AUTHOR: David Grann
PUBLISHED: 2009
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Biography/History
PREMISE: David Grann explores the life of the explorer Percy Fawcett and ponders about what could have happened to him during his quest to find the city of gold/city of Z...
MY REVIEW: I have to admit, had it not been for the buzz that surrounds this book and the fact that it was made into a movie this year, and I'm trying to read the books made into movies this year, I probably would not have picked this one up. Sorry, explorers...don't interest me that much.
So I was kind of just okay with this one. As a non-fiction biography, it gets the job done. It gives you all the details you need to know, he doesn't wander off on other subjects like some non-fiction authors have a bad habit of doing, and despite not being terribly interested at first, I did find myself enjoying this. Mostly because it was about things I wasn't terribly familiar with.
I'll give this for Grann: his writing is very engaging. He also does not sugar-coat his subject. Sometimes you can tell when an author has become too attached to their subject, because they then try to paint everything the person does in a good light. Grann doesn't hold back on the fact that Fawcett was very very flawed. Like all human beings.
All in all, it was an okay book. I'm far more interested in the newest one he wrote though. That one sounds really good.
WHO SHOULD READ: non-fiction fans, those interested in explorer history
MY RATING: Four out of Five explorer hats
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