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wandering_zero's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
5.0
andrewbarnard53's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
4.0
A great story, well written, well paced.
My previous book was about a WW1 escape, and some of the places and routes are identical!!
My previous book was about a WW1 escape, and some of the places and routes are identical!!
tessisreading2's review against another edition
3.0
If there's one thing I love it's World War II escape narratives. Often penned by or involving the British, it involves a certain stiff-upper-lip, devil-may-care, adventurous spirit and (with a few notable exceptions) it's generally less horrifying than any narrative involving prisoners of any other nation. "The Big Zero" is an entertaining version. The largest problem is that the author seems to be taking a self-consciously cinematic approach, transcribing (and editing or recreating, per the author's note at the beginning) entire verbal exchanges which can get a little hokey. Rather than quoting explicitly from a narrative by one of the escapers, for example, he's simply including the dialogue they recorded. It's part and parcel of going for a popular rather than scholarly approach, I guess, but I feel like the author tilts too far in the popular direction. He also doesn't bother with any digressions - we learn next to nothing about the escapers although, for example, one of them was the son of a feminist and spiritualist activist who conceived him through an extramarital affair with the then-Prime Minister's brother in the belief that the baby would be the reincarnation of yet another spiritualist leader, which I learned via Google. I'm fairly certain the book never even gave his first name. Basically the author is writing a straight narrative and nothing more. Good but not great.
momreaderh's review against another edition
4.0
This book was great! If you liked Boys in the Boat or Unbroken, you will like this book. The other two are a little better, but this is still a very good read and great study of the human condition.
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