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The Ungodly
"In the year 1846," The Ungodly begins, "men took their families west to California and a new life. The families of the Donner Party went among them." Received with critical acclaim and long out of print, this first novel of the infamous covered-wagon pioneers who were caught in the high Sierra by early snow and forced eventually to eat their dead to survive is a scrupulously accurate reconstruction of their ordeal.
"Certainly [Rhodes] has created an atmosphere as stark and gloomy as an old graveyard in an abandoned town. And certainly he has made a replica of the American past that often sets us pondering the American present. But somehow none of these points quite does justice to this strange, accomplished book. So let me just admit that it is a grim, unpleasant story--a 'hard, hard case,' as the narrator sighs while describing the ghoulish sights that greeted the relief parties. But unpleasant as it is, it is also beautiful. And one keeps reading it." — CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT, New York Times.
"Certainly [Rhodes] has created an atmosphere as stark and gloomy as an old graveyard in an abandoned town. And certainly he has made a replica of the American past that often sets us pondering the American present. But somehow none of these points quite does justice to this strange, accomplished book. So let me just admit that it is a grim, unpleasant story--a 'hard, hard case,' as the narrator sighs while describing the ghoulish sights that greeted the relief parties. But unpleasant as it is, it is also beautiful. And one keeps reading it." — CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT, New York Times.
392 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1973
17 people are currently reading
116 people want to read
About the author
Richard Rhodes
115 books621 followersRichard Lee Rhodes is an American journalist, historian, and author of both fiction and non-fiction (which he prefers to call "verity"), including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Making of the Atomic Bomb (1986), and most recently, Arsenals of Folly: The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race (2007). He has been awarded grants from the Ford Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation among others.
He is an affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. He also frequently gives lectures and talks on a broad range of subjects to various audiences, including testifying before the U.S. Senate on nuclear energy.
He is an affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. He also frequently gives lectures and talks on a broad range of subjects to various audiences, including testifying before the U.S. Senate on nuclear energy.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 3, 2021
i really wanted my last pre-proust book to be a home run - i figured if i was going to be immersed in one author's work for the entire summer, then i should read something memorable just before it as a springboard to prousting.
didn't happen.
and this review is doubly precious because the Creator may be watching- this is my first review that otis (my new goodreads.com friend - yay!) will be seeing. i imagine this is how the deeply religious feel about their particular deity - the constant scrutiny, the judgment, the pressure to please and impress...
here i am, living in your world...
but - book:
when i flipped through and saw that it was written as a series of dated entries, i naturally assumed they were diary entries, fictitiously but historically-plausibly attributed to a member of the party. but they're not. it is broken down like that simply to give a chronology, so you get things like this: May 16 - prairie travel. May 17 - Sunday. Traveled nonetheless. May 18 - Prairie travel. May 23 - prairie travel. May 23 - prairie travel.
i was so bored, that if richard rhodes were here, i would have made a stew out of him.
the whole first part is like that - it reads like a dull nonfiction timeline with no characters to hold on to, and then in the second part, it changes to having some characters given thoughts and dialogues, but by then, i was already pissed at the book, and each dated passage contains three different perspectives of people in three different locations without giving any real transitions, and i kept forgetting who was where, probably because i wasn't given a chance to "know" them in that introductory part - i had to keep stopping and trying to remember how many kids each person had, etc. this book should have pleased me more: it has survivalist elements, man against nature, and cannibalism. so why was it so freaking dull? the thing is, if i want to read nonfiction, i will bloody well read nonfiction, sir. don't trick me into reading it. in fact, richard rhodes, i am going to go out and buy the new nonfiction book about the donner party because it looks like good narrative nonfiction, and not some hodgepodge of the two.
but this is not a complete waste of a book, it just wasn't what i was expecting, so i was disappointed. despite most of the writing being perfunctory, there are a couple of gorgeous passages that just make me angrier because of what could have been:
He watched his wife and the 3 Murphy women and the children eat the stew. The had eaten hurriedly and hungrily before but now they dawdled over their food. Played with it with their spoons as if it was too hot. Toyed with it but not because it was a toy. They toyed with it because it had become precious to them. He felt the urge to do the same. To study each chunk of meat as it floated in his bowl. Look at the way the fibers were arranged. The patterns of the melted fat on the snowwater. The veins that ran like tunnels back into the meat. The smell that made his stomach ache. People shouldn't have to feel that way about food. Food shouldn't be that important.
