127 HOURS Between A Rock And A Hard Place By Ralston AronAuthorPaperback127 Hours Between A Rock And A Hard Place On26Oct2010

Posted In: 127 Hours

Carl Klohe says...

A good many books and short stories have been written about mountaineering accidents and tragedies. Every bookshop worth its salt will have at least one or two to chose from, but if this one is on the shelf - get it! This isa tale which will grow on you as you turn each page, compelling you to readon and on to its breathtaking conclusion. Simpson nearly died the firsttime, but there was worse to come. The author has made no attempt toglorify the story, nor alter the facts to shed a kinder light on his ownthoughts and words, or the actions of his partner. This book is not just anaccount of a human tragedy on a mountain; it is a journey into the depthsof a man's soul. It is as much about philosophy as it is aboutmountaineering, but don't let that put you off - it's a real heart thumper!

Posted on July 3, 2011

Ilse Sert says...

A few weeks back, in search of something good to watch at the video store, I picked up Kevin Macdonald's Touching the Void documentary from the shelf. As I was skeptically reading the back of the DVD case, the fellow standing next to me said that it was a "really good movie." I took him on his word and later disovered a movie that I have since been raving about to all who will listen. It is a riveting story in which an injured climber is left for dead on a Peruvian mountain and manages to crawl his way off. It sounds like fiction, but, as is often the case, this true story is incredible beyond what a writer could believable construct. So, when I found out that Joe Simpson (the climber left on the mountain) had written a book, Touching the Void about his harrowing adventure, I knew I needed to read it.

The movie and the DVD extras take the viewer on an emotional path where one at first dislikes the arrongant and impetuous Simpson, while his climbing pal Simon Yates seems more sympathetic. However, as the movie continues and especially if you watch the Return to Siula Grande DVD extra, it becomes hard not to empathize with Simpson's reaction to returning to the place where he had faced so much trauma and to, in contrast, find Yates cold and unfeeling, as if the experience they shared so many years before no longer affected him personally. The end of the movie leaves one with the impression that Simpson, although understanding at what Yates did, does not really like Yates and does certainly not consider him a friend.

The book, written several years earlier, certainly leaves a more positive impression of Yates. While Simpson admits to having written the book in part to clear Yates's name in the climbing communitry, his storytelling takes the reader beyond a defense of Yates's actions. In fact, Simpson's description of Yates's attempt to lower the injured Simpson down the mountain portrays an act that is nothing short of heroic. It is clear that his cutting the rope was a last, desperate resort to end a situation in which there was no way out.

While the book and the movie both tell very closely the same story, reading the book and seeing the movie is neither a redundant experience nor an exercise in detecting differences in the two plots. In fact, the one enriches the story in the other. The maps and the first-person telling in the book complement the documentary-style script and the sweeping vistas caught on film.

Posted on July 4, 2011

Holley Reiners says...

`Touching the Void' is the story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates who climbed the West Face of Siula Grande, a mountain in the Peruvian Andes.After an accident Simpson has a broken leg and little chance of getting off the mountain alive.Yates lowers Simpson off the mountain quickly (as they do not have enough supplies to stay on the mountain) and unknowingly off a cliff face.Simpson cannot beck up the rope and Yates cannot pull him back up.Seconds before being pulled off the face of the cliff himself Yates cuts the rope and Simpson falls off the cliff and down the mountain.Yates, leaving the mountain the next morning, thinking Simpson dead, leaves Simpson to crawl off the mountain with his injuries.



In the best portions of the book you get both Yates's and Simpson's thoughts about the accident, where they were and what was happening step by step in the days following the accident.You feel the pain, guilt, fear, and panic in both parties and get the idea that something fantastic occurred on Siula Grande.



I say you get the feeling because in the poorer portions of the book you do not understand why one `crevasse' is worse than another, why a `pear shaped cornice' is a bad omen, why it is hard to place a `friend' in a secure position on the mountain, and why a `bollard' is dubious.In Simpson's words one portion of the mountain blends into the other and you have to be told this portion is scary, or that he is making progressing, rather than seeing why he is scared or how he is making progress.



Simpson admits as much in the Epilogue to the book when he says `I simply could not find the words to express the utter desolation of the experience' and to be fair Simpson was not an experienced writer at the time of this book (he has written six since then).However, you are certainly left wanting for a description you can understand, and emotion that stands out from the rest, and a story you can grasp on to instead of feeling that `you needed to be there'.

Posted on July 4, 2011

Carylon Dishian says...

I like this type of story a lot. In old Outdoor Life they used to be called "THIS HAPPENED TO ME.." (caps intended). I always hate it when they take some hardship like being stuck in the car for a couple of days without water and make each tick of the clock seem like the end of the world. This book is the linear opposite. The hardships come through, but the writing is almost never sensational- it is understated if anything. It begins at a leisurely pace, much like the journey of Joe Simpson and his climbing partner Yates. As the tension increases we know the big Accident is around the corner, but when it finally happens it seems routine, and Simpson makes evident how fragile life can be- that a pretty simple turn of events can have disatrous consequences. I suppose it's no spoiler, since we know he wrote the book, to let it be known that he survives a broken leg and a 100 foot drop above 19,000 feet, and manages to crawl his way back to camp when everyone thought he was dead. For a first-time author he does a tremendous job of relating this story, and it is even more realistic without the touches of a ghost writer or heavy handed editor.



