Despite enjoying books on travel I haven’t read much on the age of exploration, partly because I’m not sure I trust historical accounts that may gloss over inconvenient information. But this book has maybe shifted my opinion a bit and I’ll keep my eyes open for more on this age.
The book chronicles the unsuccessful attempt of Ernest Shackleton to cross the Antarctic continent, but ends up following a much more dangerous journey to survive. The author uses the diaries and notes of the expedition members to recreate the events, and it feels extremely real, with a slightly dated feeling (the book is about 70 years old).
I really enjoyed reading about the logistics of an expedition of this scale, and what they needed to bring and what they ultimately used. Occasionally the author got caught up in detailing the minute by minute drudgery of what the members suffered through – the idea is to give the reader a sense of their struggle, but I thought towards the end that it felt like a little too much information – at a certain point the details could be dialed down a little to bring the story to a satisfying conclusion.
The biggest enemy of the expedition was the cold – and this book is filled with descriptions of what it is like to suffer – from cold wind, cold water, cold (and wet) sleeping bags, and cold dinner.
The writer seems to make efforts to portray members mostly in a good light. Even one guy who might be seen as a burden on the team is treated with kid gloves. Maybe this is how writers have to deal with subjects that are still alive back in the 50’s. I liked the idea that there were people whose only occupation in life was scrimping and scraping up the money to go out and explore – what a lifestyle! The whole book was a satisfying time travel experience, and I enjoyed it overall.
Next I am reading The Suspect by L.R. Wright.
