panThe story of the Donner Party is already horrific and could make a very scary story. The supernatural elements introduced here just made it.... less. Less scary, less interesting, less contemplative. Add a skosh of racism (in the story, of course the characters would be racist), and just FAR too much romantic intrigue and I just can't say this was well-done. The actual writing was good tho.
pickDaniel James Brown is the king of narrative non-fiction as far as I‘m concerned. Anyone who can make the journey and sufferings of the Donner party read like a novel is someone special. Brown captures the hope for the journey, the host of delays and bad decisions that set the party on its doomed path, and the party‘s desperate attempts to survive - all set within the wider historical context that made the tragedy possible. Bleak topic, great book!
Got this as a Christmas present today. I've heard of the Donner Party, but never read about it.
pickThe audio of this story of the Donner party is a bit dry at first, but the writing is so good that despite the subpar audio, the quality takes over and it‘s fully absorbing. I love that I finished it while driving through PNW mountains—it made the listen even more atmospheric.
pickA fictionalized account of the Donner tragedy. Interesting, well written. Not sure the fictionalization was any better than the actual story. A 3.5 stars at best.
Prompt #2 😃🙌 #gruesome #wickedwhispers
This one is still in my TBR!
