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

4.75

The Wager - David Grann
šŸŽ§
ā­ - n/a (I donā€™t tend to rate non fiction)
I really need to read more non-fiction. I was obsessed with this the whole time I was listening to it.
So this is a non-fiction telling the story of the ship ā€œThe Wagerā€ and its crew who were castaway on an island and then follows all the events and scandal surrounding it. Although this isnā€™t my usual period, I am a general history nerd plus, Iā€™m well up for any historical scandal and drama so when I heard about this I knew I had to pick it up.
This is written in a really accessible, narrative way so if you donā€™t read a lot of non-fiction (like me) but are interested in history or peopleā€™s behaviour when faced with desperate situations, Iā€™d definitely say that this is a good one to pick up.
You can tell that the author has taken all the different accounts of events into consideration to piece together a narrative, while not shying away from addressing the issues present at the time like colonialism and lack of scientific knowledge. It goes into enough detail to explain the context around the events without getting too bogged down in every tiny little piece of information and keeps it to a really streamlined narrative. I will say, it did take longer to get to the island than I thought and the beginning did feel a little slow but I can recognise that it was necessary to set the context.
So yes I really enjoyed this, itā€™s one of those stories that you hear about and just canā€™t believe that it actually happened. I absolutely flew through this because I just wanted to be listening to it all the time. I would love for someone to make this into a tv series! Highly recommend this one!
Content warnings: Gore, graphic illness descriptions, animal death, real world violence
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