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Includes the name: Olivier Le Carrer

Værker af Olivier Le Carrer

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Kanonisk navn
Le Carrer, Olivier
Fødselsdato
1955
Køn
male
Nationalitet
France

Medlemmer

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I saw this book in the bookshop and it was the perfect storm of "buy me": Gorgeous cover, a title with Cursed in it, and content focused on the unusual.

The cover is still gorgeous. Cursed didn't mean exactly what I thought it meant, though it was still very interesting. I flashed on the simplest definition: a hex conjured by really pissed off people. The author used the word in the broader context: places that seem eternally destined for strife, challenges or difficulties; an area prone to high death rates, but because of geography as opposed to the wrath of an individual or group. Still great stuff, just not quite as edgy.

The writing is good, but the editing was disappointing; in a book that was obviously so carefully put together, these word-order errors were jarring. The author, La Carrer is unapologetically sarcastic at times, and not for humorous effect; I got my edginess, but not in the way I was expecting. There are small touches of humor here and there, and the entry for Point Cook, Australia is hilarious; he makes it sound like the mecca for animals who are only here to kill you.

It's a quick, easy read and I learned a lot; I didn't feel like he chose run of the mill places on the map. Amityville and Gaza aren't going to be new to anyone but for me at least, most of these were almost or completely new. Kibera has almost completely squashed my desire to see the Maldives, but I'm now incredibly interested in seeing the Kasanka National Park (spoiler alert: it involves bats).
… (mere)
 
Markeret
murderbydeath | 6 andre anmeldelser | Jan 30, 2022 |
I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Although I initially received this book from Netgalley in PDF format, it quickly became clear that this was a book that was ultimately ill-served by the digital format. Audio, digital, neither one would suffice for this sort of book. This is a book that needs to be held, containing maps that need to be surveyed and admired. This is a good, hard-cover book that one can enjoy feeling the weight of in your hands. It's an experience, and while it isn't without its faults, it is definitely a book that I found both interesting and engaging once I got a copy that I could hold in my hands.

This book purports itself to be an Atlas of the world's cursed places. This amounts to the book presenting a selection of places cursed by either supernatural means (think the Amityville House), by being ultimately uninhabitable (the unfortunate island of Takuu), or by longstanding tradition that may not even be true (Poveglia.) For someone who isn't overly familiar with these sorts of legends it made for extremely entertaining, provocative, and informative reading.

This book could have been improved by the actual inclusion of pictures of the different places, rather than simply the maps of where they exist. At times it looked as if pictures may be included, but rather than true location shots they were simply sourced images to evoke the ideas of the places in question. I have no complaints about the writing, nor the content itself - I just would have enjoyed a longer book with more illustrations.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
Lepophagus | 6 andre anmeldelser | Jun 14, 2018 |
Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Olivier Le Carrer brings us a fascinating history and armchair journey to the world's most dangerous and frightful places, complete with vintage maps and period illustrations in a handsome volume.

This alluring read includes 40 locations that are rife with disaster, chaos, paranormal activity, and death. The locations gathered here include the dangerous Strait of Messina, home of the mythical sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis; the coal town of Jharia, where the ground burns constantly with fire; Kasanka National Park in Zambia, where 8 million migrating bats darken the skies; the Nevada Triangle in the Sierra Nevada mountains, where hundreds of aircraft have disappeared; and Aokigahara Forest near Mount Fuji in Japan, the world's second most popular suicide location following the Golden Gate Bridge.

THIS BOOK WAS A YULE GIFT TO ME. IT SHOULD BE ON YOUR BOOKSGIVING LIST TOO.

My Review: History, a ruling passion of my reading life, contains so many byways, culs de sac, and dead ends that are fascinating that it's a wonder the "real" history ever gets told. I love the odd and unsettling details that get lost when one reads only The Big Picture. There are very few byways left unexplored by now, wouldn't you think?

You haven't read this book yet.

Start here, in India. Most US citizens have probably heard of Centralia, Pennsylvania, at some point or another...a town that sits atop a coal mine burning out of control since 1962. Now multiply that by about fifty and set it in a country where there isn't any kind or sort of centralized authority charged with keeping people safe from the consequences of profit-driven environmental rape. Oh wait...that'd be 45's Murrikuh, so sorry. Anyway, the image of Hell that is Jharia makes Centralia look like a minor dump fire.



Then let's go back in time to Timur's reign of terror. In the uniformly awful 14th century, Timur (or Tamerlane as the West knows him) was memorably more heinous than his contemporary rulers and more feared than the only slightly more virulent Black Death that killed almost 50% of the world's population. He managed directly to slay over 15 million people of the 300 million alive on Earth at the time he was busily slaughtering entire cities. This ghastly spot is the site of his mausoleum. It bore the inscription, "When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble." On 22 June 1941, a silly Soviet scientist raided his tomb; mere hours later, the Nazis began the unbelievably costly Operation Barbarossa, which cost over 5 million more lives, and led to the deaths of millions more in its wake.


The moral of this story, kiddies, is DO NOT TAKE CURSES LIGHTLY.

Unlike the unbearably silly Lutz family that bought 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York, after ghastly Ronnie DeFeo slaughtered his family there the year before. They found out the hard way that there is no such thing as a deal too good to be true, lasting a whopping 28 days before bailing on this buy-of-a-lifetime Dutch Colonial in a desirable neighborhood.


Lots of publicity still attends the case, and the Lutzes have been called liars and profiteers. Amityville's just down the road from here. It's a nice village and nice people live there. I myownself get no evil vibe from it. But I wouldn't spend a night at 112 Ocean Avenue for any damn reason.

For the ghoulish giftee, this book's the best!
… (mere)
2 stem
Markeret
richardderus | 6 andre anmeldelser | Dec 7, 2017 |
I recommend instead the Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky, which is in the same vein.
 
Markeret
adamhindman | 6 andre anmeldelser | Jul 24, 2016 |

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Statistikker

Værker
12
Medlemmer
253
Popularitet
#90,475
Vurdering
½ 3.4
Anmeldelser
8
ISBN
22
Sprog
5

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