Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

34 reviews

erica_reads_everything's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative tense fast-paced

3.25

Story was great and very well written. Stars taken off for a few extremely graphic descriptions that I don't think were necessary to have as detailed out as they were. The graphic descriptions don't add anything to the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, Death, Gore, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcohol, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

kelsea's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Eating disorder, Murder, and Medical content

kshertz's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

It’s pretty fascinating how this shipwreck went down. I can’t imagine the amount of research and work went into this! I came in with super high expectations! I learned a lot about survival and pirates that’s for sure. But it was a lot of info and I zoned out when it got into too much detail. But also I’m not extremely into pirates? It’s probably a book for those who want to know about survival and human nature when stranded

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Body horror, Gun violence, Animal death, Gore, Murder, Torture, Blood, Violence, Cannibalism, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.0

Hard to imagine how much time and reattach must’ve gone into writing this book. An impressive feat on that basis alone. A marvelous recreation of what happened and lots of history to learn. Curious that the island is still called Wager Island instead of whatever the indigenous call it, but that’s part of the story too. Was fascinated by Lord John Byron’s role. Had only ever known him as a poet. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Murder, Animal death, Colonisation, and Gore

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, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Cannibalism

Minor: Colonisation and Suicide

tamtamslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

3.0

An interesting telling of how nations were built and made their own rules by “ripping out pages” of history to fit a narrative they were unconquerable. 

What I take away from this mostly is

England wanted treasure and to “tame” natives who did nothing but offer them kindness when they were too cocky to go to shore. And their eagerness and greed for said treasure cost their tax paying citizens more than what was found, and the lives of their family members.

This is the point the author makes, but in a more elegant telling, of course. 

*note: if you listen to the audiobook version, the footnotes are read in tandem with the chapters. Some are a bit lengthy and drag the overall story a bit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

theabee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Slavery, War, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Animal death, Colonisation, and Murder

maison's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Classism, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Violence, Racism, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Slavery, Racial slurs, and Animal death

Minor: Cannibalism and Child death

mondovertigo's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Cannibalism, Animal death, Death, and Colonisation

Moderate: Body horror, Violence, Slavery, Racism, War, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Medical trauma

Minor: Blood, Vomit, and Excrement

bibliomania_express's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

5.0

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann is a gripping and thought-provoking account of the voyage and shipwreck of HMS Wager in the 1740s. Drawing on primary sources and thorough archival research, Grann reconstructs the hardships of the voyage from before the ships set sail, through its perilous journey, shipwreck, mutiny, and court-martial. If you are squeamish about descriptions of disease and death, take care, but I do think Grann tow the lines of factual without going into excessive details. 

The story of the Wager is heartbreaking and amazing, with falliable human ingenuity and the unrelenting power of hope coming up against the forces of nature, disease, delerium, and himan depravity. 

I really enjoyed Grann's writing. He made the story feel engaging as a living narrative rather than a historical account. I also appreciated how he took the time to call out the intrisic racism and imperialist motives of the venture. He made space for the indigenous peoples of South America, the African slave trade, and even class divides amongst the British. 

I was mainly surprised by how the court martial ended, and I appreciated Grann's discussion of why it went the way it did. 

Overall, a fantastic book.
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, Animal cruelty, Animal death, War, Medical content, Violence, Chronic illness, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Murder, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Torture, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Slavery, Child death, and Cannibalism