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I was looking forward to reading Into Thin Air, I love mountaineering and Mt. Everest, and the life & death struggles that come with it, and nothing like sad tragedy to make me feel.alive and thankful.I read this book in 2 days, but went from enthralled with the mountain drama to disappointed with Mr. Krakauer's growingly evident biases.I wish he could have been more objective, and less self-serving.Once I sensed his own selfishness coming through the accounts of this journey, the book and his writing turned me off, completely.
Krakauer's account of this tragic episode is very personal and compelling. I found the book hard to put down and was gripped by the human element that slowly and inescapably evolved into disaster. It's a book that you will think of long afterward and wonder about the "what-ifs." It's on my top ten list - I give it 5 stars.
But what Mr Krakauer has managed to achieve here is to impart the feel of things, that indefinable X factor, and managed to convey it to the mountaineering layman such as myself. Firstly I'd like to put forth my mountaineering credentials: They are absolutely non existent. well climbing mountains and vague ideas of ice axes, crampons and the like I've never climbed something higher than incidental slopes while bushwalking. That isn't a criticism by the way, just a statement of fact. oh I'm sick of typing - just buy the book and enjoy a great yarn that never lets you forget that these were real people fighting for their lives.P.S - this is a product where you can sort of tell its quality by the level of criticism levelled at it. But let me just say that while this book is largely uncluttered by technical jargon and stops well short of expanding upon the minutia of what happened on Mt Everest in 1996 this book is one heck of a read.
Of course, I suppose some will find this very aspect somewhat damaging to the project - after all after such an event a person is going to have some issues trying to lay forth with the clearest account, but it's my gut instinct that unless you are after a dry-as-a-desert report style tome then this is pretty much your book for getting a handle on the low down of what went down during a harrowing few days at the top of the world.Topped off with some colour plates (at least in my edition) this book captured my imagination mainly due to the subject matter at hand but also the authors brisk style and his on-hand observations of the issues that affected both the ascent and the descent and the fact that the author is himself a climber means he doesn't fall into the trap of armchair moralising about in some sort of detached way. Beyond knowing that mountain climbing involves. The author explains enough of the technical aspects to let the newcomer understand some of the pitfalls of such high altitude escapades and his personal knowledge and involvement in the events at hand allows him to impart real tension and first person drama to proceedings. Literally I devoured the thing. And then turned around and practically re-read it twice within the span of one week.Now the prose isn't going to win a Pulitzer. While he offers theories and suppositions he usually points out areas where he is using conjecture and all up.
Go and read some of the one star reviews and they'll almost certainly make you want to buy this such are their pithy nature.
This is a book about getting there. And that's about it.
Nearly every chapter is filled with some description of blood, vomit, pain, blindness, cold, frostbite. The pervasive biting cold that comes with extreme mountaineering cannot be escaped as the reader -- even knowing the tragic outcome -- greedily turns page after page to find out what happens next.Jon Krakauer's account of lives lost on the flanks of Mount Everest (which stands 29,028 feet high -- a number permanently etched into the reader's cortex) is no enticing travel brochure.
He briefly mentions the peak (prayer flags, the Tibetan landscape below) and his actions (four snapshots of fellow climbers). And there are new ailments specific to high-altitude life for the reader to absorb, ailments that deprive the brain of oxygen so severely that lucid thoughts and solid decisions become the exception rather than the norm.The description of Krakauer's time spent on the summit are particularly affecting.
He does not write of glory or grandeur. This is not a book about being at the top of the world.
And even more importantly, about getting back.
If Krakauer's intention was to kill all of our romantic ideas about mountain climbing with this book, he undoubtedly succeeded. I also was afraid that he would spend a lot of time assigning blame to various players (including himself), but was pleased to see that he had learned from his "Outsider" article and came to the right conclusion that the Everest disaster was nobody's fault. Even more, what kind of an achievement it is, if everything is done for you - Sherpas build your camps, make your food, carry your baggage (including laptops, TVs, gourmet foods, and magazines), fix ropes for you to hang on, even haul you to the top if needed.But enough of ranting, time to talk about the book itself.
I now know that there is no sportsmanship or athleticism or fitness about these trips to the top of Everest. Same goes for "Into Thin Air." It is a compelling book, more interesting in the latter part than in the beginning (once you pass 150-page mark, the book is virtually unputdownable). Whatever idealistic notions of bravery, athleticism, adventure, and brotherhood I had about this "sport", are now gone forever.What Krakauer delivers instead is a very tough picture of people who are ready to risk their lives and lives of those around them (guides, Sherpas, rescue workers) for the purpose of satisfying some masochistic macho aspirations of theirs or, even worse, to get some cheap fame.
I think Krakauer is a great non-fiction writer who manages to suck you into any story. People kill their brain cells, they freeze off their body parts, they lose eye sight, they die, all for the privilege of standing on the top of the world for a few seconds. I never understood this achievement before, I understand it even less now, knowing the costs of it.
I personally would have preferred him to talk more about the trip and its difficulties rather than recounting everyone's back stories, but in the end, I have to admit, it adds certain relatability to the narrative. Overall, a very interesting and in many ways eye-opening story, which in spite of being beyond my scope of interest, managed to hold my attention.
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