The Indifferent Stars Above

The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party

By: Daniel James Brown

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

From the number one best-selling author of The Boys in the Boat comes an unforgettable epic of family, tragedy, and survival on the American frontier.

“An ideal pairing of talent and material.... Engrossing.... A deft and ambitious storyteller.” (Mary Roach, New York Times Book Review)

In April of 1846, 21-year-old Sarah Graves, intent on a better future, set out west from Illinois with her new husband, her parents, and eight siblings. Seven months later, after joining a party of pioneers led by George Donner, they reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the first heavy snows of the season closed the pass ahead of them. In early December, starving and desperate, Sarah and 14 others set out for California on snowshoes and over the next 32 days endured almost unfathomable hardships and horrors.

In this gripping narrative, New York Times best-selling author Daniel James Brown sheds new light on one of the most legendary events in American history. Following every painful footstep of Sarah’s journey with the Donner Party, Brown produces a tale both spellbinding and richly informative.

©2009 Daniel James Brown (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

Another excellent Brown book

Anyone who is read Boys in the Boat knows that the author is a very gifted writer. He does a similarly fantastic job in this book of weaving the broader US history into a compelling tale about the Donner party’s story.

An excellent historically narrative.

"Harrowing" is the right word to attribute to Sarah Graves' story. Wonderfully performed and researched. I could not stop listening.

I felt that the epilogue went in just a touch too long, though.

Loved it

A wonderful book about a terrible tragedy. I truly enjoyed it and I recommend it.

Fascinating

I loved this narrator. His voice is so soothing although the subject matter quite intense and gruesome at times. The author does an excellent job of weaving in relevant facts contemporary to the time period. I highly recommend this audiobook.

Overall good story - but gut wrenching

Can't believe what all they had to go through. Their story is well preserved in this book. Amazing tales of heroism and survival. God bless them all.

Great Story with Grim, Serious Details

I thought this was one of the better audiobooks I've listened to. I typically find it hard to listen to audiobook because the narration usually sucks, but I actually liked the serious tone of the narrator. I've seen on other reviews that some people feel the narrator is too "wooden" / "rotbotic", so if that would be a problem for you then be warned!

Story goes into quite a bit of detail, making the setting and characters feel real. I had always heard about the tragedy of the Donner Party, but the details make it sound even worse than I had originally thought. Although we already know, more or less, what happens I was happily surprised that there are still some twists with regards to the fates of some of the characters involved.

The main criticisms were that it becomes very difficult to try to remember the names of each character and where they are at any given point, specifically during the escape (Snow Shoe Party) and rescue / relief attempts... the author could have streamlined things by using relations (ie father, first son, etc) or nicknames, rather than the formal names of the individuals involved. Only other criticism is that I actually wish the book were longer! I flew through the audiobook in 3 days without issue.

Highly recommend giving it a listen if you are spending time in the Tahoe / Nevada region, as it makes things feel more "real". Now I'm looking around for more books about grim survival situations.

Fantastic book!!! with "just ok" narration

The content was fantastic with the author telling historical fact through the life of Sarah, who we don't know much about. I loved how the author put some scientific knowledge of weather patterns, human biology, etc into the story to better explain to a 21st century reader what they went through. Great story!!! The narrator was "just ok" with a very monotone voice and if the story wasn't as great as it was, I likely wouldn't have finished it. However, I'd still recommend this audiobook as it perfectly portrayed history with a more personal touch of it being told through Sarah's story.

Fantastic writing, boring narrator.

It was very smart, but the narrators tone made it difficult to enjoy at times.

Interesting, very detailed, but terrible narration

A little too much detail into each person in the various parties, and it got confusing with all the families/branches involved. Agree with other reviewers that the narration was bad.

Excellent

I think all or most Americans were taught in school about the Donner Party’s tragic struggle to cross the mountains into California. But this book brought the horrors of their journey into a well written first hand record by survivors of their struggle.