Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account Of The Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

36 reviews

aspenpastore's review

adventurous challenging reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

This was tense. Jon wrote a well-researched confessional about the 1996 Everest disaster. The writing is thorough and excellent, almost chilling in his matter-of-fact description of what came to pass. I came to care about all those who either died or survived. Wild to imagine the suffering they all endured and how it all happened. and yes, as jon wrote, mountaineering is exciting because of the danger, not in spite of it. the reality of what that danger means is what this book lays out in detail. there are no villains, and hardly heroes, only some heroic actions.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Grief, and Medical content

banannakarenina's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Minor: Colonisation, Vomit, and Excrement

leefox's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Drug use, Excrement, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Mental illness

clarabooksit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Abandonment, and Death

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Blood and Drug use

oceanwriter's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Immersive, personal, and adventuresome, Jon Krakauer brings his readers to Mount Everest to recount his disastrous trek up the infamous mountain in 1996. In the style of a novel, the memoir replays the events of the trip from start to finish as the author remembers them (which is easier said than done when dealing with lethally high altitudes).

All I could wonder while reading was, 'is risking your life really worth conquering the summit?'. Apparently given how many have attempted it throughout history, the answer is yes. Simply picking up this book or those like it is a testament to human curiosity and thirst for adventure. While I am personally content to read about other people's travels when it comes to climbing mountains, there were a number of times throughout the book I envisioned myself out there in the below-freezing cold. Though this book is not short on the devastating loss of lives, I can ultimately understand why someone might find the risks and exhaustion worth it.

This was the second book by Jon Krakauer I've read and I enjoyed it just as much as the first.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Vomit and Excrement

alphacenterin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Medical trauma and Medical content

prairieraven's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Abandonment, and Body horror

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Minor: Drug use, Excrement, Vomit, and Drug abuse

armontheroad's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

Excellent memoir depicting the1996 Mount Everest Disaster. Was thoroughly obsessed with this and would have given it five stars if not for the transphobia and ableism. This did strick up a new hyperfixation, though, which I am very happy about. I really liked Jon Krakauer’s voice and would be interested and reading more of his work. I did appreciate his mentioning of how fucking racist and ignorant the white climbers of Everest are to the lovely locals. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Vomit, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexual content, Transphobia, Ableism, and Racism

jkfulr62's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

It’s hard to review a book about someone’s traumatic experience.  The book was very well written technically and I like the interspersing of the history regarding man’s assault on Everest since the 1920s.  The tragedy of the lost lives hits hard, but you’re reading a book about a horrible real-life disaster so you kind of know what you’re getting into I suppose.  I think with this book it is important to remember that these are not characters. These a human beings and the ones who survived are out here in the world living their lives and the ones who died have people who are still feeling the pain of that loss.  I think Krakauer did the best he could with this, knowing that no matter how he crafted it, some people would be upset.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Vomit and Excrement

horizonous's review against another edition

adventurous informative sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death, and Vomit

Minor: Blood, Racism, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Excrement, and Suicidal thoughts

◦ Death = Friends
◦ Mental illness = Survivor guilt