• The Twenty-Ninth Day

  • Surviving a Grizzly Attack in the Canadian Tundra
  • By: Alex Messenger
  • Narrated by: Alex Messenger
  • Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (2,225 ratings)

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The Twenty-Ninth Day

By: Alex Messenger
Narrated by: Alex Messenger
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Publisher's Summary

A 600-mile canoe trip in the Canadian wilderness is a 17-year-old's dream adventure, but after he is mauled by a grizzly bear, it's all about staying alive. 

This true-life wilderness survival epic recounts 17-year-old Alex Messenger's near-lethal encounter with a grizzly bear during a canoe trip in the Canadian tundra. The story follows Alex and his five companions as they paddle north through harrowing rapids and stunning terrain. Twenty-nine days into the trip, while out hiking alone, Alex is attacked by a barren-ground grizzly. Left for dead, he wakes to find that his summer adventure has become a struggle to stay alive. Over the next hours and days, Alex and his companions tend his wounds and use their resilience, ingenuity, and dogged perseverance to reach help at a remote village a thousand miles north of the US-Canadian border. 

The Twenty-Ninth Day is a coming-of-age story like no other, filled with inspiring subarctic landscapes, thrilling riverine paddling, and a trial by fire of the human spirit.

©2019 Alex Messenger (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing

What listeners say about The Twenty-Ninth Day

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Will stir the adventurous spirit

Being myself, born & raised in a Montana more wild than now, this story stirred memories of my own experiences living among Grizzlies of the great northwest. It's a book well worth an adventurous spirit, the time it takes to read it.
J. L.

16 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Such great writing....

Alex Messenger has done himself proud with this riveting story. His accounts of canoeing across huge lakes full of candle ice threatening to maroon them in a sea of unstable ice is every bit as compellingly written as the encounter with the bear. He also did a masterful job of describing the medical challenges that followed, both physical and psychological. THE 29th DAY should stand with other classic wilderness tales. Loved his reading, as well. Thanks, Alex, Polly and Steve

12 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Disappointed... could not do it

I was very disappointed with this audiobook. I was originally excited to hear the story of survival... the story of how this 17 year old survived this attack and about the lead up to the attack.

What we got was a VERY long, tedious, boring, monotone story about the canoe trip and I did not make it to the actual parts of the story I was hoping to hear.

Disappointed.

7 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Intense, Riveting, and Raw

Alex’s descriptive storytelling transports you into the vast openness and wildness of the tundra as if you were on the adventure with him. His story will make you laugh, cringe, gasp in awe, and sigh with relief over and over again. The Twenty-Ninth Day is exhilarating and real. Its anticipatory moments of uncertainty are mirrored with touching moments of tenderness. I highly recommend this book.

7 people found this helpful

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  • KC
  • 01-15-20

*

This is not my typical read but the eloquent writing and pleasant voice of the narrator/author made it easy to finish.

6 people found this helpful

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Easy listening

I really enjoyed this book, the author did a great job describing his harrowing ordeal and at the same time the beauty that was found in such remote wilderness. The narration was easy to listen and kept at a good pace.

6 people found this helpful

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Reading style is terrible!

This is nooot the person that should be reading audible books. Good god, he lets his voice fade, and so quiet and monotoned. I have to quite listening only because the reader.

5 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

The author was not a good narrator

I should start by saying that I didn’t love this book. It suffered from extraneous and boring details. No one wants a description of unwrapping a taffy unless it is somehow important. (Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.) While I would have expected a first-person story of a beat attack to be riveting, it wasn’t. Instead it felt like I spent the whole book waiting to be interested. I never was. I wish the author had given more attention to who individual people were in terms of their characters instead of describing each meal. But the worst part of this was the narration. He mumbled, had a tendency to rush through certain passages, and sounded bored with his own story. If he was bored, how could anyone else be interested? I wanted this to be a Jon Krakauer book. It wasn’t.

5 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Excellent story, and beautiful storytelling!

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves wilderness exploration, self-discovery and/or bear enthusiasts. The book is narrated by the author, and he is an outstanding writer. I found his tone to be a bit monotone at times. I sped the book up to 1.2x and that helped a lot. Sounded like he was trying to read the book quietly.

Great book!

5 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A canoe trip story with a bear attack

Kinda long in spots but overall a good story. I didn't feel any connection to the long man in the story, maybe a little more backstory was needed.

