Anna S. (annapi) reviewed on 7/1/2010 + 334 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

Aron Ralston, 27-year-old extreme outdoorsman, makes the mistake in April 2003 of not telling anyone of his plan to hike the remote Blue John Canyon in Utah. A freak accident caused a boulder to pin his arm to the side of the canyon, and he remained stuck there for over a week, with a meager amount of food and water. Dying, he makes the decision to amputate his trapped arm and managed to hike out the canyon himself. This is a story of astounding strength of spirit, as well as an autobiography of this fascinating young man. The story details early on his entrapment, and through a series of flashback memories gives us his autobiographical background as filler for the book. I did find myself impatiently going through the filler to get to the meat of the story, which to me was the detailing of his impromptu surgery, but his life and climbing exploits were interesting as well, so I did not find it tedious. Although gruesome and certainly not for the weak of stomach, the recounting of the amputation itself was not too horrible. This should become an adventure classic like John Krakauer's Into Thin Air and Joe Simpson's Touching the Void. Oh, and he took pictures too!

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