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Reviews tagging 'War'

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

115 reviews

kitkatkick's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

The Wager’s in-depth views of the major players make them feel genuinely realistic without the author making too many assumptions about their words and actions. At times, the book strays too far from the wreck itself, giving a lot of focus to the fleet that the Wager was part of and the exploit’s of that fleet’s commander after being separated from the Wager.
Ultimately, it’s hard to rate books about maritime- or really any expeditious- disasters without letting the story of the disaster itself color the decision. The wreck of the HMS Wager brought out some of the worst of humanity. When compared to other events, for example the Shackleton expedition to Antarctica, it seems atrocious, yet the book is easily as good as Alfred Lansing’s “Endurance.”
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kabibblekitsch's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

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jessicaweghorst's review against another edition

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challenging informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

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nichoude's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative medium-paced

5.0

Easy read for people getting into nonfiction. The book starts off pretty slowly as Grann explains the historical context but once the shipwreck happens this book is hard to put down. The story keeps on developing in ways that makes you forget that these events actually happened until it reaches a very lackluster ending. Still is a formidable read.
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dillhunter's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative fast-paced

5.0

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ska1224's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

informative, fast read
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cmah's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Tough read but well written and informative, interesting in a morbid way.
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k80holmquist's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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slimepuppy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Gut wrenching, sad and a beautifully written insight into the British Empire - but also just empires in general - and their wretchedness, their disregard for humanity and the way it justifies its crimes. Some scenes were just... cinematic. There's no other way to describe it.

Also, this story is just insane? Everything was personally out to get those guys from day zero, and they refused to quit at every turn. Let this be a lesson that it's ok to quit! Lest you become David Cheap.
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aschenning's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative medium-paced

4.5

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