It's hard to find a real weakness, other than the story itself doesn't seem to totally capture what must've been the sheer horror of the journey, and the dialogue and characters are not quite as sympathetic as one would expect, probably due to some first person modesty. In any case, this is a minor complaint, and I highly, highly recommend this book for anyone who likes adventure/outdoor literature.

Posted on July 4, 2011

Wendell Mcdaris says...

This might not apply to American readers (or it may, I don't know) but there's a huge misconception in the UK as to what this book is about. I work in a bookshop and we're selling this by the dozen, which infuriates me not because I do not believe it should sell well and be widely read, but because people are buying it for the wrong reason.

Touching the Void is, simply put, the story of the human spirit's ability for survival against all the odds. There are many occasions where both Joe and Simon could have given up; many moments when it could all have been for naught; but they kept going, and both lived to tell the tale. Simpson's writing is, as ever, vivid and visceral, putting you up on Siula Grande with him. We vicariously experience his time in the crevasse, his efforts on the glacier, and then his crawl back towards the camp, wondering if there will be anybody there even if he does make it. You know all along that he survives, but when he reaches safety you want to cry out because he describes it so painfully well. This is what the book is about.

With the impending release of the movie, and widespread radio coverage in the UK featuring interviews and editorials, a terrible misconception has crept in. Almost everyone who has come into the shop and asked me about the book has said, "I heard about this book on the radio. It's about a climber who cuts the rope on his friend. Do you have it?" By focussing on Simon Yates' cutting of the rope, it seems that everyone is missing the point. Far from a cold-hearted act, everybody fails to acknowledge that had Yates not lowered Simpson down several thousand feet of the mountain, a non-stop feat of incredible courage and fortitude, Simpson would not have survived, period. Simpson himself does not blame Yates for his actions, and this is the lead we should be taking. All these people who have never been on a mountain in their lives saying, "Ooh, he broke the code, he shouldn't have done that," just have no idea.

I'm glad the book is selling well, and deservedly so, but I wish it could sell for the right reasons and not because people want the inside story on The-Man-Who-Cut-The-Rope.

Posted on July 4, 2011

Rodrick Hayer says...

This is a true story of a mountain expedition in the Andes where two British partners take risks acceptable to experienced and fit climbers. But here they draw a spectacularly bad hand - first with Joe having a terrible bone crunching accident that leaves him scarcely able to move, and then with rapidly deteriorating weather. Partner Simon attempts the impossible and begins an inventive, courageous one-man rescue operation, but half way down the mountain he is forced to make a ghastly choice: stay roped to Joe and both will perish, or cut the rope and make a desperate bid to reach the bottom.



Simon chooses the latter, and the result is horrifying: with Joe plunging into a deep crevasse with no way of climbing up the sheer ice.



But of course this memoir is written by Joe so we know that somehow, against all odds, our author will also get himself to safety. How he does so, and how he skirts around the very edges of death provides the book with its extremely powerful human resonance.



I read this after seeing the excellent movie, and Joe's reflections, at the end of this book about the experience of helping make the film and reliving the horror (he and Simon are played by actors in wide shot, but the climbers provided all the close-up technical shots)- provides additional and unexpected depth and humanity.



There's another reviewer below who was bored by this book. They must have been having a really bad day because Joe's writing takes you right into the heart of his ordeal. This is a stunning story. Five stars aren't enough.

Posted on July 6, 2011

Tonda Katnik says...

A.R.Rahman shows his versatility by this album. Most of the original sound tracks use guitar as the base instruments and develops various theme. Liberation begins, liberation in dreams are adrenaline pumping sound track. It builds considerable momentum starting with a simple guitar and adds more and more instrument continuously. Acid darbari is my favorite track. It is based on an classical indian raga called darbari known mainly played in the night and can have profound emotional impact on the listeners.A.R.Rahman touches all time high emotional impact with this Acid Darbari sound track. "If I rise" is a beautifully blended soundtrack with the soothing voice of Dido, ARR and children choir.Another masterpiece that fits well with the film. All other songs in the album are beautiful and I have never heard them before. Loved each sound track very much.

Posted on July 7, 2011

Brigette Frever says...

How far can the human body be pushed before total collapse? What can the mind endure before succumbing to what seems like inevitable termination? Joe Simpson's tale of survival after what should have been a fatalmountaineering event begins to explore the limits of human capability.Readers in our book group felt the prose was not first rate but writtenwell enough that few wanted to put the book down. This book is good enoughto become canon in mountaineering literature. For those with nomountaineering experience, some of the climbing aspects and descriptionsmay be difficult to envision. Nonetheless it is an amazing story. Our groupread this in conjunction with Caroline Alexander's book "TheEndurance", another incredible story of survival against unbelievableodds. While Simpson's ordeal occurs over the span of a few days, the storyof Shakleton's group living on the ice for nearly two years explores theother spectrum of what it takes to survive - the two stories seem tocompliment each other in the scope of human endurance.

