Endurance

[Julie Mo]

I just finished reading Endurance by Alfred Lansing.  It's a reprint of the original written in 1959 and tells the story of the Antarctic expedition of Ernest Shakleton and his 27 man crew .

 

It was a little over 50 years ago that I read Shakleton's Valiant Voyage, a 98 page quick read by the same author.  That book stuck in my head because it was the first book I read that I couldn't put down. but I remembered little else.  When I ran across the reprint of Endurance, I had to pick it up and see if it was as good as the short version.  It was better.

 

Anyone who wants a refresher of this amazing story or if you never read the story, I strongly recommend it.  For much of the book, my jaw was open in disbelief.  It kept me up into the wee hours reading because I couldn't put it down.

 

I've read a number of stories of the sea that told about man faced with the fury of nature - In The Kingdom of Ice, Voyage For Madmen, Fatal Storm, Gathering Wind - but this book more often had me wondering, how on earth did these men survive?  And all of them did, which may be the most remarkable thing of all.