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A review by heabooknerd
Alone on the Wall by Alex Honnold
3.0
I don't read much nonfiction but I am a rock climber and I've seen a lot of videos and documentaries about Alex Honnold so I figured I would give ALONE ON THE WALL a try. I enjoyed certain parts of this but I found some of the super detailed and technical descriptions of climbs to be a little bit dry and boring. Additionally, while Alex's quirky, no-big-deal attitude comes through clearly in his writing it's also clear that he has a bit of a narrow view of life. Some of his comments about women, other countries and cultures, and people of lesser means came across as a little tactless.
Overall, I would say climbers would enjoy this book the most but it's fairly accessible for non-climbers as well. If you've seen the documentary Free Solo, about Alex Honnold, then this book won't really add anything new to his story but it was cool to get more of Alex's perspective on his life and his climbing accomplishments. One thing I found really interesting was that reading about some of Alex's solo climbs was nail-biting but it doesn't truly capture the grandiose nature of free soloing that you get when you see videos and pictures of him on a wall with absolutely no ropes, thousands of feet up in the air.
Overall, I would say climbers would enjoy this book the most but it's fairly accessible for non-climbers as well. If you've seen the documentary Free Solo, about Alex Honnold, then this book won't really add anything new to his story but it was cool to get more of Alex's perspective on his life and his climbing accomplishments. One thing I found really interesting was that reading about some of Alex's solo climbs was nail-biting but it doesn't truly capture the grandiose nature of free soloing that you get when you see videos and pictures of him on a wall with absolutely no ropes, thousands of feet up in the air.