Meeting your heros (wish fulfilment)

The common warning about not meeting heroes may also apply to experiences. Sometimes the emotional investment into trying something can build up as that action is consistently pushed back. For me, that metaphorical hero was skydiving. I've always loved the feeling of free fall, when it almost seems like your internal organs are moving around inside your torso. So what's the next step up from those drop towers? Either bungee jumping or skydiving.

Originally, it was meant to be my 18th birthday gift from my parents. All it took was half a year of pestering and asking for it. But the cast nursing my broken wrist put an end to that. Then college started. A lack of consistency, bouncing around. The pandemic's destruction of well-crafted plans struck. This past spring I essentially decided that I've had enough putting it off. With a couple of friends, we made our way to the jump zone... Only to have it cancelled due to poor weather conditions. Too many clouds and they were too close to the ground. And incredibly windy. 

Just one more set back in the long chain of cancellations and "some day I'll do it". Well, it finally happened. No broken wrists, perfect weather, and the time to do so. And it totally lived up to my expectations. That had actually been my greatest fear - I've built up an expectation, and was afraid that it wouldn't be as incredible as I expected.

I'm rarely this happy to be wrong. It was everything I imagined and more. It started when my tandem instructor back flipped us out of the plane at 13.5 thousand feet. Already awesome. Then, during the free fall, he was showing me how to use my arms to spin us first left, then right, faster and slower. All this time, wind was rushing by, howling in my ears. Then a tug and silence. He pulled the chute. In the distance, Philadelphia was illuminated by streaks of sunlight falling through a light cloud cover. Under us, an expanse of towns and golf courses, fields and trees. Life was spread out below and we drifted above it in a silence, taking it in. Up next? Instructions on controlling the parachute descent. He had me flare it to slow down. Turn one way, the other, complete three-sixties. Eventually, it wrapped up with a soft landing near the airfield's landing strip.

Words cannot express the wild exhilaration of free fall, especially contrasted against the smooth drift under the parachute. I definitely need to go again. And hopefully, this time it takes less than six years.

The Wager

Survival narratives are popular for good reason: they intrinsically strike all the aspects that make a good story. There's a build up as events begin unfolding, a (often dramatic) crisis putting the main character in danger, and a tale of courage and overcoming adversity as said main character perseveres against all odds. The very best of these, like Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, are still fondly read more than 300 years after its initial publication in 1719. And I bring up that specific novel for it's fundamental similarity to this week's work, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann. They both outline shipwrecked survivors stranded on islands, relating their stories of survival. There is a major difference between the two though: the latter is a true story.

A bit over twenty years after the publication of Dafoe's story, in the midst of the War of Jenkins' Ear, a British naval expedition set out to capture a Spanish galleon filled with treasures from the New World. To do so, they would need to cross the Atlantic, sail around South America, and up into the Pacific. But if the mission wasn't hard enough, they needed to do so while ill-equipped, partially manned by men collected from a care home (including amputees and the elderly), and facing some very bad weather. On top of it all, scurvy strikes and a Spanish fleet gives chase.

Importantly to this novel, the HMS Wager is shipwrecked off the coast of modern day Chile. The Wager follows the story of the men who made it onto a deserted island and survived there for months. In a real-life Lord of the Flies style tale, man devolves to the basest level, doing what it takes to live. Of course, factionalism and conflict break out. 

This thrilling tale is gripping from start to finish and expertly written. It is well-researched and based on the recounting of some survivors, of their contemporaneously written log books, and on recorded trial information. I am incredibly impressed by The Wager, and highly recommend it. Also, as a side note, this is the briefest time between book publication and my review to date, having been released April 18, 2023.

Again, this true tale of suffering, perseverance, and courage is amazing. I really recommend it.

 

Gods and Generals

A couple weeks ago, I praised The Greatest Day in History for its close up and personal descriptions of the end of WWI. It had provided individual insights into a global event, making sure to represent viewpoints of people on both sides of the conflict. In much the same manner, Gods and Generals, by Jeff Shaara, attempts to follow the lives and actions of major figures of the American Civil War in the period directly leading up to the war and during its initial phases. He also attempts to portray both sides, mentioning both Union and Confederate perspectives. 

While it is an incredibly interesting historical era that is ripe for better investigation on the individual scale, I pretty quickly realized a major issue. There was a lot of dialogue. On the surface, this may not seem significant. But it made me curious about the sources. And, well, whereas other non-fiction and historical books have long bibliographies after the text, Gods and Generals doesn't have one. There are no citations what so ever. 

This puts me in a difficult position. On one hand, it's well written and interesting. On the other, I have no way to verify the source material. Actually, I don't even know if there is source material. While it might be an entirely true and well-researched account, I can't confidently rely say so. And as a result, I'm inclined to classify it more as a historical-literature sort of work, rather than a historical one. Definitely no must read, but mildly interesting.

The Giver

"We don't dare to let people make choices of their own."

Anything to make the community feel secure. Avoid discomfort. Avoid suffering. Make life easier for everyone. Conformity and blandness. Remove the highs to avoid the lows. 

Somehow, when I read The Giver by Lois Lowry as a twelve year old, this didn't particularly strike me. I've definitely developed since my pre-teen years and the same message now seems more ominous. There is an unusual flavor to this work - something like The Giving Tree crossed with Brave New World. A dystopian future where society is organized into a rigid structure, where people follow the rules they are given and stepping out of line turns one into an outcast. At the same time, the childish, hopeful generosity is there. The juxtaposition makes it all the more powerful. 

It's a short book, but packed with meaning, even if the language, particularly the dialogue, can be a bit weak. It can be a quick read, but I recommend mulling it a little to look beyond the hopeful young-adult targeted text. And yes, I do strongly recommend reading it. Without spoiling too much, I'll have to end my thoughts here, but The Giver is a Medved-approved book.