(that was when they still had some meat - he isn't talking about people-meat there)
two donner-facts i did not know before starting this book: 1) that both of the donner brothers were over 60 when they started their journey. that is some serious balls. i mean, neither of them made it,true, but it is still impressive - their gumption. and 2) at one point there was a real need to eat the dead bodies because there was literally nothing else. but as the snow thawed and released some stockpiles of beef that had been inaccessible before, and the bodies of ponies etc, the survivors chose to continue to eat the human corpses, claiming that beef was "too dry". makes me wonder what i am missing out on, with my boring old beef meats.
so i am not taking it off of table - people can decide for themselves; the "banished from table" shelf is only for books i truly hated - this one just kind of bored me.
now i dive into marcel...
come to my blog!
didn't happen.
and this review is doubly precious because the Creator may be watching- this is my first review that otis (my new goodreads.com friend - yay!) will be seeing. i imagine this is how the deeply religious feel about their particular deity - the constant scrutiny, the judgment, the pressure to please and impress...
here i am, living in your world...
but - book:
when i flipped through and saw that it was written as a series of dated entries, i naturally assumed they were diary entries, fictitiously but historically-plausibly attributed to a member of the party. but they're not. it is broken down like that simply to give a chronology, so you get things like this: May 16 - prairie travel. May 17 - Sunday. Traveled nonetheless. May 18 - Prairie travel. May 23 - prairie travel. May 23 - prairie travel.
i was so bored, that if richard rhodes were here, i would have made a stew out of him.
the whole first part is like that - it reads like a dull nonfiction timeline with no characters to hold on to, and then in the second part, it changes to having some characters given thoughts and dialogues, but by then, i was already pissed at the book, and each dated passage contains three different perspectives of people in three different locations without giving any real transitions, and i kept forgetting who was where, probably because i wasn't given a chance to "know" them in that introductory part - i had to keep stopping and trying to remember how many kids each person had, etc. this book should have pleased me more: it has survivalist elements, man against nature, and cannibalism. so why was it so freaking dull? the thing is, if i want to read nonfiction, i will bloody well read nonfiction, sir. don't trick me into reading it. in fact, richard rhodes, i am going to go out and buy the new nonfiction book about the donner party because it looks like good narrative nonfiction, and not some hodgepodge of the two.
but this is not a complete waste of a book, it just wasn't what i was expecting, so i was disappointed. despite most of the writing being perfunctory, there are a couple of gorgeous passages that just make me angrier because of what could have been:
He watched his wife and the 3 Murphy women and the children eat the stew. The had eaten hurriedly and hungrily before but now they dawdled over their food. Played with it with their spoons as if it was too hot. Toyed with it but not because it was a toy. They toyed with it because it had become precious to them. He felt the urge to do the same. To study each chunk of meat as it floated in his bowl. Look at the way the fibers were arranged. The patterns of the melted fat on the snowwater. The veins that ran like tunnels back into the meat. The smell that made his stomach ache. People shouldn't have to feel that way about food. Food shouldn't be that important.
(that was when they still had some meat - he isn't talking about people-meat there)
two donner-facts i did not know before starting this book: 1) that both of the donner brothers were over 60 when they started their journey. that is some serious balls. i mean, neither of them made it,true, but it is still impressive - their gumption. and 2) at one point there was a real need to eat the dead bodies because there was literally nothing else. but as the snow thawed and released some stockpiles of beef that had been inaccessible before, and the bodies of ponies etc, the survivors chose to continue to eat the human corpses, claiming that beef was "too dry". makes me wonder what i am missing out on, with my boring old beef meats.
so i am not taking it off of table - people can decide for themselves; the "banished from table" shelf is only for books i truly hated - this one just kind of bored me.
now i dive into marcel...
come to my blog!
October 23, 2022
All I kept thinking was "Don't judge lest you be judged".
It was hard reading as they made one mistake after another that resulted in the death of the majority of them and, as we all know of the Donner Party, cannibalism.
