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What is amazing and very entertaining about both of these books is to behold and consider the folly of this adventure in all its glory.I reserve five-star reviews for the best of the best. For what. Why would anyone pay a $65K fee to join an expedition like the ones that tackled Everest in 1996. Do not take the four-star rating as a criticism. Personal expenses like air fare, the cost of equipment, and the time commitment come on top of the fee. I have never climbed a mountain, and I never will, but when I have hard times I like to read about people who have a tougher time of it than I do.
The question: Why. This is a fine book; Into Thin Air is a fine book. The Climb fits the bill. For all this you become part of a group of people you do not know and may not like to risk life and limb to climb and climb and climb into ever harsher and more difficult conditions and ultimately to put your life at direct risk. This is a very well written story. What suffering.
The $65K is just to join.
The Bad: the writing. I'm glad to have finally read this, I knew it wouldn't be as exciting, having already read Into Thin Air, but I'm certainly glad I picked it up. Boukreev could have used a better co-author. It felt disorganized, poorly constructed, disjointed. The Good: that we get an account of what happened from Boukreev, an explanation of his rationale and additional accounts of Fischer's expediton. We can only imagine/speculate how worse if would have gone had Boukreev not been there.
His version goes behind the main scene and shows the business end and the intense logistics of a commercial expedition on a big mountain. It seems like almost everyone who was on this expedition wrote a book, but this is my favorite version. This is another story about the infamous climb of Everest that Jon Krackauer made so famous with his book "Into Thin Air". Anatoli was the one who was up half of the night rescuing climbers while the rest of the survivors were passed out in their tents. Dancing on the Edge of an Endangered Planet Anatoli Boukreev was one of the strongest climbers of all time, and he wrote this book because he was not happy about what Jon wrote about him. Although he is obviously not as good of a writer as Jon, I enjoyed his book more.
Too bad Mr. Everest to be sure, no one can really know what others are doing, thinking and what their actions are based on.It is time for me to reday this fine book again. On a mountain of any size, but Mt.
Everest. But this one by Anatoli Boukreev, I found to be written very well, precise. In May 1996 there was a devastating climbing accident on Mt.
He gave the facts to straighten the record where Jon Krakaur was to say Anatoli had acted selfishly - Anatoli set the record straight as to where he was and what he was doing. Boukreev died in the prime of his life. Many lives were lost.
The more popular version by Jon Krakaur is the one most people have heard about or read.
Please see my review of "Into Thin Air" where I discuss the comparison to this account.
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