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offworldcolony's review against another edition
3.0
A shocking, graphic and tense read about a couple of idiots that survived something they shouldn't have been doing anyway.
a_fantasy_lover's review
2.0
To begin with, I can very much imagine how much pain Joe Simpson and his companion went through, and I definitely felt tremendous amounts of sorrow and pain due to the fact that this is actually a true story from beginning to end. Like everything Joe went through was traumatizing to say the least. How can someone just drag a broken leg down a mountain for three days straight? That's without even mentioning the weather and the supplies that were not there.
The writing definitely made me feel like I was reading a fiction story rather than a biography; however, there were many many terms that I did not understand AT ALL.
I mean I get it. This is about two people's unfortunate experience climbing a mountain, so I expected for there to be some language that I wouldn't understand because I'm definitely not a climber at all. But the terms of certain areas of the mountains and equipment and techniques and knots used throughout the entire journey made it hard for me to fully imagine the setting and how exactly everything played out.
Long story short, it was tiring to keep googling the meaning of each and every term I didn't understand, so if you wanna read this book make sure that you first have a good background about climbing so you could actually enjoy it.
The writing definitely made me feel like I was reading a fiction story rather than a biography; however, there were many many terms that I did not understand AT ALL.
I mean I get it. This is about two people's unfortunate experience climbing a mountain, so I expected for there to be some language that I wouldn't understand because I'm definitely not a climber at all. But the terms of certain areas of the mountains and equipment and techniques and knots used throughout the entire journey made it hard for me to fully imagine the setting and how exactly everything played out.
Long story short, it was tiring to keep googling the meaning of each and every term I didn't understand, so if you wanna read this book make sure that you first have a good background about climbing so you could actually enjoy it.
gayatriii's review
2.0
Joe Simpson is an amazing guy. He was climbing the Siula Grande, broke his leg, falls over a cliff, climbs out and then basically ploughs his way back through storms, crevasses, hysteria, dehydration and generally every other climbing disaster there is, to finally return to base camp alive. Amazing.
But reading about it? Not so much. There is excruciating detailing of cols, moraines, crevasses, belay and what not. I had to google the terms way too often to really be able to enjoy the book. And Joe? My god does he ramble! There is excellent character development of every rock that his leg hits and every boulder that he rests on. This book should have been 150 pages shorter. Go read 'into thin air' instead.
Since I ploughed through this book, maybe my endurance is just as good too? No? Ok, then.
But reading about it? Not so much. There is excruciating detailing of cols, moraines, crevasses, belay and what not. I had to google the terms way too often to really be able to enjoy the book. And Joe? My god does he ramble! There is excellent character development of every rock that his leg hits and every boulder that he rests on. This book should have been 150 pages shorter. Go read 'into thin air' instead.
Since I ploughed through this book, maybe my endurance is just as good too? No? Ok, then.
joabroda's review
informative
slow-paced
2.5
Adventure, sprinkled with disaster, is a genre I crave. This one did not make the grade for me. "stupid, stupid, stupid" kept running thoughts my thoughts. Not the events, but the people involved. First and foremost, this was not an expedition-it was 2 guys with questionable experience climbing a never before path onto a mountain that they only guessed about, Stupid, stupid, stupid
The author tells his story, which for me left out the anxiety of "are they going to make it". My second complaint is all technical mountaineering jargon which only confused me.
I really looked forward to reading this, but my disappoint in it is heavy. I know I am on the "other" side of opinions on this one so I can only say try it, make your own case.
The author tells his story, which for me left out the anxiety of "are they going to make it". My second complaint is all technical mountaineering jargon which only confused me.
I really looked forward to reading this, but my disappoint in it is heavy. I know I am on the "other" side of opinions on this one so I can only say try it, make your own case.
kurtiskozel's review
3.0
It's an amazing adventure woven around a simple trolley problem. I appreciate the air given to the question, but I question if there was not room for more.
While the prose itself was a little lifeless at times the plot held the suspense rather well, if indelicately. The author does not pull punches with his language, you either get with the picture and look up what the mountaineering and Anglo terms mean or you blast on past them, accepting they make sense to the author and that is enough.
After reading, however, I feel a sense of sympathetic guilt over missed opportunities in this book. It's like there is an unopened box on every page, dying to be opened. The author described only the surface of some things where others would have shown so much more. I suppose that novel has already been written a few times, notably in A River Runs Through It, but the perspective here, where the tensions are so high, would have been fascinating.
The problem with exegesis is that it's boring, which most folks deal with by surrounding it or anchoring it in a high-stakes writing device of one kind of another. I couldn't ask for a greater tension in a novel, but instead of diving deeper the author skims the surface of the experience, leaving me wondering where he is in the story.
While the prose itself was a little lifeless at times the plot held the suspense rather well, if indelicately. The author does not pull punches with his language, you either get with the picture and look up what the mountaineering and Anglo terms mean or you blast on past them, accepting they make sense to the author and that is enough.
After reading, however, I feel a sense of sympathetic guilt over missed opportunities in this book. It's like there is an unopened box on every page, dying to be opened. The author described only the surface of some things where others would have shown so much more. I suppose that novel has already been written a few times, notably in A River Runs Through It, but the perspective here, where the tensions are so high, would have been fascinating.
The problem with exegesis is that it's boring, which most folks deal with by surrounding it or anchoring it in a high-stakes writing device of one kind of another. I couldn't ask for a greater tension in a novel, but instead of diving deeper the author skims the surface of the experience, leaving me wondering where he is in the story.
jackjpaton's review against another edition
4.0
Classic of climbing literature. Harrowing but inspiring.
frostap's review
4.0
This is no Krakauer, but the compelling story more than makes up for it. I don't have the stomach (or, you know, upper body strength) for ice climbing.