December/January Book Club: Lost City of Z

[Benny Profane]

A pat on the back to Winston for what looks like an exciting choice: The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann. Passion, adventure, obsession, insanity!


From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In 1925, renowned British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett embarked on a much publicized search to find the city of Z, site of an ancient Amazonian civilization that may or may not have existed. Fawcett, along with his grown son Jack, never returned, but that didn't stop countless others, including actors, college professors and well-funded explorers from venturing into the jungle to find Fawcett or the city. Among the wannabe explorers is Grann, a staff writer for the New Yorker, who has bad eyes and a worse sense of direction. He became interested in Fawcett while researching another story, eventually venturing into the Amazon to satisfy his all-consuming curiosity about the explorer and his fatal mission. Largely about Fawcett, the book examines the stranglehold of passion as Grann's vigorous research mirrors Fawcett's obsession with uncovering the mysteries of the jungle. By interweaving the great story of Fawcett with his own investigative escapades in South America and Britain, Grann provides an in-depth, captivating character study that has the relentless energy of a classic adventure tale. (Feb.)


I am ordering my copy tonight. Let's try and get it read and reviewed by mid-January which will give us enough time to choose a new one for February if this goes well.

[megladon8]

Cool, I'll pick up a copy.

[Ezee E]

Yep. Been wanting to read this one.

[Hugh_Grant]

Sounds great. I've just put it on hold at the library.

[Winston*]

Borrowed it today. Going to read it after I finish The Famished Road.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Sounds good. I probably won't be able to pick it up until after Christmas, but I'm on it.

[megladon8]

Ordered my copy! I'll read it after I'm done with "John Dies at the End".

[lovejuice]

yeah! A few bookstores in Bangkok carry the title. I'm so definitely in.

[lovejuice]

Bought it today. Still decide if I should read it now or finish The Quiet American first to not break my "a Greene's a month" streak.

[Kurosawa Fan]

FINISH THE QUIET AMERICAN!!!

[endingcredits]

I need to get through some Strindberg plays and some other stuff I've been holding out on to clear my plate for this.

[Benny Profane]

Book bought and received, read the first 70 pages. I love stories like this.

[endingcredits]

I'm about half way through. First few chapters were okay. They adequately kept my interest, but suffered momentum loss from being too chronologically smeared in the narrative. It picks up at the ninth chapter, however, when the author sets himself on more definite narrative course tracking Fawcett into amazon.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Ordered the book today. Should finish Under the Volcano either today or tomorrow, then I plan to read The Metamorphosis before diving into this.

[Mara]

I picked up my copy and have read the first few chapters. The history is really interesting, but so far I'm annoyed by the author's self-mythologizing. I'm curious to see where it goes.

[endingcredits]

I picked up my copy and have read the first few chapters. The history is really interesting, but so far I'm annoyed by the author's self-mythologizing. I'm curious to see where it goes.

I am not sure what you're referring to. Grann himself never came across as painting an mythological self-portrait. In Fawcett's case, I thought his post-disappearance transference from 'man' to 'myth' was adequately developed in the narrative with researched examples such as headline inspired search parties which bordered on the fanatical.

My biggest gripe was that his writing style, with the exception of a few instances of superlative description of the inherently pizazz-able elements of the amazon terrain, its inhabitants, and the toll they took on the explorers, simply lacked the vitality I need if I am trying to put myself in the jungle without having to play Aguirre in my head.

[lovejuice]

I am somewhat agree with Mara. Judging the book only halfway through is premature, but Grann's tendency to autobiography-ize the book feels rather out of place. (In that respect, it's more similar to Capote than In Cold Blood.) At one point, he goes all the way to the comical to portray how urban and modern he is in comparison to Fawcett.

Then again, the second half is about his own trekking into the Amazon, right? So perhaps the autobiographical element is justified.

[Mara]

I am not sure what you're referring to. Grann himself never came across as painting an mythological self-portrait.

My opinion may change as this continues, but trying to paint himself in the same light as the early explorers feels a bit silly. All this "streaked with the blood of mosquitos, I bravely fought through" stuff is just too much. Plus, in the first page, he mentions leaving behind his wife and child for this "quest," and frankly, I'm not sure anything in the course of this book is going to convince me that is anything but a dick move.

