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A review by anitaofplaybooktag
Savage Summit: The True Stories of the First Five Women Who Climbed K2, the World's Most Feared Mountain by Jennifer Jordan
4.0
I'm a little obsessed with reading about alpine mountain climbing in the sense that I have yet to read a book about it that I haven't found fascinating. This one was no exception, but I will say I was on the fence a bit about the writing itself.
The book tells the detailed life stories of five women who reached the summit of K2, something only achieved by 18 women as late as 2014. All five perished while pursuing their dreams of climbing. Their backgrounds are fascinating . . .as you might imagine, these women were not traditionalists and to some extent, they put their families second to their passion for the sport.
The author creates essentially mini biographies of each woman from young childhood to death, and I found each of them fascinating to read. However, unlike my favorite [b:Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster|1898|Into Thin Air A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster|Jon Krakauer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1463384482l/1898._SX50_.jpg|1816662], I didn't have the suspenseful feelings as if I were on the mountain with these women. The way she writes about mountain climbing itself seemed much more arms length. There's nothing wrong with that per se, but it made for a flatter read without as much emotional impact.
Also, this book really focused on the gender issues with climbing, and even though there were many men who helped these women achieve their goals, somehow the book left you with the feeling that sexism was a tremendous barrier, and every man was in constant sexual pursuit. And maybe that's how it was, but for some reason it seemed as though aspects of the stories might have been exaggerated to make the themes of the book seem more important somehow.
At any rate, I still would recommend it to those who enjoy books about risk takers, but not necessarily to those looking for say, a gripping survival tale.
The book tells the detailed life stories of five women who reached the summit of K2, something only achieved by 18 women as late as 2014. All five perished while pursuing their dreams of climbing. Their backgrounds are fascinating . . .as you might imagine, these women were not traditionalists and to some extent, they put their families second to their passion for the sport.
The author creates essentially mini biographies of each woman from young childhood to death, and I found each of them fascinating to read. However, unlike my favorite [b:Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster|1898|Into Thin Air A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster|Jon Krakauer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1463384482l/1898._SX50_.jpg|1816662], I didn't have the suspenseful feelings as if I were on the mountain with these women. The way she writes about mountain climbing itself seemed much more arms length. There's nothing wrong with that per se, but it made for a flatter read without as much emotional impact.
Also, this book really focused on the gender issues with climbing, and even though there were many men who helped these women achieve their goals, somehow the book left you with the feeling that sexism was a tremendous barrier, and every man was in constant sexual pursuit. And maybe that's how it was, but for some reason it seemed as though aspects of the stories might have been exaggerated to make the themes of the book seem more important somehow.
At any rate, I still would recommend it to those who enjoy books about risk takers, but not necessarily to those looking for say, a gripping survival tale.