Icebound

Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World

By: Andrea Pitzer

Narrated by: Fred Sanders

In the bestselling tradition of Hampton Sides’s In the Kingdom of Ice, a “gripping adventure tale” (The Boston Globe) recounting Dutch polar explorer William Barents’ three harrowing Arctic expeditions—the last of which resulted in a relentlessly challenging year-long fight for survival.

The human story has always been one of perseverance—often against remarkable odds. The most astonishing survival tale of all might be that of 16th-century Dutch explorer William Barents and his crew of sixteen, who ventured farther north than any Europeans before and, on their third polar exploration, lost their ship off the frozen coast of Nova Zembla to unforgiving ice. The men would spend the next year fighting off ravenous polar bears, gnawing hunger, and endless winter.

In Icebound, Andrea Pitzer masterfully combines a gripping tale of survival with a sweeping history of the great Age of Exploration—a time of hope, adventure, and seemingly unlimited geographic frontiers. At the story’s center is William Barents, one of the 16th century’s greatest navigators whose larger-than-life ambitions and obsessive quest to chart a path through the deepest, most remote regions of the Arctic ended in both tragedy and glory. Journalist Pitzer did extensive research, learning how to use four-hundred-year-old navigation equipment, setting out on three Arctic expeditions to retrace Barents’s steps, and visiting replicas of Barents’s ship and cabin.

“A resonant meditation on human ingenuity, resilience, and hope” (The New Yorker), Pitzer’s reenactment of Barents’s ill-fated journey shows us how the human body can function at twenty degrees below, the history of mutiny, the art of celestial navigation, and the intricacies of building shelters. But above all, it gives us a firsthand glimpse into the true nature of courage.

Critic reviews

"Narrator Fred Sanders's grave voice and understated performance work well for this grim and brutal history of Arctic exploration. In the sixteenth century, Dutch explorer William Barents set out three times from Amsterdam to search for a northeastern passage through the Arctic to China. Everyone made it home the first time. The second time, Barents lost crew members to polar bear attacks, drowning, and a mutiny. The third expedition was a disaster, with the ship lost and the crew forced to overwinter in the Arctic. Sanders's narration is quiet and grim, a style that makes the grisly polar bear attacks easier to handle."

Extraordinary survival story

While the author had to draw largely on the day to day log entries, the story came alive with animated prose and a real feel for the struggles of the crew.

amazing adventure

an amazing adventure that I had not heard of before. Incredible man over nature Survival Story

Great story. Bad reader. Kept my attention

The narrator was annoying bad. I loved the story. Not well written , but kept my attention with the incredible story and detailed explanation

A good way to “chill out”

A very, very long and basically painful listen. I felt the need to persevere as much as the men involved. But I did so in recognize and honor those who did not come back.

Meh.

I can't really recommend or scathe this book. On the good side it is about artic exploration and survival, on the other there's distinct stereotypes and prejudtices that mark the era the author hails from.

Namely, the author matter of factly explains the brutal things the Dutch really did do like keel hauling and mutiny, while roundly damning them for killing polar bears for their pelts. Specifically he said "it was a surprise there was anything left," which is a laughably naïve statement to anyone who hasn't spent their whole life in a big city. The author also repeatedly brings up vague "slaughter of natives" by European explorers, the vagueries being a product from how that part of history is largely imaginary.

But, he does have attention to detail for the actual saga he tells and doesn't make any accusations at the men he writes about. He explains how the voyage was an investment, and how the explorers had orders to trade and some sailors were punished for pilfering.

Fascinating story told as if you were there

This visceral tale of hardship and death that took place 500 years ago feels if if you're following along today. The research, writing, and narration are all great and it was suspenseful even as a historical piece with a fixed outcome.

Made me appreciate the simple things

While listening I imagined being there and what the brave sailors went through on a good day let alone the desperate situation they were in. Amazing any of them survived to tell the story and build a legend.

Stick with it!

Stick with it! I thought it started very slowly; I almost gave up. The actual accounting of their time in the Arctic was fascinating and awe inspiring!

The narration is painful

I’ve never listened to an Audiobook with such droning narration (and I’m a regular listener). No excitement, no inflection. Almost like the narrator is half asleep and just reading the words without paying attention. As a result, I personally kept drifting into other thoughts and just couldn’t focus. I think this is a good story, and I think I’d have preferred to read it in hard copy. I seriously don’t know how the publishers thought this was good enough to put out.

I felt SO COLD

This is another book that may be better read than listened to, plus I wonder if the printed book has maps, etc. to illustrate exactly where these voyages were. I myself had to get out an atlas to see where Nova Zembla was. I knew nothing about this story so I can't comment as to its veracity as others have done. However, the men the sea, the lands and wretched cold and ice, blizzards night after night, were all so adequately described that I felt the stinging numbing cold of those unfortunate men. I was glad to learn the men stayed together and cared for each other-- a drop of humanity in a beyond-frozen icescape. The reader did a good job, expressing emotion but not wallowing in it. I am a sucker for an inspirational story but I didn't cry at the end of this book. Instead, I felt proud of the men who survived by the grace of God and their own wit, strength, and humanity.