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Originally Posted by SeattleUte
You haven't read it. It's sad your religious extremism deprives you of appreciating fine literature.
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WTF. I've both read it and seen the movie. He's awful. If you find him to be a good writer, then think again, he's no Tolstoy.
He's no Melville.
If you disagree, present some of the images that you believe are so memorable, and compare it to the Climb. Or compare it to No Shortcuts to the Top by Ed Viesturs.
Get you weak sauce out of here, and leave your religious bigotry at home. We don't need no terrorists.
Here's Salon's review, too generous in my opinion, but some valid points as well, pointing to Krackhead's narcissism.
http://www.salon.com/may97/wanderlus...ges970524.html
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The resulting narrative, shipped to bookstores just one year after its author returned from Nepal, feels somehow incomplete, despite meticulous research and a self-conscious struggle for objectivity. The rough authenticity of the narrative is powerful, to be sure, but "Into Thin Air" ultimately lacks the insight and persuasiveness of Krakauer's previous book, "Into the Wild," the deeply engaging and thought-provoking tale of a young adventurer who died in the Alaskan wilderness while pursuing a dream similar in many respects to the dream that draws climbers to Everest.
Reading "Into Thin Air" is like witnessing a bad traffic accident in slow motion: All the gory details are visible, but it's difficult to make sense of the carnage. "Several authors and editors I respect counseled me not to write the book as quickly as I did," Krakauer acknowledges in the introduction. "They urged me to wait two or three years and put some distance between me and the expedition in order to gain some crucial perspective. But I hoped something would be gained by spilling my soul in the calamity's immediate aftermath, in the roil and torment of the moment." True enough, but I'm already looking forward to the book Krakauer will write once he has gained the "crucial perspective" that will allow him to apply the extraordinary sensibility of "Into the Wild" to his own brush with death on Everest.
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