South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage

Rating:
Summary: A Gripping Tale
Review: Ernest Shackleton has always been one of my heroes. The story of the Endurance and how the Shackleton Expedition kept body and soul together and made it safely home after losing its ship in the Weddell Sea ice pack is one of the most heroic episodes in the annals of human adventure. Hollywood could not write a more compelling epic.
I bought the book because I wanted to read a first-hand account of the Expedition, despite being somewhat afraid of its being bogged down in technical details. It was not. Once the scene was set, what the reader gets is a fast-moving, easy-to-read, and very gripping tale of the attention to duty, the guts, and the undying optimism it took to overcome what must have seemed like insurmountable odds. Shackleton's wry sense of humor and his willingness to take calculated risks and make hard decisions undoubtedly helped to inspire his men to work as a team.
You will sit on the edge of your seat as you read of the harrowing voyage in the tiny dinghy across the raging seas as Shackleton and a chosen few set out from Elephant Island in a desperate attempt to reach South Georgia. You will feel the weariness and the agony of his party as they seek to find a way to the other side through what had been considered inaccessible territory. And you will feel the sense of relief and triumph as the party stumbles into the whaling station where it was able to organize a rescue for the comrades left behind on Elephant Island.
That is really the climax of the story. Some readers may find the second portion of the book a bit anticlimactic, and it is, but that does not take away from the main story. The second part merely recounts the trials and tribulations of the other half of the expedition. The story of those men and their ship is interesting in its own right and is included here only because Shackleton, as overall commander of the expedition, included their story in his journal.
Sir Ernest Shackleton's story is an inspiration to me. His heroism shines in a world that produces too few heroes. I highly recommend this book to all who like a good story. Perhaps you will be inspired too.

Rating:
Summary: the straight-ahead momentum of an ice breaker
Review: His party stranded on an ice floe hundreds of miles from their destination, beyond the reach of the outside world -- even had the outside world known they needed help, or where to look -- his ship crushed by countless miles of pack ice and supplies running low, Ernest Shackleton spent not a moment in lamentation. He set about saving his crew and himself. They made their way to a small, desolate bit of island shore, from which Shackleton and five men journeyed 800 miles in a 22-foot open boat across the most dangerous sea in the world. A trek through miles of snow-covered mountain wilderness finally brought rescue. And everybody survived! Shackleton's is an epic tale of true adventure and derring-do, and he tells it with the straight-ahead momentum of an ice breaker diving into the pack. He sees beauty in the Antarctic, and he carries a touch of poetry (Browning, anyway) in his soul. He is also a detail man, and his flights of descriptive eloquence bog down amid facts, figures, wind speeds and diatomous striations. But this piling-on of minutiae proves riveting in the action sequences (most of the book). We feel like we are there. Having told his own party's tale, Shackleton gives a useful if anticlimactic account of the Ross Sea wing of the expedition - a story with its own generous measure of adventure, heroism and poignancy.

Rating:
Summary: Quite a tale of human survival
Review: I want to dispell a couple of myths that seem to be pervading a handful of the reviews for this book. First, this book is NOT a cure for insomnia. This book is unbelievable exciting, and if it puts you to sleep so quickly, then your attention span has obviousley been severely warped by television or some other dumbing-agent. Secondly, the language, though written 80+ years ago, is not that challenging. I'm no linguist, but I didn't notice a difference between Shakleton's phrasing and word choice and the writing of today's writers. The fact that it was written so long ago does not make it boring. I think his book has aged quite well.

Was it the MOST exciting book I've ever read? Of course not! (That award likely goes to Helter Skelter) But Shakleton was not aiming to create an edge of the seat thriller (although he did come close!). He was only trying to, as acurately as possible, tell his heroic tale of survival in as much detail as he could provide.

The book's only shortcoming: I wish it included a much more detailed set of maps with which I could follow Shakleton's moves. I was constantly referring to the basic map at the beginning of my book only to be dissapointed by its lack of detail. There were countless references to islands that were not marked on the map in my book.

