So, I don't remember learning about the Donner party when I was in school. I am pretty sure I would never forget any mention of people eating people for survival, so I am sure it isn't that I have blocked those memories out.
I have vague recollections of some information that occurred west of the Mississippi, but very little. Moving out west has been very interesting for me on many levels--one of them includes the notion that this interesting conglomeration of different individuals who have converged in Portland, OR truly represent the spirit of the generations before them who searched for a better life.
So this book was for bookclub. I have been looking forward to reading it since I discovered it was about cannibalism, but the more I read into the book, the more frustrated I became. Because of my lack of knowledge of occurrences west of the Mississippi, I had no clue how to visualize the route these people took, or why they would even leave their Midwestern homes (ok, the weather is a darn good reason, but still...)--especially at the time of year they did--and on the misinformation they were presented. But they did. And it was bad. Really, really bad.
I became less frustrated with the book after I printed out some maps of their route to better visualize where they were and where they were camped. I also printed out a timeline, and wiki had a list of all the people who died, what they died from, and what happened to their bodies (i.e. cannibalized; left behind; buried in the snow, etc.).
Overall, this was a tolerable read. I did enjoy the author's melding of scientific definitions with the Donner Party's experiences (snow blindness, hide and die, PTSD, effects of starvation, hyper/hypo thermia, etc.), but there were many moments that weren't great. At one point Brown describes what one of the members of the doomed party would do if she were in New York at the time--like eating at nice restaurants or cooking this meal--really? No duh. And there was one flub that I can't get past--as Brown describes the history of cannibalism he states, "Neanderthals are believed to have chowed down on one another from time to time" (178 emphasis added). Seriously? Chowed down? Thoughout the text Brown remains pretty detached (until the Epilogue), and his diction is quite formal and scientific. This just killed it for me though. Yuk.
While this book is very depressing, it is a valuable text if one has no clue what happened with the Donner Party. Also, if you are fascinated with American history and the power of the human will to survive, this is a great book.
I'm still at the "eh" rating though...
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