Dead Wake by Erik Larson: A Tale of Two Books

Nonfiction – History / WarDead Wake, Erik Larson
Released March 10, 2015
448 Pages
Bottom Line: Skip it.
Affiliate Link: Amazon
Source: eGalley provided by the publisher

Plot Summary

The true story of the sinking of the civilian British cruise liner, Lusitania, by a German U-boat’s (U-20) torpedo in May, 2015.

My Thoughts

I’m a huge fan of Erik Larson, particularly his The Devil in the White City and In the Garden of Beasts, so I had super high expectations for Dead Wake. That’s why it literally pains me to say that Dead Wake was not what I’d hoped it would be and didn’t feel much like “typical” Erik Larson. That being said, after a tedious first half, the second half did pick up steam. The two halves felt so different that they almost seemed like two entirely different books.

The first half was heavy on details, light on story narrative…

The thing I love about Erik Larson’s nonfiction is that it reads like fiction. There is usually a well-constructed and entertaining story narrative…and I forget that I’m actually reading “history”. Unfortunately, that was missing in the first half of Dead Wake. There were lots of people (Lusitania passengers and crew, U-20’s crew, Room 40’s personnel, etc) to keep track of, TONS of inconsequential details (i.e. what people packed for the trip, people’s outfits and meals, etc), and minutiae about WWI battles taking place around this time. This half read more like a history book and I found myself zoning out. If this hadn’t been an Erik Larson, I probably would have put it down at this point. But, given how much I love his past work, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. 

But, the story narrative was more evident in the second half…

I’m glad I persevered because the second half did improve dramatically. The fascinating parts of this story for me were the immediate chaos on the Lusitania once the torpedo hit and the political aftermath, elements that comprise most of the second half. The Lusitania passengers’ reactions to warning signs and their decision-making once the torpedo hit are somewhat astounding. And, the inevitable Monday morning quarterbacking following the attack was eye-opening.

Overall

Though the second half improved a fair amount for me, I don’t think it was quite enough to make the first half slog worth it in the end. However, if you are interested in nonfiction and haven’t read Larson’s The Devil in the White City and/or In the Garden of Beasts, I highly recommend you give them a try.

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14 Comments

  1. Sorry to hear this one didn’t work for you, especially when you’ve loved his other work! I’m a pretty huge history nerd, so I tend to be able to handle non-narrative work pretty well…I’m not sure if I’ll get to this right away, but still plan on it sometime soon.

    Posted 3.5.15 Reply
    • admin wrote:

      It definitely made me sad 🙁 But maybe I need to realize that even if I love a certain author, I may not love every single thing he/she writes. Yep – the first half may not bother you as much. But, I don’t mind some non-narrative as long as the facts are interesting, but I found the overload of facts of the not so interesting variety unfortunately.

      Posted 3.5.15 Reply
  2. I don’t think I’ve read anything by Larson. I’ve been curios about this book. Thanks for your review.

    Posted 3.5.15 Reply
  3. Thank you for your honest review.

    Now I won’t feel so bad that I haven’t gotten my hands on a copy yet. 🙂

    I LOVED Devil in the White City. Didn’t read In The Garden of Beasts.

    I would have thought this book was going to be amazing.

    Thanks again for your review.

    Elizabeth
    Silver’s Reviews
    My Blog

    Posted 3.5.15 Reply
  4. I actually didn’t love In the Garden of Beasts, and I’ve been feeling pretty iffy about whether I should read this one. Now I might give it a miss?

    Posted 3.5.15 Reply
    • admin wrote:

      This one reads a little differently than Beasts (at least I think). I’ve seen some other really positive reviews (I think The Well Read Redhead, most recently?), so maybe give it a shot. I actually have not seen another critical review (other than mine)…so maybe it’s just me 🙂

      Posted 3.5.15 Reply
  5. Carmen wrote:

    Too bad you didn’t like it, Sarah. But keep in mind that authors not always have perfect score regarding the evenness of their combined works.

    Posted 3.5.15 Reply
  6. Ironically I was wondering about this novel this morning. Now I won’t rush out to buy it. 🙂

    Posted 3.5.15 Reply
    • admin wrote:

      It’s actually nonfiction, but not my favorite of his work. I haven’t seen Chronicles on my Bloglovin feed lately…did something change or is there something wrong with your RSS feed?

      Posted 3.5.15 Reply
  7. Well, I guess there’s some material that even Erik Larson can’t make interesting – ha! 🙂 Thanks so much for giving us your honest opinion, Sarah; based on his other work, I would certainly have given this one a go, but I really wasn’t feeling it from the beginning. Thanks for saving me the time & effort! Great review.

    Posted 3.5.15 Reply
  8. Susan wrote:

    Ugh too bad Sarah. I was so looking forward to Dead Wake. But if it’s too bogged down then hell it’s hard to get excited. I will put it on the slow burner then.

    Posted 3.6.15 Reply
  9. I’m bummed that this one didn’t exactly work for you 🙁 I keep telling everyone I know to read it, lol. But I’m a giant fan of history which I think helps with a book like this. Hopefully the next Larson will be more your thing! 😀

    Posted 3.7.15 Reply
    • admin wrote:

      I really thought it would, as I normally love Larson. But, I’ve seen other really positive reviews, so I think it’s just me 🙂

      Posted 3.7.15 Reply

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