But the historical stuff, especially about Fawcett, is totally interesting.

[lovejuice]

Finish and love it. I am no fan of a historical narrative, but this book is illuminating. I will keep my full review for later.

Unfortunately though, my criticism in the last post still remains.

[Winston*]

Finished the book. Really liked it. Read the majority of it in an afternoon.

Grann's first person stuff is definitely the weak point. Found the tone of it a bit irritating as he prepares for his journey, and the manner of the last act revelation to be pretty contrived. I think the conversations with the old Indian woman and the chief overall justified to me the autobiographical component's inclusion though.

Anyway, the historical narrative is the majority of the book and I found that extremely well done. An interesting story, very well researched and detailed, and not overly flowery with its prose. Grann's really good at providing contextual information without breaking the flow of the narrative. Was surprisingly emotionally affected by it too, especially by the stuff about Fawcett's poor wife after his disappearance.

BTW it's kind of neat I think that I can type the name of a book into my computer and have people thousands of miles away read it.

[Winston*]

Brad Pitt's apparrently been set to play Fawcett in a movie. Don't think I care for that casting. Day Lewis IMO.

[lovejuice]

Found the style of Grann's first person stuff a bit irritating as he prepares for his journey and the manner of the last act revelation to be pretty contrived. I think the conversations with the old Indian woman and the chief overall justified to me the autobiographical component's inclusion though.

Anyway, the historical narrative is the majority of the book and I found that extremely well done. An interesting story, very well researched and detailed, and not overly flowery with its prose. Grann's really good at providing contextual information without breaking the flow of the narrative.

Agree with most of what you said. Though my feeling for Grann is a hell lot more negative than yours. The alternating chapters seem like an attempt to break the historical stuffs with lame humor. Not sure why anyone think that's a good idea. Another small beef is how he overplays Fawcett's missing as "the greatest exploration mystery of the 20th century". I find that...hard to believe.

This is a rare case in which my feelings for the creation and the creator are in polar opposition. The subject -- the age of exploration and its explorers -- is exceedingly fascinating. It reminds us what people like Indiana Jones is supposed to be in real life. I prefer Grann to get more into this rather than just focusing on Fawcett -- I want to learn about Rice and other polar explorations. Yet it's understandable he wants to use Fawcett as a microcosm of the age.

I am no fan of historical narrative as a genre. (I'll probably enjoy The Ecology of Power, Heckenberger's book briefly mentioned near the end, more than Grann's.) This book is however quite an exception.

[Winston*]

This is a rare case in which my feelings for the creation and the creator are in polar opposition. The subject -- the age of exploration and its explorers -- is exceedingly fascinating. It reminds us what people like Indiana Jones is supposed to be in real life. I prefer Grann to get more into this rather than just focusing on Fawcett -- I want to learn about Rice and other polar explorations. Yet it's understandable he wants to use Fawcett as a microcosm of the age.

I think that perhaps since Rice and Fawcett were such great rivals and so different in their techniques, Grann could've had alternating chapters about those two a la The Devil in the White City in place of the autobiographical part.

[lovejuice]

I think that perhaps since Rice and Fawcett were such great rivals and so different in their techniques, Grann could've had alternating chapters about those two a la The Devil in the White City in place of the autobiographical part.
Now that is a book I want to read. :pritch:

[endingcredits]

Agree with most of what you said. Though my feeling for Grann is a hell lot more negative than yours. The alternating chapters seem like an attempt to break the historical stuffs with lame humor. Not sure why anyone think that's a good idea.


Yeah, the publishers should have axed Grann's first person narrative. It interrupted the flow and didn't add anything.

[Mara]

Day Lewis IMO.

Ooooooh. Want.

EDIT: But he's so freaking method he'd probably get himself killed out there.

[Mara]

Reading this book is making me want to write an explorer novel.

Also, to reread H. Ridger Haggard's novel She which was better than the Quatermain novels, in my opinion.

[lovejuice]

Also, to reread H. Ridger Haggard's novel She which was better than the Quatermain novels, in my opinion.
I have never read any Quartermain, but indeed Z very much wants me to pick up and re-read She.

