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ebroadbent22's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
4.0
indihannajones0224's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.5
shadowinferno's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
3.0
Admittedly a little dry for me, but an interesting book from a journalistic perspective. As i teresting as it is from that perspective, I'm not sure if I can say in good faith that I enjoyed it.
gam024's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
lbc573's review against another edition
fast-paced
3.75
Informative telling of what Everest is like while showcasing both the good and bad of humanity
mitskacir's review against another edition
4.0
This book was interesting as a self-contained book, but also very interesting to think about in the wider context of other accounts and portrayals of these real life events, the crafting of the book, its reception, and journalism in general. Because there is so much to consider and so many perspectives to take, my thoughts are still a bit muddled, but I'll recount some here:
- The book was an odd mix of dryly reported facts (some reviews I've read consider this boring) and Krakauer's personal opinions and impressions of his fellow climbers (other reviewers think this is unforgivably subjective for a piece of non-fiction reporting). I didn't have a problem with either of these aspects - Krakauer was in an interesting position as both an observer in his role as journalist, and a participant as a climber himself, and therefore I think it's unrealistic to expect him to stick to one lane in his account of the events. Anyone who goes into this book not fully expecting that Krakauer is a biased narrator (or that any piece of autobiographical narrative is free of bias and the author's positionally) is deluded (add to that the fact that Krakauer and many of the people he interviewed were hypoxic and hallucinating for significant portions of the timeline - talk about an unreliable narrator). My only strong opinion about the writing was that Krakauer uses names inconsistently, for example sporadically referring to Andy "Harold" Harris as Andy, Harold, or Harris. Because the cast of characters is immense (there were 20 teams on the mountain and many more characters waiting anxiously at home) this was particularly confusing.
- The afterward where Krakauer defends himself and his book against what was written about him in [b:The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest|925367|The Climb Tragic Ambitions on Everest|Anatoli Boukreev|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1311995989l/925367._SY75_.jpg|910376] was unlike anything I've ever read. The tone is very defensive and I'm not sure I really "liked" it, but it was very intriguing to hear about the impact Krakauer's book had on others involved, particularly Boukreev. Krakauer's explanations of some significant points of the story that were inconsistent between his and Boukreev's book were logical and added to my understanding of the event, but sometimes the disputes over final details - especially regarding events that took place at high altitude where everyone was hypoxic and delirious - seemed pointless (how could anyone really know what happened?). I personally thought that Krakauer was generous with his portrayal of nearly everyone involved, even while recounting their shortcomings. It was clear though that he had stronger relationships with certain climbers and therefore they got more page time and had more fleshed out characters, which again is fully to be expected from a book like this, which is as much autobiographical as it is reportive.
- The story itself is of course fascinating, and I learned a ton about mountaineering and the effects of altitude on the body. I had no idea that climbers take multiple trips between camps to acclimatize and are on the mountain for so long. The efforts of the Sherpas are astounding and I am most interested in learning more about them (I had no idea they were an ethic group - I had assumed "sherpa" was a word for "guide" or "assistant"). Learning about the details of how the ascent is achieved alone made this a worth while read. Those ladders O_O
- So many feelings about the people who chose to climb Everest, but those aren't really opinions about the book (although they were heavily influenced by the depictions here...).
- I can understand why Krakauer doesn't like the movie Everest - they really made his character out to be a dolt. I found him very sympathetic, reflective, and reasonable in his own account (no surprise there), although I was a bit astonished by what a speedy climber he was compared to everyone else.
Overall, this book really got my brain going and got me very interested in the subject, so I say that makes it a successful book and worth while read.
- The book was an odd mix of dryly reported facts (some reviews I've read consider this boring) and Krakauer's personal opinions and impressions of his fellow climbers (other reviewers think this is unforgivably subjective for a piece of non-fiction reporting). I didn't have a problem with either of these aspects - Krakauer was in an interesting position as both an observer in his role as journalist, and a participant as a climber himself, and therefore I think it's unrealistic to expect him to stick to one lane in his account of the events. Anyone who goes into this book not fully expecting that Krakauer is a biased narrator (or that any piece of autobiographical narrative is free of bias and the author's positionally) is deluded (add to that the fact that Krakauer and many of the people he interviewed were hypoxic and hallucinating for significant portions of the timeline - talk about an unreliable narrator). My only strong opinion about the writing was that Krakauer uses names inconsistently, for example sporadically referring to Andy "Harold" Harris as Andy, Harold, or Harris. Because the cast of characters is immense (there were 20 teams on the mountain and many more characters waiting anxiously at home) this was particularly confusing.
- The afterward where Krakauer defends himself and his book against what was written about him in [b:The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest|925367|The Climb Tragic Ambitions on Everest|Anatoli Boukreev|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1311995989l/925367._SY75_.jpg|910376] was unlike anything I've ever read. The tone is very defensive and I'm not sure I really "liked" it, but it was very intriguing to hear about the impact Krakauer's book had on others involved, particularly Boukreev. Krakauer's explanations of some significant points of the story that were inconsistent between his and Boukreev's book were logical and added to my understanding of the event, but sometimes the disputes over final details - especially regarding events that took place at high altitude where everyone was hypoxic and delirious - seemed pointless (how could anyone really know what happened?). I personally thought that Krakauer was generous with his portrayal of nearly everyone involved, even while recounting their shortcomings. It was clear though that he had stronger relationships with certain climbers and therefore they got more page time and had more fleshed out characters, which again is fully to be expected from a book like this, which is as much autobiographical as it is reportive.
- The story itself is of course fascinating, and I learned a ton about mountaineering and the effects of altitude on the body. I had no idea that climbers take multiple trips between camps to acclimatize and are on the mountain for so long. The efforts of the Sherpas are astounding and I am most interested in learning more about them (I had no idea they were an ethic group - I had assumed "sherpa" was a word for "guide" or "assistant"). Learning about the details of how the ascent is achieved alone made this a worth while read. Those ladders O_O
- So many feelings about the people who chose to climb Everest, but those aren't really opinions about the book (although they were heavily influenced by the depictions here...).
- I can understand why Krakauer doesn't like the movie Everest - they really made his character out to be a dolt. I found him very sympathetic, reflective, and reasonable in his own account (no surprise there), although I was a bit astonished by what a speedy climber he was compared to everyone else.
Overall, this book really got my brain going and got me very interested in the subject, so I say that makes it a successful book and worth while read.
ellasiblik's review against another edition
5.0
Such a surreal experience to finish this book as my flight landed in Nepal