Reviews::Books::Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage
How do you describe a “page turner” that doesn’t demand you read it all in one sitting?
This book poses an odd dilemma for me because there was literally no way that I was going to abandon this one once starting the first page, and yet I never felt the compulsion to read until the wee hours just to finish it. Perhaps that’s because I knew the ending already thanks to the NOVA documentary. Still, the lack of suspense about the ultimate fate of those onboard the ship only served to heighten the enjoyment of reading about the trials that they endured along the way. Something like the difference between eating a good meal when extremely hungry and eating the same meal any other time; in both instances, the same calories are ingested, yet the second one gives more pleasure for the slower pace.
Okay, go read this one when you have a chance. It’s suitable for reading to younger children (like Eli).
Lansing does a simply amazing job of matching the pace of his prose to the perils of the sailors so that the first half of the book is almost upbeat while the author begins to apply the screws in the inexorably towards the end. The chapters that cover the sea voyage to Elephant Island alone should be taught in Universities as shining examples of how to build suspense and sympathy for your characters.
UPDATE: Sigh, grammar isn’t necessarily my strongest suit.