Rate this book

Death On The Barrens: A True Story Of Courage And Tragedy In The Canadian Arctic (2010)

by George James Grinnell(Favorite Author)

3.55 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1556438826 (ISBN13: 9781556438820)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

North Atlantic Books

review 1: What a huge disappointment! Being a Canadian, I was looking forward to this true life adventure/courageous story of a northern Canadian canoe expedition from 1955. The writer, as he told the reader many times, came from a privileged schooling background. He sounds like a bit of a "rebel", and a spoiled brat. He idolizes the "leader" of the expedition Art Moffat. The story is just so disjointed and some kind of introspective of idolization. It was just so weird!! At the end of the book, the author describes having been married four times, and his three degrees, one being a doctorate. A doctorate? Had he no editor for this book? I can't believe how horribly written it is. It was a chore to finish. I could find NO COURAGE in this book. A bunch of total amateurs, except for Ar... moret, who played games like little children, and it all turned out badly.
review 2: It is strange in some ways to say that I 'enjoyed' this book since the whole story is a slow march towards disaster. Are you supposed to say that you 'enjoy' a story where you know people die? But in a sense, that's the whole point. You really know that life is on the line. It's adventure! Real adventure, where people that you come to care about are in peril. Real adventure where not everything turns out okay. But it is also the journal of a man who has experienced deep pain and loss. I never did quite figure out exactly where he was coming from, and it is disarming to find in the end how deeply broken his life became after the journey.[return][return]I also find it interesting in that it is a journey that was traveled in a time gone by. Not so long ago that you can't relate, but long enough ago that the adventures he describes are a thing of the past. The barrenness and wilderness he describes is kind of gone. The struggle with gear and the minimalist travel is mostly gone, replaced by big dollar 'expeditions' and large groups of guided tours. Mostly gone are the days where you can be met on shore by a native hunter and know that you are both hungry and lonely. Now, you just whip out your satellite phone and tell somebody that you are in trouble. As painful as his journey turned out to be, isn't there also some grieving to be done that we have mostly lost this wilderness and sense of adventure?[return][return]It is written journal-style, so I could read just 5 pages or so at each sitting, which is awesome for people with little ones and a distracted life! It keeps you wanting to read just one more entry. The writing is surprisingly good, not in high style, but descriptive, engaging, and it flows well. The language makes it easy to read and to see what he was seeing during his journey.[return][return]I can highly recommend reading this book. It is fascinating, real and reads quickly and easily. less

Download links for: Death on the Barrens: A True Story of Courage and Tragedy in the Canadian Arctic

Advertising