THE INDIFFERENT STARS ABOVE

The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party
by Daniel James Brown

I had to laugh as I started writing this review to see that in the March, 2022 issue of L & L, I wrote a Not My Cup of Tea about Facing the Mountain, also by Daniel James Brown (read review here). I guess I keep hoping I’ll find another book of Brown’s I will enjoy as much as The Boys in the Boat. Unfortunately, The Indifferent Stars Above is not that book. I knew as I started the book that the Donner story had to do with people in such extreme circumstances that they cannibalized others in their group. So, to be fair, Brown had a dark subject that would challenge any author’s writing skills.

My criticism of The Indifferent Stars Above has more to do with Brown’s writing style though than with his subject matter. Very little documentation actually exists about the details of what transpired in 1846 on the seven-month, cross-country trek from Illinois to California that stalled at the Sierra Nevada Mountains due to snow. But Brown’s book is non-fiction and he constantly meanders off his subject on tangents about things he was able to document. Such as the phases of the moon on a particular day. Or the history of johnny cakes. Or any number of topics that interrupt the flow of his story and feel exactly like what they are: fillers. Had he stuck to documentable facts, the book would have been half as long and possibly more to my liking. When Brown finally does get to the gruesome details of the cannibalism, he writes with such ghoulish delight and detail, that I wanted to shut the book and forget I’d ever started reading it. For these reasons, The Indifferent Stars Above is not my cup of tea. (Liz)