It’s not always easy to make non-fiction enjoyable. This was well written, had a good pace, and I enjoyed the narrator. Good mix of factual retelling from survivor accounts and creative setting the scene with descriptive original content. 

This was in many ways an absolutely horrible read, but it was definitely interesting. 

I didn’t particularly like the narrator, but that didn’t stop me from blasting through this audiobook anyway. The Donner Party is an event/group that’s very much part of American mythology and as a result, a lot of the literal facts have been lost along the way. I felt like I learned a lot about the situation and what the people trapped on the mountain actually did and chose to do, and it honestly gave me a different opinion and perspective on the tragedy than I had with just “cultural knowledge” of the topic.

I never felt like the author took unfair liberties with historical imagination. I thought it was an odd but interesting choice that he wanted to center the story on a woman who wasn’t a Donner, but instead part of one of the other families. But I felt like he really did her story justice to the absolute best of his ability. It was very thoughtful, detailed, compassionate, and dedicated to earnestness. 

I also felt like he balanced the heavy and intense emotions of the story very well. He didn’t shy away from the horror of the situation but also didn’t get unnecessarily graphic with the cannibalism details. Honest, but not disrespectful. A difficult line to walk, which I felt Brown did very well.

All in all, a very interesting read. I’ve vaguely been interested in the topic, but now I’d really love to go see the memorial and museum to see what’s left.