The Lost City of Z (David Grann)

⭐ 9.5/10

I am completey in the bag for Grann, so no surprise I loved this. Learning about Fawcett and his legendary journies and reputation was really cool, and I was wondering why I had never heard of him before.  Seems like he was a well-known figure but for whatever reason his legend didn't live on to now.  Anyways, the tales of his journies through the Amazon are actually incredible, with literally everything trying to kill you.  I loved how he seemed to have a perfect consititution for an adventurer, "built different" as the kids would say.  My favourite portion was when he was on a trek with a guy that travelled with Shackleton through the Arctic and he become completely unhinged - even among explorers he was the cream of the crop.

I thought the wife's side of the story was unique too.  More that the sad wife who is left at home missing her husband, she shares her frustrations and worries but also supports and advocates for him.  I'm interested to see what they do with that character in the movie.

The way these books are written blow my mind.  Feels like a lifetime of research resulting in 300 page books, so many references and snippets pulled together to make a compelling narrative.  Aa wrinkle in this book is the author's own journey into the Amazon as he traces Fawcett's footsteps. It had me believing he could find what no one else has been able to, and the ending of the book completely satisfied me. There were some interesting parts about how exploring technology has changed, but also hearing how the forest has changed was pretty sad.  Grann was able to land in places Fawcett had to treks weeks to because of deforestation and technology.  The environmental aspect made me sad, but the technology aspect also removed some of the magic for me.  This big mysterious land that Grann paints for us gets completely neutered when you can take planes and boats everywhere, and the crazy thing is this was all just 100 years ago.

There were some cool connections to other things I like at the end too, when it talks about Fawcett cults that believe he found portals to another world and ascending to a different plain through these "White Lodges".  This is straight out of Twin Peaks, so I looked up the religion it talked about early in the book, theosophy, founded by Madame Blavatsky, and learned that David Lynch is a follower! I love when I find connections like this between things I like, and it was satisfying to draw those lines for myself - adds depth to both of these things and grounds them in history.

I think the movie will probably be a disappointment, but he said Fawcett inspired Indiana Jones so I guess we already have great movies based on this incredible character.  It for sure doesn't make me want to explore the jungle, but it made me long for a way to discover something new in this world.