Posted on July 7, 2011

Nelle Faubel says...

The true story of Aron Ralston is one of human fortitude, bravery, defiance in the face of death, and incredible bad luck. A young and healthy daredevil with a penchant for extreme sports, Ralston took a brief weekend hiking trip to the canyons around Moab, Utah in the summer of 2003, and had the singular misfortune of suffering an accident which left his right arm pinned against a canyon wall by a large boulder, with no way of extricating it. After five lonely days, and hovering close to death, Ralston eventually took the unimaginable decision to amputate his own arm - with no anesthetic - using nothing more than a blunt Swiss Army knife, and staggered out of the canyon, where he was rescued and ultimately made a full recovery.



Director Danny Boyle's film 127 Hours, which stars James Franco as Ralston, chronicles these events in graphic detail (so much so that patrons have been fainting in the aisles during the amputation scene), but is reported to be a positive and life-affirming film which celebrates the human spirit and the will to survive. For the music, Boyle once again turned to Indian composer A.R. Rahman, who won a Best Score Oscar for their last collaboration on Slumdog Millionaire. As was the case with Rahman's first American feature, Couples Retreat, 127 Hours again confirms that Rahman is a composer of great talent and creativity who is capable of much, much more than happy songs and Bollywood dance numbers.



Having said that, 127 Hours is certainly not a score which will appeal to everyone. In addition to the orchestra, there is a great deal of rock music, and many electronic and synthetic enhancements, some of it quite harsh and abrasive, which will likely turn off listeners not accustomed to such things. On the other hand, the 26 minutes or so of original score on the CD also contains some quite beautiful, softly textured music. It's not a score which will impress with its soaring themes, but it has a quiet, hypnotic quality that will get under your skin if you let it.



The opening cue, "The Canyon", is a beautiful and idyllic piece which builds from a soothing clarinet solo to encompass a soft string section and a subtle percussion beat which is quite lovely, and accuracy reflects the beauty of the Utah scenery. The actual melody reminds me of something Thomas Newman might have written in one of his more wistful moments, and let me assure you that this is absolutely intended to be a compliment.



The three "Liberation" cues form the cornerstone of the rest of the score, and all three of them have an upbeat urban groove, reflecting Ralston's youthfulness and extreme sports attitude. Rahman uses electric guitars and gritty synths to create a series of powerful percussive beats; they are all based around similar repeated rhythmic guitar patterns, but become progressively more ragged and insistent as Ralston's situation becomes more desperate. In "Liberation in a Dream", electric guitars and strings combine with a full rock drum kit and build to a loud, enthralling finale, while during "Liberation" - the conclusive cue - the music is chaotically euphoric, celebrating the peculiar emotions Ralston must have been feeling, joyfully escaping from his rocky prison, but in horrific pain and leaving a major part of his anatomy behind.



"Touch of the Sun" combines contemplative acoustic guitar chords and almost hallucinatory electronic samples into something which is simultaneously pretty, lonely, and a little unnerving. As the cue progresses an electric guitar accompanied by a faraway synth choir takes over, performing a more fleshed-out thematic statement, but altering the mood into something a little darker. "Acid Darbari" introduces a sample of a native chant, tinkling bells and chimes, a solo cello, a soft string wash, and a hooting ethnic flute, adding another layer of slightly hallucinogenic mystery to the situation. The effect is very effective, and seems to comment both on the increasingly dangerous and tragic situation in which Ralston finds himself, and some of the musical conventions of the Utah locale.



"R.I.P." features a shimmering sampled electronic effect which seems to musically suggest a the power of a hot desert sun, which combines excellently with a wordless vocalist lamenting for Ralston's soon-to-be-missing limb, and an urgent ethnic percussive beat to add tension to the scene. A frantic string action ostinato overlaid with low brass concludes the piece on a feverish note. It's also worth noting that one of the vocalists at the end of this cue sounds very much like Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the sacred Qawwali vocalist James Horner incorporated into his score for The Four Feathers.



The songs are a mixed bag, and really need to be programmed out in order to appreciate Rahman's score properly. The opening track - "Never Hear Surf Music Again" - is quite horrific, a grating, grinding, groaning thing which is quite sexually explicit in some of its lyrics before going on to repeat the name of the state of Ohio 75 times, and will result in most listeners scrambling for the skip button. Others, such as Bill Withers' soothing groove "Lovely Day" and Plastic Bertrand's classic 1977 pop-punk effort "

Posted on July 9, 2011

Cathi Fratercangelo says...

Ive done some climbing, traveled and climbed in the Andes and read many climbing books and this book is outrageous. I guess there are not many tales being told from that close to the edge (the authors tend not to survive). Stay alive Simpson and give us more of your writing. You areabsolutely no bs.

(congratulations on a spectacular first ascent)

Posted on July 9, 2011