Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Wager by David Grann

15 reviews

kcbas1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism, Slavery, Suicide, and Cannibalism

ecourtis's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Colonisation and Classism

emelynreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

5.0

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.

Scandalous, harrowing, epic. I was hooked from the start. This is a book I know I'll come back and read again and again. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide and Colonisation

creativerunnings's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

chalkletters's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

2.75

During my book club’s nominations, I voted for The Wager without realising it was non-fiction. Usually, I find non-fiction books, especially non-fiction history books, a little dry and difficult to get absorbed in for long periods of time so, despite the promise of shipwreck, mutiny and murder, I took on The Wager with some trepidation.

As it turned out, David Grann’s writing style is particularly easy to read: he tells the story of The Wager almost as it were a novel, in linear order and from multiple viewpoints, keeping the focus on the narrative and not on the process of research. Characters who could easily have merged into one mass of navy sailors had distinct personalities and characteristics: particularly John Byron, grandfather to the poet George Gordon Byron, whose works provided illuminating quotations at relevant points.

David Grann’s introduction set up an interesting opposition between two different contemporary versions of what happened on Wager Island, but this set up an expectation which wasn’t entirely met by the text. While questions were raised about who, and which actions, were morally correct, there seemed to be little dispute over the actual facts of what happened. The ending, too, was surprisingly simple and easy given that there had been hints of a great argument. 

The bulk of The Wager is focused on the journey, the shipwreck and the aftermath. There’s no shortage of action and harrowing details of life at sea in the 1740s. This isn’t the kind of book you read to put yourself in the shoes of the main character and fulfil the wish for an exciting life. Instead, it’s best taken from a safe distance as a display of the human survival spirit. 

While I was impressed with David Grann’s writing, I didn’t particularly enjoy the story as much as I might have hoped.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Cannibalism

Minor: Child death, Suicide, Violence, and War