Too Many to Mourn By James Mahar

One of the best books I've ever read. James Mahar Picked this book up one summer in Halifax, while on a school trip. I wasn't able to put it down! I cried while reading it. The resiliency of the survivors is unfathomable. James Mahar

Do I really need to know how each person block by block was killed? Too depressing and repetitive to read much more James Mahar A detailed account of the Halifax Explosion of 1917, and the profound effect it had on one large family. The detail in the book is amazing. It is of course a very sad story, but in the end one of hope and resilience and the power of the human spirit to not just survive, but to thrive. James Mahar I have read a few books on this disaster and watched a few documentaries about it. Regardless of what the books, shows and even the CBC movie cover there is always a bit more that hasn't been covered. Most talk about various people in different parts of town. This book focuses on the Jackson family and is focused more on the explosion and its immediate aftermath and how these people coped and managed to survive and carry on despite the horrors of that day and not really on what happened and the inquiry into it. It's a heartbreaking story, out of 66 people in Halifax that day less than twenty would survive. One of the authors is part of this family though born after the disaster. His mother lost all 10 of children and her husband and was buried in rubble for hours until rescue. The story was mostly compassionate and more like a family memoir than in depth history of that fateful December day. While I mostly enjoyed this book as much as you can enjoy a book about a horrific tragedy it was engaging but I had a few nitpicks. There were so many people it became difficult to remember who belonged to which family, there's so many different branches, children, grandchildren, spouses and I kept flipping back to see who was who. The book often gets very almost too graphic describing how people died or their injuries. Describing blood gushing out of a severed leg, or how people were disfigured. Simply say the leg was severed by shrapnel will do, or that they bore the scars from flying glass etc. I also didn't like how the describe full blown conversations, thoughts and feelings about everyone involved. Since a lot of these people died there is no way of knowing a lot of this. I get poetic license to make things more readable but it just always annoys me when non fiction authors do that. Unless you hear word for word from a person who was there or someone wrote the actual conversation down don't put words in people's mouths. He even describes one of his half sisters Clara's thoughts of panic while trapped in her bed with fire coming closer to her. How do you know she felt that way? For all you know she was unconscious most of the time. How do you know she screamed and called out for hours until she gave up if no one was there to hear her? Maybe someone did but if they had wouldn't they have rescued her sooner? But other than these few grievances overall it was a sad story but another necessary entry about one of the sadest most tragic days in Canada's history. James Mahar This book has special meaning for me, my Grandmother Dorothy Jackson-Morse was a survivor, and this book was written by her cousin(Author James Mahar), My Grandmother did not openly speak about the events of that day, or the loss of nearly everyone she knew and loved, so it was both eye-opening, and heartbreaking to have this as a form of reference, something to help me understand a very complex, often sad woman. James Mahar I had a hard time getting through this book. It's an interesting topic; I have lived in Halifax a good part of my life and, when I am in the north end, the area hardest hit, I often think of that terrible day on December 6, 1917 when Halifax was forever changed after the most violent and destructive disaster in Canadian history. It's summertime though and I tend towards lighter reading and this was anything but and was quite depressing to read. It is gruesome with very descriptive details on just about every page. It focuses on one family in particular, the Jacksons, who lost 46 members of their family and 29 more were badly injured. They all lived within close proximity to each other in Richmond, the area hit hardest by the explosion. I think it is an excellent accounting of the tragedy but it was a struggle to read for the most part because I just wasn't in the frame of mind for this very graphic depiction of tragedy. The right book at the wrong time for me personally. James Mahar

Using the facts and family tales of the terrible Halifax Explosion, James and Rowena Mahar have created a compelling story of loss and grief and the triumph of faith over great obstacles. Winner of the Dartmouth Book Award, 1999. Too Many to Mourn

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