4 people found this helpful

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  • Eve
  • 09-20-21

worth a look but lacklustre narration

This is a pleasant (and not so pleasant of course!) wilderness adventure tale and speaks volumes of what a person can endure. Also a really inspiring example of what youngsters could be getting up to rather than sitting on their PlayStations 24-7!
However, it would have been so much better with a professional narrator. The author has a perfectly pleasant voice, but it's just so flat. I hate to use that word that gets thrown about a lot when people don't like a narrator, but a bit monotone. The cadence felt the same no matter if we were hearing about a beautiful experience in nature...or a bear was muching his leg! Still worth a look if you like this genre.

2 people found this helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 04-03-23

Incredible

Incredible story and I love that it is Alex who narrates. I have listened to it twice now and will probably do so again.
Amazing

1 person found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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  • #earlyeditor🤓📚
  • 02-17-23

😴

A really long build up... To realy not much.
The story could be told in within 10 minutes- would probably be more interesting too, than nearly 8 hours!

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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Amazon Customer
  • 02-02-23

Nice book, Worth a listen

Great adventure, well written and narrated.
Quite enjoyable to listen to.
Well done for keeping it together :)

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Jonathan O'Dwyer
  • 12-06-22

Lucky Boy!

I thought it was a great true account, the author is lucky to be alive, the mustn't have tasted good, what a story!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • melissa
  • 11-22-22

really good transcript

this was a really good transcript of a true life story.. but I feel it could have been more enjoyable to listen too, if it was read by someone else as it seemed very flat. I believe this was due to the author reading it and not wanting to get to emotional about his story.

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Lesley Christie
  • 09-23-22

A fantastic story but I'm giving up

It is such a fantastic story but I'm afraid I can't finish it as the narration is starting to make me feel sleepy. There are just no levels, maybe professional narration would be a better option.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • C.A.W.
  • 07-05-22

29th day.

Incredible story.Calm clear narrative. Really exciting moments. Not a typical boys adventure .Highly recommend.

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Lesley
  • 06-17-22

A bit boring

I have no doubt this was a terrifying experience but the story was really boring. Strange amount of detail was included too no doubt to make it more of a story but it felt like a lot of the details were probably fabricated to pad it out as no ones memory is that good.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Dawn Lottering
  • 06-13-22

Dragged on and onnnnn

The first 20 odd chapters were sooo boring. Once it got to the eventual bear attack it became less boring. Would have definitely returned this book if I had purchased it.

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  • BSG_Fan
  • 01-28-23

A Grizzly Tale

A very interesting and enjoyable story with the always appreciated ability to make me visualise along with the story, and feel like I was there. Delivered by the author in a slightly monotone narration, but I did love the descriptions of the voyage, the attack and aftermath and the sights and sounds along the way. Good job, enjoyed it, thank you. ;-D

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  • Downunder Girl
  • 01-22-23

Excellent

Great narration, with a story well told that sweeps you along. An amazing adventure and beautifully written and narrated by the author. Highly recommend.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Amazon Customer Kay
  • 11-28-22

Great listen

I found this book thoroughly interesting and captivating. From start to finish it held my attention and curiosity.
The narrator was really great too and aided in making this a wonderful read.
I hope others find it as good as I did.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 07-25-22

I felt I was on this journey throughout the whole book.

This book was so well written that I could imagine myself on every step through your journey. The landscapes the water the adventures everything made me feel I was there and more scarily the bear attack although I know I would have ran like crazy and taken the odds of jumping of the cliff, which is easy to say as we don’t have bears in Australia.
May you go on to have many more but less exciting adventures and always stay safe. Reach for your dreams grab them and keep on going.
Well done on this book it truly was amazing.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Melina
  • 06-07-22

A read for all not just adventurers

I read this book without much expectation, however was so pleasantly surprised. A 17 years old with grit, determination, resilience, and a distress tolerance which even many adults don't seem to have instilled.

well read by the author himself, it is unexpectedly calm throughout.

well worth the read

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Amanda
  • 02-08-22

Worth a listen

Good story, at times a little monotone but always good to have an author narrated book.

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 12-04-21

Absolutely loved it!

I couldn't stop listening it is so good! Love how it is narrated by the guy himself as that really adds to it. Gripping, interesting and well written.

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Amazon Customer
  • 04-21-21

time to visit Canada!

I felt Alex must be an intensely deep thinking 17 year old who could maybe lighten up. But having never travelled the majestic routes which surely inspire such thoughts and emotions and certainly never wrestled a bear, I'm going to cut him some slack, a whole mile of it
.
His story is inspirational and makes me want to head straight to Canada and start exploring.
My admiration to him and anyone who appreciates their surrounds enough to spend a month in them, under such arduous conditions.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 02-16-21

i couldnt stop listening..very enthralling

loved it. couldnt put it down. recommended. was very enthralling and catchy. now i want more.