[Benny Profane]

Without the first person narrative you wouldn't feel the impact and beauty of the final chapter. I agree that until then it felt out of place but the ending validated the choice. My issue with the book was more with Grann's writing, which I found to be rather insipid. It's competent and it flowed nicely but it was pretty unimaginative and perhaps too restrained. I thought he did a very adequate job of conveying the difficulties of jungle exploration, however. I also feel like a learned a lot about someone I had never heard of before - the type of personality that I enjoy learning about. And I appreciate any research that illuminates a different view of history than the dominant paradigm, in this case how advanced Amazonian civilizations truly were. A lot has changed in less than 100 years since Fawcett's death, both in the world at large and in exploration technology, and this reinforces that we have really only barely scratched the surface. Overall a pretty good read.

[megladon8]

It's pissing me off how long it's taking for this book to get here.

I want to start reading already.

[Kurosawa Fan]

It's pissing me off how long it's taking for this book to get here.

I want to start reading already.

Well, UPS says it delivered my copy on Saturday (which makes no sense since I'm pretty sure the website I ordered it from didn't pay extra for Saturday delivery) only nothing showed up. I'm going to wait until this evening, when I know they're done with deliveries, before I call them.

I read the preface and the first chapter today at B&N while waiting for my car, which was getting new tires across the street. Very compelling start. I'm anxious to get started, especially since school starts tomorrow and my time will be much more limited.

[megladon8]

I had a very expensive package stolen here a couple of weeks ago, so I'm getting a little worried that it might have happened again.

[megladon8]

I've had to file a claim with Amazon because this book never arrived.

Sorry I couldn't participate in this round, guys.

[Mara]

I finished it.

Are we posting our thoughts as we have them, or are we waiting and having a group discussion at some point?

[Kurosawa Fan]

This book finally showed up today. Seems it was delivered to the wrong house, and that house returned it to the post office. Not sure why it took them an additional week to deliver it to the right house, but whatever. Anyway, I'm way too swamped with school to even attempt this now, so I won't be able to get to it until late spring/early summer, in all likelihood. I'll post my thoughts in here when I do, not that anyone will much care at that point.

Sorry, I'm a bit pissed off at my local post office.

[Mara]

Sorry, I'm a bit pissed off at my local post office.

Frustrating. But still better than not getting it at all. I think you'll like it-- it's pretty interesting and does a good job at capturing WHY these people felt the need to risk death over and over again to search the unknown.

Are you, by any chance, afraid of parasites? Because they freak me out, and there was one... particular... chapter...

[megladon8]

KF, it wasn't delivered to like, your next door neighbour or something was it?

If that was the case, I'd also be kind of pissed at my neighbour for not having brought it to me in the first place. I mean, even if you don't know my name, you should know that the address on the package is right next door.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Are you, by any chance, afraid of parasites? Because they freak me out, and there was one... particular... chapter...

Hm. I'm not sure. I don't believe I am, but I guess I'll find out.

I wish I could read this right now. Having just finished Heart of Darkness for a Lit class, I'm sure it would make for an interesting follow-up.

[Kurosawa Fan]

KF, it wasn't delivered to like, your next door neighbour or something was it?

If that was the case, I'd also be kind of pissed at my neighbour for not having brought it to me in the first place. I mean, even if you don't know my name, you should know that the address on the package is right next door.

Five doors down. In fact, I received a large rubber-banded pile of their mail that was coming off a hold (I'm assuming they were on vacation) on what I'm assuming was the same day, yet I walked theirs down and put it in their mailbox. Never thought, obviously, to go searching through their mail to see if they received mine by mistake. To be fair to them, we don't know each other, and in fact have never even seen each other that I'm aware of, but it still would have been a nice gesture to just walk it down to us and inform us that it was delivered to them by mistake. Oh well.

[Mara]

I wish I could read this right now. Having just finished Heart of Darkness for a Lit class, I'm sure it would make for an interesting follow-up.

Oh, yeah, those would go together really well.

I'm rereading She for fun, because that's what it kept reminding me of.

[lovejuice]

Anyway, I'm way too swamped with school to even attempt this now, so I won't be able to get to it until late spring/early summer, in all likelihood. I'll post my thoughts in here when I do, not that anyone will much care at that point.
I will. It's an interesting book to discuss with friends.