Summer is for Reading about Shipwreck: a review of The Wager

David Grann's newest book is good. Unfortunately, I am not sure anything could really follow Killers of the Flower Moon. So if you don't feel like reading the rest of this post, here is a nice little summary: good story, good writing, but it dragged.

If you haven't noticed yet, I don't read a lot of books the same year that they are released. Reading The Wager less than a year after it's release was maybe as close as I will come! That is, until I read The Daughter's War this year... keep an eye out for that! (As soon as Davis finishes reading it).

Anyway, allow me to review The Wager by David Grann.

First things first, the undertaking of this book could not have been easy. Grann set out to tell a story that is hundreds of years old, based off of first person log books, much of which could easily have been fabricated. He sets out to put together a puzzle full of "he said she said" accounts of a mutiny on a treasure-hunting ship in the 1800's. But was it mutiny or was it simply a necessary act of survival?

Secondly, the story is an intriguing one, but with so little to go off of, (at times) it feels a bit like Grann is trying to drag it out as long as possible. I have nothing against long books, but I do take issue with long books that could have been a lot shorter. While I don't deny the need for speculation as you piece together a story that is missing parts of the puzzle; however, when the speculative piece drags the story out, it can feel a bit like the book should have simply been a shorter book.

This is a huge difference from Killers of the Flower Moon, which included speculation without the speculation taking over the primary story. To my mind, if the story requires some speculation to tell, make sure that the primary story remains the star of the book.

All that being said, The Wager did keep me reading. Grann is extremely talented in writing true stories in an engaging way. Besides, the story is a truly incredible story of survival against all odds, and how simply the necessity of survival brings out the best and the worst in humanity.

So even a book that dragged quite a bit, was still engaging enough for me to want to finish it. Maybe this wasn't Grann's best work, but I am so excited for whatever he writes next!