The River of Doubt

My interest in reading Millard's River of Doubt sprang directly from Grann's excellent Lost City of Z. The books are similar insofar as they discuss two courageous men's journeys through the Amazon, and spend more time than strictly necessary talking about candiru. This is not an actual complaint - these are amazingly bizarre creatures, and anyone who would knowingly travel through rivers with them are crazy, heroic or both.

What I loved about Millard's book is the description of the journey taken by Roosevelt. It is a shame that he died at the relatively young age of 60, and sadder still to think that his Amazonian trip might have played a part in his early demise. On the other hand, if one man packed more life into one lifetime, I don't know who it is (except, perhaps, Rondon. See next paragraph). I had read little more than facts about Roosevelt before this book, but I felt a much better appreciation for him after reading it. The author includes information about his upbringing, touches on his years as a Rough Rider, president, widowed husband, sick child, proponent of the Panama Canal, and grieving parent, all of which left me with awe of what the man accomplished and his general approach to life. His journey on the Amazon was captivating, from who packed what to the pack animals that died along the way, and from his contact with Amazonian tribes to the friends who were not prepared to travel the River of Doubt. This book is packed with information, and I was at the edge of my seat waiting to see what trials and tribulations the men would next face. I felt like I was there - frustrated at the days of waterfalls, shocked at one of the camaradas behavior, worried about the men with malaria, perplexed why any of them had undertaken this difficult journey.

The only man whose life rivaled Roosevelt in importance was Candido (Die if Necessary, but never kill!) Rondon. It's amazing that I had never heard of him outside of reading about the Amazon. This might be due to my general avoidance of adventure literature as a younger person, but I imagine at least part of it is due to his not being given enough attention in English-language literature. Having read this book I was intensely interested to read a biography about him, but there are essentially none written in English. How can this be?  How can Amazon, as a company, not have commissioned a work about this man? How can Hollywood not have come calling, even if it was to bastardize a much better-written book? Journalists!  Write this book! (Note: there is a book, published in 2004, called "Stringing Together a Nation: Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon and the Construction of a Modern Brazil, 1906–1930." While I hate to disparage a book I have not yet read, any book on this great man that received only 5 reviews on Amazon seems like it is likely not to have captured the public's imagination in the way it should.)

My only disappointment with the book was in its organization and, occasionally, the writing. There were many times when facts were repeated, especially when it came to prompting passages that contained the past. As it is, some of the reminiscing of past experiences took me out of the exciting adventure at hand, which was a pity. The same happens with the author's information regarding the flora and fauna of the Amazon. It is likely already clear to the casual reader that the Amazon was a deadly place, and everyone or everything in it was specialized. If not, I just communicated it to you in one sentence! But to repeat this every time a new species or tribe was introduced became repetitive. Perhaps better to have on chapter on the tribes in the Amazon, or the species the men encountered on the Amazon, or a backstory regarding the people in the book, than weave it in so clunkily. And finally, some of these passages seemed more anecdotal than others, added to shock rather than inform. The things the men experienced themselves were terrifying enough without needing to bring in short passages that seemed largely ancillary, such as the candiru that might have become inserted in a man who was simply urinating near the river, or the English engineer whose throat was slit by the Cinta Larga after they had offered him food.

All in all, however, the events described in this book - and the details included by the author - more than overcame any difficulties the reader encounters in either the writing or organization. For anyone wanting to read more about the Amazon, Rondon, or Roosevelt, this is an excellent book. Now to read either about the war of the Triple Alliance or the Panama Canal...