honest and moving

great story . seemed over critical of himself .
loved the honesty of it
the narrator delivers well . even the accents are passable
. a great balance to the Hollywood film

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Gripping story of the 1996 Everest Disaster

If you read a lot of expedition climbing books you soon see a common narrative arc. The setting up of the team, the journey to the peak, the slow struggle up the mountain, the summit, and then the descent and return to a world that doesn’t comprehend what just happened. And all through there is a constant pointing back to how hard previous climbers had it on the same mountain – usually with extensive quotes from previous books.

I stopped reading them because they started to feel similar.

I used to climb. I know some mountains, and I’ve known about the tragedy this book is about for many years.

Having said that I can’t tell you how pleased I am I picked this up.

Sure, it follows the standard path – but with some important differences:
First Krakauer is a great writer, and second the book starts with the fact that you know you are going to hear how 8 people died over a two-day period in 1996. It is not a “who done it?”
As you progress the tension builds up as you follow an account of who perhaps did what. You are actually following the path Krakauer took trying to understand just what he had experienced, what happened, and what when wrong.

Personally, I think it is too hard to apportion blame for actions at high altitude by people struggling through a storm, cold temperatures and starved of oxygen. Krakauer is very open about what he feels are his own mistakes and, when the writing feels so open and honest, maybe other readers will feel confident forming their own opinions. I do not.

The book leaves me with a feeling that for all the guides you can hire big mountains remain big. High altitude climbing is a dangerous sport and the margins between success and failure are so narrow.

For me a 5*. I will read and listen to more by John Krakauer.

With the performance. It is good but in fairness I did think the attempt to replicate accents for particular nationalities of characters in the story did sometimes miss the mark!

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Great Book

Great book about such a sad event, I have read the book, seen the movie and heard the audio book.

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wow

double wow
such wow
too much wow
such amaze, such story
much appreciate good wow

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Mixed, but mostly involving!

I was rather glad that I hadn't watched the film, before listening to this. I found it a fascinating glimpse into the driven nature of those who feel compelled to attempt these extraordinarily physically demanding accents, in such daunting conditions!
I, in common with other reviewers, found the repetition of a number of sentences throughout the book extremely distracting. Poor editing!

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Great book, questionable recording

The story really is gripping and makes you want to keep listening. The subject is obviously quite difficult at points but the groups struggles are fascinating reading, even if you have no interest in climbing.

The recording needs some editing and post production there are multiple times throughout where entire sentences are repeated which is quite jarring. The narration is good but the accents are awful!

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Unbelievable, incredible and scary!!

Very gripping! Really incredible and honest story. At times it was hard to imagine a human actually going through something like this!

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Very Good

Really excellent book. Wasn't too keen on the narrator. Found his voice a bit robotic, but still very much enjoyed the book

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gripping

very good book. fascinating. harsh realities of Everest and the death zone. worth a listen for definite.

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Oh dear

A well written and narrated book.
The story brings out in graphic detail the trials when mother earth shows her fury on Everest. There are undoubtedly heroes. There are NO villains. To those unfortunate people whose lives have been changed by the events I am truly sorry. To those who criticised actions or perceived lack of actions I would say 'you cannot even know what you would have done in the same circumstances'. Each person who undertakes such a daunting challenge must be aware of the risks. A human life is sacred and if anything I would question the selfish nature of trying to complete such an achievement. it is never those who do not return who suffer most but those they left behind.

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