Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

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

68 reviews

kitkatkick's review against another edition

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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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finnickdeservedbetter's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

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nichoude's review against another edition

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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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jlunn_28's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

One of the best non-fiction books I’ve ever read!

Love the way this book was narrated, telling a true tale in a fictional story format. The twists and turns were fascinating, made all the more interesting by the fact it is all a true story. 

An incredibly well researched, easy to read non-fiction book that I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone who enjoys a historical, on the high seas, survival story.
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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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sgodfrey84's review against another edition

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adventurous informative medium-paced

4.0

The descriptions of the weather and sea conditions helped set the atmosphere for the book - you could picture the squalls and the beaches. The style of the writing was informative and I liked the vernacular. If you like history with a tinge of humour but like your history books relatively short (this is mercifully only about 250 pages not including the references and index - I’ve known history books be longer than 500 and so dry to read) this should be satisfying. 
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elenakperez's review against another edition

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5.0

Nonfiction that reads like fiction. I didn't want to stop reading. 
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rllaird's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring tense slow-paced

4.5

Great historical telling of an extraordinary tale of the survivors of the shipwreck The Wager!
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