Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 by Simon Winchester

 

Reviewed by Ambrea

 

On August 27, 1883, Krakatoa erupted.  Killing more than thirty-five thousand people between the blast and the immense tsunami it generated, Krakatoa quickly became one of the worst – and deadliest – volcanic eruptions in recorded human history.  Its name has become synonymous with cataclysm and, even today, it’s one of the most recognized volcanoes in the world, alongside Mount St. Helens, Mauna Loa, Mount Vesuvius, and Kilauea.

 

In his book, which bears the name of the infamous volcano, Simon Winchester explores the science and the history of Krakatoa.  He dives into the clash of cultures on the islands of Indonesia – between the indigenous peoples, the Chinese immigrants, and the Dutch colonists who called the island home – and he thoroughly examines the theory of plate tectonics.  He also delves into the aftermath of Krakatoa, chronicling what happened to the volcano and the world after the dust settled.

 

I recently decided to borrow an audiobook copy of Krakatoa from Tennessee READs.  My reasons were twofold:  one, I liked Simon Winchester’s The Professor and the Madman and I wanted to explore more of his work; and, two, I wasn’t quite finished learning about horrific disasters.

 

And horrific is probably the best adjective one can use to describe Krakatoa.

 

I was astonished to learn the eruption of Krakatoa is speculated to be the loudest sound in the world.  According to Winchester, the explosion was reportedly heard as far away as Perth, Australia, and Manila in the Philippines – fully 1,783 miles away!  Sailors, who were docked more than eighty miles from the island, experienced permanent hearing loss and damage to their eardrums.

 

Likewise, when the volcano exploded, it sent out inaudible shockwaves that were captured by barometers as far as London, Bogotá, and Washington D.C.  Surprisingly, these pressure shifts were captured not once, not twice, but a full seven times.

 

Krakatoa literally shook the world.

 

Winchester, who holds a degree in geology, does a spectacular job of depicting the science behind the eruption of Krakatoa.  Moreover, he crafts an interesting narrative around the volcano and the islands that were irrevocably changed after 1883.

 

Given Winchester’s credentials and my incipient interest, I expected to enjoy listening to Krakatoa – and I did – but, admittedly, not quite as much as I’d hoped.  Unfortunately, I tended to drift off during this audiobook.  When the science became a little too advanced, for instance, or when a modern story intruded on the past, I would occasionally zone out for a moment or two and then I would be forced to backtrack.

 

I think that’s more of a reflection of my attention span, though, rather than any fault with the book.

Nevermore: Exiles, Devil's Dream, Lady and the Unicorn, Rebel Sisters, and Scorpions

 

Reported by Garry

This week our readers chose historical fiction and biographies to bring to the club.

 

The first book reviewed was The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline. This historical fiction novel is about the intertwined lives of three young women, Evangeline, Hazel and Mathinna.  Evangeline and Hazel are British citizens sentenced to exile in Australia for petty crimes in England.  Mathinna is a young, orphaned Aboriginal girl who is taken in by the new governor of what was then known as Van Diemen’s Land.  Our reader is enjoying this look at the harsh lives of women in, what was at that time, a frontier land, and recommends it. 

 

Our reader found The Devil’s Dream by Lee Smith to be a very interesting book, which follows the Virginia based Bailey family from 1833 through to the 1960s.   Smith based the Baileys very loosely on the world-famous Carter family, and weaves a story intertwining multiple generations, music, and Appalachia, into an enthralling story that our reader loved and highly recommends.   

 

The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier is a historical novel about the making of one of the Cluny Tapestries – seven world-famous tapestries woven in the middle-ages and now on display in Paris.  This novel, by the author of The Girl with the Pearl Earring, follows the fictional story of playboy artist Nicholas des Innocents who is hired by French nobleman Jean de Viste, to design and create a number of tapestries for his great hall showcasing his heroism on the battle field (a situation that de Viste never actually encountered).  Full of detailed information about the processes used at the time to create these great works of art, and its careful examination of the intertwined lives of its characters, this book impressed our reader with its technical writing and story-telling.  Definitely worth reading was the verdict here.   

The Rebel Sisters by Marita Conlon-McKenna was next up.  This best-selling historical novel focuses on the real-life Gifford sisters; Grace, Muriel and Nellie.  These three spirited, unconventional women played pivotal roles in the 1916 Easter Rising – an armed insurrection in Ireland against British rule.   Born into a wealthy Anglo-Irish family, the three sisters chaffed against the conventions of the time and their mother’s expectations for them.  Two of the sisters fell in love with two of the leaders of the “The Rising”, which culminated in the 1916 Easter Monday rebellion, while the third took up arms in the doomed struggle.  Our reader thought this was a great book.  She loves it and highly recommend it.  

Our reader says that the main message that she got from Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR’s Great Supreme Court Justices by Noah Feldman was the unappreciated genius of Franklin Delano Roosevelt‘s ability to listen and learn from others and take advice.  This biography focuses on the lives, careers and lasting legacies of four Supreme Court Judges appointed by FDR:  Felix Frankfurter (cofounder of the ACLU), Hugo Black (a former member of the KKK who became the leading proponent of absolutist reading of the Constitution), Robert Jackson (who was the chief US Prosecutor at the Nuremburg Trials), and William O. Douglas (one of the youngest justices ever appointed to the court, and the longest presiding judge at 36 years and 211 days stretching from 1939 to 1975).  These four judges, who could not be more different from one another, worked together (and against each other) to forge the Constitutional landscape that we still have today.  Our reader found this to be a highly detailed, fascinating book that does take a while to get through, but she recommends it.    

Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King, Audio

 

Reviewed by Christy

            When someone thinks of Stephen King they probably think of drain-dwelling clowns or ax-wielding dads or any a number of iconic horror imagery. A novel about an older woman telling her life story in one long monologue might not make the cut. But Dolores Claiborne has plenty of horror between its pages – mostly of the everyday, human kind.

            Dolores has been taken in for questioning by the police after her employer of over thirty years is found dead at the bottom of her stairs. Unfortunately, Dolores has already been under suspicion for decades after the strange, maybe-accidental-maybe-not death of her abusive husband.

            The novel is mostly made up of Dolores’ statement to the police. She begins with how she met her no-good husband Joe and goes into great detail about working for her employer Vera as a caretaker. Neither of these are particularly healthy relationships but Dolores takes it in stride. I could see how a book-long monologue doesn’t sound very exciting but Dolores is an interesting character whose story I was eager to hear.

            The book is written in a thick Maine dialect to give it some flavor, however I chose to listen to it on audio book which gave it even more dimension (and it’s easier for me to take in a dialect via audio versus reading it on the page). The narrator, Frances Sternhagen, does a fantastic job, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Dolores’ story through her. Dolores is a crotchety, out-spoken woman who is not without her charms, and I loved her.

            I think Dolores Claiborne is a good example of what people want when they ask for “strong female characters”: she’s not perfect by any means, but she’s a fleshed out, flawed human like anyone else, and she just wants a chance to say her piece.

            If anyone is interested, the audio book is available on READS, and the regular print book is available at Main. Main also has the 1991 movie adaptation starring Kathy Bates!