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Saturday, February 12, 2011

TOUCHING THE VOID: BOOK REVIEW


By Alan Baer

Touching the Void is a book and movie. Touching the Void is a good book, but has some heavy language. The story of Joe Simpson climbing a 22,000 foot mountain in Peru is amazing in its telling of survival. Joe Simpson and his friend Simon Yates climb the mountain. They reach the summit and then, on the way down, Joe swings his ice axe into the ice, which shatters. Joe falls, and breaks his leg. After his partner gets down to him, they decide that Simon must lower Joe to a ledge, or some place where he can rest, get down to him, and do it over again. On one lower, Joe slips and falls over the edge of a cliff. Hanging only by his rope, he can’t give the signal, that Simon needs to haul him up. Simon however, is in no position to. When Joe fell, it pulled Simon to the edge of the ledge that he was at. Simon decides to cut the rope, and try to get back to base camp. Joe falls another 20 ft. and aggravates his knee. After that he slowly gets over the ½ of a mile to base camp. After he gets back, he needs 6 separate operations on his knee. Although a good book, Touching the Void needs some parental guidance. The book, I think, is an excellent demonstration of first-aid skills and survival.
Touching the Void is definitely an older kid classic.
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3 comments:

  1. RachelFebruary 12, 2011 at 6:55 PM

    Excellent! There were parts of the movie I found disappointing, but I think I would enjoy the book.

    I also liked a similar book about survival called "The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom." It was a very exciting read about 8 people who escaped from a Soviet prison camp and walked to India. I felt disappointed when I discovered that BBC research exposed it was completely made up. Anthony started it and thought it was very interesting also.

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  2. jjbFebruary 13, 2011 at 3:01 PM

    Theresa and I have read The Long Walk, a movie version of which is out or coming out soon, called The Way Back. There is some reason to think it may not have been entirely made up. I don't know; I am just saying that it may not be as clear as the BBC reporter wants you to believe.

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  3. RachelFebruary 21, 2011 at 5:46 PM

    I'm glad. It was such a great read, it made me sad to think it was a big lie.

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