Keep reading for my full review of “Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage” with The Quick & Dirty version at the end!
This review contains relatively low spoilers. Some plot points are mentioned but if you don’t already know how it ends, I don’t ruin it for you.
TW for the book/review: animal killing by humans, mention of depression and symptoms of deteriorating mental health, violence, racial slurs
Synopsis:
In 1914, Ernest Shackleton sets out to cross the entire continent of Antarctica by foot. In 1915, everything goes horribly wrong. This book tells the story of the 28 men who comprised the crew of the Endurance as they fought against the environment, their physical limitations, and sometimes their own mental limits on a journey over 850 miles back to civilization. Shackleton will use every trick in his book to keep his crew alive. Will it be enough?
A bit conflicted.
I struggled so much with rating this book! In the end, although I found the book to feel VERY long and sometimes VERY slow, I was too impressed by the writing and research to give it less than a “would recommend.” The pacing also seemed to echo the mental struggles of the crew, which felt appropriate.
Alfred Lansing’s skill in making a successful narrative out of a mish-mash of journal entries and other historical resources truly is masterful. This story came from accounts of the journey dating back to 1914 and the author manages to give it the pacing and character development of a novel!
Learned that I would not recommend:
polar night (specifically when sleeping in tents)
getting too attached to sled dogs during trans-Antarctic expeditions
STRONG format preference!
Huge plug for reading this one via audiobook! Simon Prebble made the whole thing feel like a warm hug – which only felt slightly weird, considering the circumstances.
TL;DR
Undercover Librarian 
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