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The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

David Grann

Start date: May 1, 2024

Finish date: May 31, 2024

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Ann D

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What Members Thought

Mar 02, 2024 Ken added it

Shelves: finished-in-2024, history

I'm always confused between history and historical fiction. The former is a mixture of fact and fiction and the latter is as well. Maybe it's a question of degree?

David Grann is an accomplished storyteller (and history just LOVES a storyteller), so he brings the facts of a doomed naval mission to life while adding necessary suppositions about people's thoughts and words. "Truthiness," then. In this case, a worthy example of it, too.

Meaning, I mostly enjoyed this book because, well, the title! Wh I'm always confused between history and historical fiction. The former is a mixture of fact and fiction and the latter is as well. Maybe it's a question of degree?

David Grann is an accomplished storyteller (and history just LOVES a storyteller), so he brings the facts of a doomed naval mission to life while adding necessary suppositions about people's thoughts and words. "Truthiness," then. In this case, a worthy example of it, too.

Meaning, I mostly enjoyed this book because, well, the title! Who doesn't love a good shipwreck (along as they're not aboard), mutiny (as long as their side wins), and murder (as long as it's the 18th century we're talking)?

A slow start, to be sure, getting to know all the dramatis personae (Latin for "players"). And the sailing from Portsmouth, Jolly Olde (vs. New Hampshire) to Patagonia is rife with similar-seeming storms and similar-sized waves (the size of the Empire State Building-to-be-built). How did these ships stay afloat so long, one wonders? Talk about shiver me timbers!

Once you hit the mutiny part, though, things pick up nicely. It's always comforting (and discomforting) to see how human nature never changes, no matter what the era in time. Idiots were as idiots are -- more abundant than you'd think. And pride. And hubris. And courage confused with craziness. And difficult straits in search of a happy ending.

The mission to hunt down Spanish galleons turns into a disaster of the first order. As for the Englishmen, they throw geography to the wind (plenty of that off the tip of South America) and quickly become Balkanized. This group vs. that group vs. in-between groups. Kind of like middle school cliques (watch them sit at the same tables every lunch period in the cafeteria).

In any event, if you like survival stories and almost-survived stories and came-nowhere-near-surviving stories, this should be a worthy wager for you. Me, I mostly identified with John Byron, grandfather of THE Byron (Lord Byron, who became famous as a swimmer, a swain, and...oh, yeah... a poet). John was a nobleman who took to sea at age 16 for adventure (ah, youth) and got more than he bargained for. These are the hazards of not being the eldest in a system of primogeniture, John! At least his famous grandson would grow up to write about him with a great measure of pride.

Overall, then, a lot of fun. Glad I picked it up, and learned something (namely: continue to avoid cruises, Ken). ...more

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