Rating:
Summary: Ultimate Determination
Review: It's tough to criticize a book written by the man himself and say that other books are somehow better, despite the fact that these writers did not participate in the journey. But unfortunately, that is the case. If you're a real Shackleton fan, you'll want to read this book only as background after taking on works by Caroline Alexander or Alfred Lansing.

In comparison, 'South' has the following shortcomings:

1. The writing style is impenetrable & stilted. It has not aged well in the 80+ years since it was put down on paper.

2. The misuse of Frank Hurley's photographs is annoying - they're out-of-focus, oddly chosen and misplaced in sequence in the book. See Alexander's book for a revelation of the power and majesty of Hurley's work.

3. You only get Shackleton's point of view here. Lansing and Alexander pull together the journals of many particpants and you get a real flavor of the men that comprise the crew. Here, you get only Sir Ernest, dispensing some kind words about each member, last name only, no background info. The other books tell you quite a bit about flawed characters like McNish and Lees.

Rating:
Summary: Poor Shackleton
Review: Poor Shackleton. In all his life it seems he allways came late or second, allmost made it or, as in this story, did not reach his goal at all.
Most amazing in his last expedition is that no lives were lost, though probably encountering the worst circumstances of the expedions I know of.
Most remarkably are the stunning photo's by Frank Hurley. The negatives were either transported over ice and sea, or (no book provided me with that information) were allready developed on the ice. In my copy of this book (printed probably around 1935), but not found in all later editions, one of these negatives is in good quality full-colour, made in 1914!

Rating:
Summary: For Antartic Fanatics only
Review: The first thing to remember about this book is that it was written in 1919. Secondly, it is not a story per se, but a recounting of an expedition (albeit gone horribly wrong) including the obligatory longitude and latitude references and long passages about the weather. That said, even though there were some wonderfully droll passages*, i found this book rather hard going. My husband, who had read it before, told me it improved after the first few chapters, and it did. But when the first expedition was over and we move on to the disaster of the Aurora, it gets very hard to stay awake again.

If you are an avid fan of Antarctic Adventures, you have to read this one, as it is a classic. Otherwise, you might find this a little 'hard going'. * I really liked this line about the Killer Whales spotted around the camp - "Shipwrecked mariners drifting in the Antarctic seas would be things not dreamed of in the Killer's philosophy, and might appear on closer inspection to be tasty substitutes for seal and penguin."

Rating:
Summary: A modest, factual account of extraordinary leadership.
Review: This a story of a "failed" cross continental expedition and its aftermath. It gives a continuous account of the unbelievable experiences of Ernest Shacleton and his crew of 27 men from the time their ship, the Endurance, is frozen in pack ice until their final escape some 20 months later. This unbelieveable feat was accomplished without a single loss of life!

The character and leadership abilities of Ernest Shackleton are impressive and facinating as he and his crew are pitted against forces of nature beyond the experience of most mortals.

I found much inspiration for dealing with life's everday experiences and challenges from reading this account. I have also read Frank Worsley's account of the "open boat" escape and a biography of Sir Ernest Shackleton. I will continue to expand this list of readings as I am able to find more accounts on the subject.

The lure of the Antartic and the study of these extrodinary adventures grips me as no other topic has for a long time.

Rating:
Summary: You need endurance, but it is worth it.
Review: This book is written by a man of his time. It has few embellishments and could be described as being written in an understatement. Do not look for character developments or a sense of the privations and living conditions during this period.

Two other books (to my knowledge) were written by Shackelton's companions and I would commend both to a reader. Worsley's book is a more readable account of this journey; while "Shackelton's Argonauts" (by the photographer Frank Hurley) covers similar ground and includes an account of those who stayed on Elephant Isle.

Rating:
Summary: An Incredible Adventure
Review: this story is not a novel, its not about character development and its not fiction...its about how a man finds himself and his comrades in a desperate position...stuck on an ice floe...thousands of miles from the nearest human habitation and deathly temperatures of -30f...no ship...all his sledging dogs dying...very little food and vastly under-equipped...and how he managed to get these men off the floe and to safety without a single loss of life...and when shackleton watched his ship crushed and sink below the ice...he faced this task without outward emotion and gave all the men hope.. my great grandfather was on this journey...he was the carpenter 'chipps' McNeish..so this book hit a chord especially with me..