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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Sep 2004, 320 pages
Paperback:
Aug 2005, 368 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse Review Team
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From the book jacket: One
of the most extraordinary survival stories ever
told -- Aron Ralston's searing account of his
six days trapped in one of the most remote spots
in America, and how one inspired act of bravery
brought him home.
Comment: This book sat on my desk for
some weeks before I eventually opened it up -
the reason I delayed was that, frankly, I
thought I knew enough of about the story having
read the newspaper reports at the time... Aron
Ralston, an experienced climber on a routine day
hike in the Utah Canyons gets his arm caught
between a falling boulder and a canyon wall, and
after a harrowing six days, cuts his own arm
off, rappels back down the cliff face and walks
out of the canyon to find help.
However, eventually I picked it up and read
through the first chapter, and there went my
productivity for the afternoon! The story
alternates between three different threads -
the harrowing descriptions of his six days
trapped by the rock, the efforts by the search
parties and his family to find him, and
flashbacks to his early climbing experiences.
I must admit that I skipped over some of the
latter details, and found some parts of the tale
a little overwrought (but I'm not the one with
my hand stuck under a boulder!).
As Alan Moores writing for Booklist (and giving
the book a 'starred review') says, 'what
makes his account of his ordeal extraordinary is
the detail and precision Ralston, a former
mechanical engineer, brings to the telling, from
the almost minute-by-minute chronology of his
ordeal to topographical descriptions of the
ground he's covered in his life as an outdoor
adventurer.
As always, you can decide for yourself by
reading the first chapter (pages 1-31) at
BookBrowse - if you enjoy what you read up to
that point, I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy the
rest of the book.
This review
first ran in the August 17, 2005
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