Don't judge lest you be judged.
These people were in extremis. Many chose to die, some didn't. Some chose to try to cross the mountains, some made it and some didn't. Some chose to survive the only way they seemingly could.
Don't judge lest you be judged.
It was hard reading as they made one mistake after another that resulted in the death of the majority of them and, as we all know of the Donner Party, cannibalism.
Don't judge lest you be judged.
These people were in extremis. Many chose to die, some didn't. Some chose to try to cross the mountains, some made it and some didn't. Some chose to survive the only way they seemingly could.
Don't judge lest you be judged.
December 15, 2015
I think this has the potential to end up being a good read but I don't have the patience for it. I think Mr. Rhodes has gone to great lengths to make this historical fiction as accurate as possible, however it is the fiction part of historical fiction that separates it from textbooks. This is too light on the fiction, written like an extremely dry travel log. Epistles are sometimes inserted but can be confusing because you don't know the characters they are addressed to and, even worse, you don't really know the characters writing them either.
As it stands, my tbr list is too long to drag myself through something I'm not enjoying so I'm putting this down.
As it stands, my tbr list is too long to drag myself through something I'm not enjoying so I'm putting this down.
January 30, 2014
This book is probably one of the best historical fiction books that is in print today. The majority of it is written in the diary style which makes the passage of time seem that much more real. Humans' characteristic of morbid curiosity really comes into play with "The Ungodly". Like a car accident, you just can't look away no matter how much your stomach may turn.
July 13, 2020
I read this the first time the summer between eighth and ninth grade. It captivated me, as did my full-on book report for my History classmates.
In later years, it lost some of its hold in me. Yet, it still remains one of the most compelling reads I’ve experienced.
In later years, it lost some of its hold in me. Yet, it still remains one of the most compelling reads I’ve experienced.
May 8, 2016
I read this one back in the 70s. It was a very harrowing account of the tragic Donner Party.
July 18, 2020
Tragic, fascinating, unimaginable story of hardship. I've wanted to read about the Donner party after recently flying to San Francisco over the Sierra Nevada. Gripping historical fiction.
May 27, 2021
Totally out of my comfort zone here. I did find it very slow and pretty boring. So many different names and characters found it hard to keep up with them all. Language used was hard to understand in parts too. Based on true events and written in diary format. Wanted to give it a go but really wasn’t for me. It did get going a little when they started eating each other! But not enough really and just wasn’t that great IMO.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 17, 2020
It takes some patience to get through it, but well worth the effort. A tour de force of imagination merged with dedication to historical elements of language, customs and attitudes. A phenomenal book.
April 27, 2021
Historical Fiction?
This book examines the trials of those who settled the west. The trials of living on a wagon train. What happened when food becomes scarce? The Ungodly addresses .these
This book examines the trials of those who settled the west. The trials of living on a wagon train. What happened when food becomes scarce? The Ungodly addresses .these
July 1, 2025
Interesting fictional account of the Donner Party, but written in a diary sort of format with daily entries. I knew most of the story, but this book graphically described some terrible stuff. I live about 2 hrs from where they camped through that winter, so now want to go visit.
December 4, 2025
I read this YEARS ago and it left such an impression. Slow start but they were wagon-training so it's understandable. The absolute nightmare these people went through makes me so sad. The story of the Donner party has always been an unnerving one.
March 17, 2021
It gets more interesting about 200-250 pages in. The question is whether readers stay that long.
December 17, 2012
If you like "humans vs nature" stories, you will probably like this book about the infamous Donner party and their ill fated wagon train to California in 1846. This book is kind of hard to get into.Part One is written in a diary or travel log format and I found that hard to read. However, once you get through that part, the book really picks up.
October 18, 2010
a fair to middlin treatment of the donner party, but not that exciting really. a better, but nonfiction book of same subject is "desperate passage" by ethan rarick. oohh, when is the GOOD novel of donner party going to be written? has it already?
January 19, 2016
This historical fiction book will take you on a unnerving journey as you follow the Donner Party. Well written for a easy and quick read.
October 20, 2016
The author doesn't use quotes and the paragraphs run into each other so it's kind of confusing, but also clever. It builds to a disturbing ending.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews