: Much discussion of starvation, but not sure what TW may fit better.

tigertheory's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

3.5

Quite an interesting read not only about a tale of (mis)adventure but also about the importance seafaring had in shaping the world. 

On a side note; I recommend looking up Wager Island on Maps after reading for a bit of a laugh. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Excrement, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

Minor: Slavery, Vomit, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

ifeanart's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Racism, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

sonygaystation's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad slow-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Medical content, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, and War

gringolet's review against another edition

dark informative reflective tense slow-paced

4.75

A well researched, entertaining and fascinating book. David Grann good as usual

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Alcohol, and Colonisation

dogswithnogs's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death, Slavery, and Torture