The Birthday Boys: Complete & Unabridged

"Courage", was that which would see a task through. A leaking ship before even leaving its berth was just a preview to the lack of planning and leadership that killed them all. Scott would not use dogs it must be a march. In this he was almost Victorian in his thinking. But then he brought motorized machines that not only were useless and in total opposition to his other ideas, it was also an indicator of how indecisive he was. His men followed him blindly just as millions of others would follow on different fields, leaping out of trenches in WWI and charging the enemy. Forget the machine gun, for this was how it had always, "been done".

Money could get you on the ship just as a fee could get you guided up Mount Everest in 1996. The results were in some cases the same. Optimism and the willingness to risk one's life were based not on known competence in the leader and the soundness of the plan, rather whether people liked one another. The fact that a Scott team member was effectively blind did not mean he should be excluded. The climber on Everest who became blind for a time as the result of a cornea operation that reacted poorly to the low pressure of Everest was an eerie parallel.

When the story is placed in its Historical context the work is very well done. If it is read without a thought to the time during which the expedition took place, I can see why some would be less than thrilled with the book. However, when read in perspective it is a wonderful effort.


Utterly fascinating and compelling   May 12, 2002
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

When Captain Scott reached the south pole in 1912, he did so with a party of 4 other men. All very different characters, all with seperate motivations, backgrounds and outlooks. That's part of why the story of their expedition is still so fascinating. Beryl Bainbridge takes each important stage of the expedition, starting with the endless fundraising in England and the first meetings of the crew and finishing with Captain Oates' long walk into the blizzard and has a different explorer narrate it. She gets under the skin of each man so very perfectly and convincingly that it's sometimes difficult to remember that these are their fictionalised thoughts, not their journals and letters.
As someone who's read many of those journals and letters, I found each voice and attitude wonderfully realised. We all know how it's going to end, but the journey is a compelling one. Each man's frailties and strengths are touched on lightly but with conviction, in a way that seems utterly credible. Not just a book for armchair explorers but for anyone interested in how men's minds work.
And, however your mind works, at least one of these men will capture your imagination. Oates is the popular choice but I've always preferred Bowers. Witty cynicism is all very well, but in a tough spot, you can't beat hard-graft and demented optimism.


Stunning.   April 8, 2002
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

This is very possibly the best book I have read. I greatly admire Bainbridge's writing, but even she has here surpassed herself. Her prose is spare yet precise and her writing is so skilful that she tells you everything in an astonishingly few words. She blends fact and fiction so convincingly that the reader is there with these poor men. Brave yet foolhardy, loyal yet desperate, she brings their famous and tragic story to life in a way I have never before encountered. A short book and one which you savour, trying to make it last, yet knowing that you will soon have finished it and go right back to the beginning to read it again. READ IT!