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4.24 AVERAGE
4.24 AVERAGE
KRAAAKKUUEERR
Horrific incident, brilliant writing and storytelling. Slow at first but picks up halfway through. For this genre it’s an easy 5 star.
Horrific incident, brilliant writing and storytelling. Slow at first but picks up halfway through. For this genre it’s an easy 5 star.
adventurous
informative
sad
fast-paced
Loan ended. Narrator wasn’t to my liking.
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
The plain truth is that I knew better but went to Everest anyway. And in doing so I was a party to the death of good people, which is something that is apt to remain on my conscience for a very long time.
I have read plenty of non-fiction books that recount past disasters in human history. And yet this one has me wondering if I can even rate it. This is the first one where I feel conflicted about rating something so personal and so close to a victim (literally written by a victim), and one as controversial as Jon Krakauer is. I still feel very conflicted about how I truly feel about this man and his monetization and questionable account of the disaster. He is a splendid writer who can really make you feel as if you are on a rollercoaster that you never wanted to be on, however.
"The mountain doesn’t care whether we’re here or not. It doesn’t compete with us. It isn’t burdened by our hopes and dreams. Everything it means to us is only what we bring to it. It’s what the mountain reveals about us that has any lasting value."
I know next to nothing about mountaineering - I wasn't even privy to this disaster until I was randomly recommended to give this book a try. While a bit challenging to get to, especially with the sheer amount of people to keep track of (especially since Jon loves to oscillate between using first names and last names interchangeably, even within the same sentence most times!), I was still able to follow along as I constantly looked up names as they came by so I could get a quick refresher of their face...or of their fate. Spoiling myself this way did not retract from the actual story - probably because this is a true story and these are real people, so it never occurred to me to treat this as more of a theatrical story with "spoilers".
“The trick is to get back down alive.”
While I have so much sadness and grief for the people who ultimately lost their lives or were affected even the smallest bit, I allow myself to give a side eye to Jon - thus the central reason behind my inabiliy to give this book a rating. How can one claim that no one was the sole fault of the disaster, yet pass so much judgement upon others? While I am frustrated by even Jon's passive inaction during the recovery stage of the events, I would never, and still do not blame him. If his survival and self preservation skills weren't in gear, I'd label him a reckless fool. Anybody in that situation would be Jon - seeking safety and making terrible decisions that leads to someone's demise. Anybody in that situation can be Göran Kropp - a certified badass who, although had virtually nothing to do with these people or their expedition and only had a few passing regards in the book, was a hero who saved many lives. Anyone on the outside can easily pass judgement and claim what they would've done, who was at fault, who deserved what happened to them, who deserved to live, who was the villain, etc.
But all of that talk and speculation is just nonsense to me when people's lives were lost. All the drama that ensued afterwards (and apparently still ongoing - almost three decades later!) is ridiculous. I had to skip the author's note and closing notes at the end of this book - just a few lines in, I was disgusted with Jon's long winded and crude attempt to call out and feed the flames of denial and argument over who is right and who is wrong and who is the bad guy. Give me a break.
Lisa Fischer-Luckenbach put it best in her letter to Jon - a notable excerpt:
There are no answers. No one is at fault. No one is to blame. Everyone was doing their best at the given time under the given circumstances. No one intended harm for one another. No one wanted to die.
I really liked this one! Read it in one sitting. I had seen the movie already and he tells you the ending in the beginning. We really shouldn't be hanging out at 29,000 feet, it's just stupid. I appreciated how the author owns up to his own mistakes (can't really blame that much, there is no oxygen for your brain up there), he also gives historical info and his account of what happened, while admitting he may be remembering it wrong.
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced