Hurley wrote: “Wild has devised an ingenious arrangement for the cure of chronic snorers.

There were a number of other minor annoyances, including the matter of snoring. Amidst their quest for survival, the men have to solve common problems, like snorers: What most surprised me was how this story of hardship and tenacity includes relatable (even funny) moments.

That said, Lansing takes an already remarkable story and tells it in a way that is engaging and emotional. Their previous time in the ice is recapped after this section, but by beginning so dramatically Lansing ensures the reader won’t drop the book until the final pages. Because this is a true story, it feels disrespectful to use words/phrases like “dramatic” or “brilliantly paced.” The brutal obstacles that beset the crew don’t happen because Lansing devised a line of plot points to engage the reader they happen because they happened to real people. They accepted their defeat almost apathetically. They had fought unceasingly for three days and they had lost. There was no show of fear or even apprehension. For most of the men, however, no order was needed because by then everybody knew that the ship was done and that it was time to give up trying to save her. The order to abandon ship was given at 5 p.m. The crew remains in good spirits while stuck, but they’re forced to abandon ship when the Endurance is finally crushed. The plan goes awry when the Endurance is trapped in pack ice and adrift for months. Other caches of rations along the route would keep them supplied until they arrived at the McMurdo Sound base. While this was being done, the Weddell Sea group would be sledging toward the Pole, living on their own rations. The Ross Sea party was to set down a series of food caches from their base almost to the Pole. At more or less the same time, a second ship would put into McMurdo Sound in the Ross Sea, almost directly across the continent from the Weddell Sea base. Shackleton’s plan was to take a ship into the Weddell Sea and land a sledging party of six men and seventy dogs near Vahsel Bay. In 1914, Ernest Shackleton set sail on the Endurance with 27 men to begin the “Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition” and cross the Antarctic on foot-the “last great Polar journey” of 1,800 miles: (I’m going to read Tombland too, but that’s part of a series and I’ve got a lot of reading to do first.) I heard about Alfred Lansing’s Endurance when FictionFan awarded it Book of the Year 2018.

Endurance by Alfred Lansing