Above All Things: Summary and book reviews of Above All Things by Tanis Rideout, plus links to an excerpt from Above All Things and a biography of Tanis Rideout.
Above All Things
by Tanis Rideout
Hardcover: Feb 2013,
400 pages.
"Tell me the story of Everest," she said, a fervent smile sweeping across her face, creasing the corners of her eyes. "Tell me about this mountain that's stealing you away from me."
In 1924 George Mallory departs on his third expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Left behind in Cambridge, George's young wife, Ruth, along with the rest of a war-ravaged England, anticipates news they hope will reclaim some of the empire's faded glory. Through alternating narratives, what emerges is a beautifully rendered story of love torn apart by obsession and the need for redemption.
Many authors never surpass the masterwork with which they started their careers. If Tanis Rideout writes no other novel, she has achieved mastery in this first long work and has given us a treasure. I personally hope she will continue to write so skillfully of the inner human struggle. Some would call this a historical novel, but it is more than that: it is an exploration of the conflict of the human heart, which all must face and within which we each must shape our destiny. (Reviewed by Bob Sauerbrey).
Booklist
With a gripping, 'you are there' realism, Rideout's powerful prose evokes the scalpel-like sting of arctic winds and the bone-shattering cold of frigid mountain nights. Impeccably researched, Rideout's vividly authentic debut historical novel is a paean to the ability of love to conquer all but the highest mountains
Kirkus Reviews
A plodding quality slips in, the sense that Rideout is following the historical dots, but she does a terrific job describing both the extreme physical conditions and the dreamlike consciousness George and Sandy drift into as their memories of home intertwine with their moment-to-moment climb.
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. This vivid, assured, and confident debut novel scales great heights of obsession and desire, both on the face of Mount Everest and in the loving bond between doomed explorer George Mallory and his wife, Ruth.
Library Journal
George Mallory is the subject of this knockout first novel from a Canadian poet. The author has exhilaratingly imagined the British climber's third and final attempt to reach the mountain's summit ... creating an atmosphere as authentic as in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air.... Book group alert! Rideout has written a superb addition to the fictional biography genre popularized by novels like Loving Frank and The Paris Wife. Buy it. Recommend it. Your patrons will thank you.
David Grann, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost City of Z
'Because it's there.' With just three words, George Mallory explained why explorers do what they do. Yet beyond these words, volumes have been left unsaid. With Above All Things, Tanis Rideout finally fills in this void, illuminating one of the great tragic adventure stories of the modern-day age. It's a fantastic read.
Robert Goolrick, author of A Reliable Wife and Heading Out to Wonderful
This magnificent novel, at once rugged and sensual, elaborates on George Mallory's assault on Everest in 1924, the ones who went, the ones who waited. Deeply felt, richly imagined, immaculately styled, and utterly compelling, Above All Things takes us to the heights of human experience and endurance, both in physical fortitude and erotic longing. Rideout brings us to the summit and back down, shaken but somehow saved by grace.
Kate Alcott, author of The Dressmaker
Tanis Rideout's Above All Things is truly mesmerizing, a powerful weaving of the tensions and heartaches of a marriage in conflict with an obsession. It is the story of British climber George Mallory's third scaling of the walls of the world's highest mountain, and it is brilliantly told. It will take you up the slopes of Mount Everest, a climb so vividly described, you will almost feel the biting wind, the intense cold, the great drama of an historic event. But this is more than an adventure tale. Above All Things takes the reader into the hearts of both Mallory and his wife as they struggle to understand each other and their own conflicted yearnings. A deeply satisfying blend of truth and imagination that stands out from the crowd.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Karen R Captivating What a great book. Can't remember the last time I read a book with such a powerful ending. Plus I don't normally read the author notes at the end of a book, but I was captivated by her story and how she came to write this book about the Mallory's.... Read More
Rated of 5
by Diane S Above all things I have read non fiction accounts of George Mallory and his attempts to climb Mt. Everest so I was already familiar with a basic knowledge of his story. Alternating chapters between the expedition and George's young wife at home with her three... Read More
Tanis Rideout's Above All Things is part of an important tradition in human history and literature. The deaths of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine continue the fascination we have with glorious failures and heroic misadventures.
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(1207 words).
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David Grann, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost City of Z
of 5
by Karen R
of 5
by Diane S
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The Iliad, one of the first works of Western Literature, celebrates the death of Hector, a man of integrity and clearly superior to those who defeat him and his people. Hector shows a mercy and compassion lacking in the Greek leaders, Agamemnon and Menelaus, and even in the tortured hero who kills him, Achilles. In their last meeting in book 6 of The Iliad, Hector and his wife Andromache, both realizing in their deepest hearts that Hector will die in the coming battle, speak of the tragedy that awaits her, their son Astyanax, and all of the city they love, but Hector...
