I had seen this book on an article on Buzzfeed titled "Books you should read in 2015 before they become movies". It is the true story of the ship that was attacked by a sperm whale, which inspired Herman Melville's "Moby Dick". Plus, Chris Hemsworth is going to star in the movie. What could go wrong?
IT WAS SO BORING.
I thought it would have been written at least a little in the style of a novel. The first 50 pages or so (the first quarter of the book) were about the history of Nantucket. Which was like reading paint drying.
They already gave away the most harrowing part of the story in the foreword, so I was just trying to get to the part where the men were shipwrecked and started eating each other. That, horrifyingly enough, was the only interesting part of the book.
They referenced other incidences where severe starvation has led to desperate measures in this book, such as the Donner party. Brandon and I listened to a podcast about this one time driving through the Donner pass, and it made us both realize what a sad situation it was. These people were misled by a few people who deliberately left out crucial parts of the journey while describing it to the Donner party, and that led to their downfall. It was also the mistakes of the leaders of the ship Essex that led to so many people dying. Out of 20 people who survived the shipwreck, only 8 were accounted for at the end.
So, while it will make a good movie, since I'm assuming they will leave out the super boring parts at the beginning and end, it was painful to get through. But if you like historical books, by all means check it out!
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