The Indifferent Stars Above

From the #1 bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat and Facing the Mountain comes an unforgettable epic of family, tragedy, and survival on the American frontier “An ideal pairing of talent and material.… Engrossing.… A deft and ambitious storyteller.” — Mary Roach, New York Times Book Review In April of 1846, twenty-one-year-old Sarah Graves, intent on a better future, set out west from Illinois with her new husband, her parents, and eight siblings on a trek that would become a landmark tale of westward expansion. Seven months later, after joining a party of pioneers led by George Donner, they reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the first heavy snows of the season closed the pass ahead of them. In early December, starving and desperate, Sarah and fourteen others set out for California on snowshoes, and, over the next thirty-two days, endured almost unfathomable hardships and horrors. In this gripping work of narrative nonfiction, New York Times bestselling author Daniel James Brown sheds new light on one of the most legendary events in American history. Following every painful footstep of Sarah’s journey with the Donner Party, Brown produces a tale of survival both spellbinding and richly informative. This epic of survival puts you inside one of history’s most harrowing episodes— A Woman's Perspective: Follow twenty-one-year-old Sarah Graves, a newlywed whose dreams of a better future turn into a nightmare in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Desperate Winter Journey: Witness the unfathomable hardships endured by Sarah and fourteen others as they attempt to cross the mountains on handmade snowshoes in the dead of winter. Meticulously Researched History: Discover the unvarnished truth as the author sheds new light on the legendary Donner Party, drawing from deep archival research to tell a spellbinding story. Against the Odds: A gripping account of family, tragedy, and the brutal realities of pioneer survival on the American frontier when the first heavy snows fall.

Finished reading: The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown 📚

This was an outstanding book, well written with lots of history and side stories. I don’t give out five-star reviews very easily, but this earns its place.

And they had nailed the boards above her face,
The peasants of that land,
Wondering to lay her in that solitude,
And raised above her mound
A cross they had made out of two bits of wood,
And planted cypress round;
And left her to the indifferent stars above.
~W. B. YEATS, “A Dream of Death”

The author closely follows Sarah Graves and her family on their trek to California. You’ll find lots of history and detail you may not get in other books on the Donner Party. The story really comes alive as you follow the Graves and their companions into the misery to come.

The book includes enough detail and deep dives into how people in the 1846 - 1847 timeframe thought and what they believed to make you feel like you were trekking with them.

This was the first book I read at night, and because we were traveling and my wife wanted to hear the story, we listened to the audiobook version during our drive. I really enjoyed reading and then listening to what I read the next day. I would always miss something in my reading, and listening to the audio version made it clearer or brought it out in a new light as we discussed the story together.

You become very aware that people today and people in 1846 were very different in knowledge, but mostly in toughness and tenacity. I would bet that people today, put in their situation, would fare far worse.

One by one, feathery flakes landed on cold blankets and buffalo robes, on sweat-slicked hair, on shoulders turned to the sky, on soft cheeks—each flake delicate and slight, but each lending its almost imperceptible weight to the horror of what was about to happen.

If there is one thing I could nitpick, it would be that the stories of how they dealt with the local tribes are always one-sided. The Indians' perspective is never discussed.

I learned a lot from this book and will be diving deeper into this time period of history. Even days after I’ve finished the book, it stays on my mind. Thinking about the mistakes made, the horrors, the loss, the recovery. I think everyone should read this book or any book on the Donner Party. It brings perspective. It shows how far we have come in our society, science, and technology. And it ultimately brings hope that even after horrific accidents, you can still live and love.

THE MEAGER BY THE MEAGER WERE DEVOURED
All earth was but one thought—and that was death
Immediate and inglorious; and the pang
Of famine fed upon all entrails—men
Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh;
The meager by the meager were devoured.
—Lord Byron, “DARKNESS”

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Finished reading: The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown 📚