Alyson Rudd writes: IT IS HARD TO DISAGREE WITH THOSE who call Aron Ralston’s story life-affirming. This is a book about being close to death in the prime of life. And while you might expect the story of survival to make someone appreciate his life, this goes further — for Ralston appreciates the life he has led when expecting to die.
Ralston is a highly intelligent young man who rejects a well-paid job for a lifestyle that gives him time to explore and climb. He is a risk-taker who, because he is intelligent, is practical about risk. He is careful with his equipment, he can apply first aid, and he leaves instructions about where he is going. Usually. This book would not have been written but for the fact that Ralston was vague about his trip to Blue John Canyon. He did not expect to encounter anything dangerous. And indeed, when his arm becomes pinned to a rock by a boulder, it does seem highly improbable.
You can either see Ralston as indulgent, self-obsessed, a liability as a friend and as a son, or you can regard him as someone who wants to squeeze as much out of life as possible, an old-fashioned explorer, a man who loves nature and adores a challenge.
The general consensus in my own book group was that we found him highly annoying initially but gradually came to admire and even quite like him. He is piercingly honest. He knows that people dislike him. He admits that he has friends who blame him for the avalanche that they became submerged by. They are no longer his friends. But there is a strong sense of family. The reunion with his mother is a tearjerker.
However, like him or loathe him, this is a great story. You know he survives, you know he loves life, but how does he escape? Even if you knew he had to leave part of his arm behind, it is difficult to imagine how he achieves this. When the moment comes, you can hardly believe the words in front of you. I squirmed, but I read every detail.
Does the book matter? I think so. Few of us are likely to have to drink our own urine, but Ralston makes you wonder what you would say into your camcorder as you waited to die. Would you be happy with how your life had been? Would you find the strength to escape?
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When you read a book such as this, you have to hope you would find a strength of character that is well hidden in ordinary life. On the third day of his ordeal, Ralston is attacked by mosquitoes. He squashes them and wonders if he should be eating them. For me, the insects would be the last straw. But Ralston keeps planning, keeps well organised and, bizarrely, keeps himself busy. It is an astonishing story whether you like him or not.
I enjoyed the “action” parts of this book more than the accounts of Aron’s personal history, which tended to drag and were quite technical. Overall, a vivid insight into the mind of someone in an extreme situation, but I felt the book lacked the depth to make it more than merely good. Possibly the writer is still too young. Compare with the “Iron” chapter of Primo Levi’s Periodic Table to see what I mean. Anne Cherry, London
Survival books must be difficult to write — they rely on suspense, and yet the reader already knows the outcome. Will he make it? As in a Hollywood movie, we are assured a happy ending. But one of the strengths of this book, as others have pointed out, is that Ralston — unlike Hollywood — does not polish or sanitise. He’s not into “searching for the hero inside himself”. There simply isn’t one there. Some readers, however, might find it hard to take a “spiritual” lesson from his experience, as Ralston himself does at the end. This is a pacy, well-told story, but I’m not sure how much I learnt from it. And judging from Ralston’s demented plans for a whole host of extreme one-armed activities, I don’t think he’s quite got the message either. Tom Pemberton, London
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This is a quite remarkable story of human achievement and survival against the odds. It is difficult to warm to Aron as an individual. He is brutally honest about his selfishness, his obsessiveness and his need to be recognised for his achievements; and yet it is a good helping of these qualities which help him to survive his extraordinary plight. The story is excellently told, and I particularly liked the way the different threads were interspersed, providing the right level of suspense and revealing just enough background. In the end, we have learned a lot about Aron, about the human condition and, not least, about ourselves - I, for one, am the richer for it. Nick Chapman, Felixstowe
I’m only half way through, but already I could strangle this insufferably smug, self satisfied little twit. Did he ever grow up? He repeatedly took risks, yet each time commented that he should have known better. Did he once give thought to the people who daily risk life and limb for idiots like him? If he needed his life to be affirmed so much why didn’t he join the army? I have friends in the TA with young families, who would give anything not to be repeatedly sent out to war zones, with possible death or injury just round the corner. Jane Hayward, Reigate, Surrey
I am SO glad that this book has been chosen for discussion. Bizarrely, I have vertigo, yet my favourite genre of non-fiction books are mountaineering books such as those of Joe Simpson and Jon Krakauer. I got this as a hardback for Christmas last year. I found it an incredibly life-affirming book. Aron’s descriptions of his thoughts and mindset will stay with me for a long time. I particularly liked the way in which modern technology (digital camera) was there to record the events in ways that previously would have to have been restaged. Although the book is ostensibly about one catastrophic momentary event, it is ultimately about his whole life, and in many ways it made me think about my own. It made me think about what I would do in his situation. Would I have the courage to cut off my own arm? If indeed it is courageous to do such a thing? He really is a remarkable man who is extremely grateful to everyone who played a part in his rescue. This is my non-fiction book of the year. Drew Buddie, Rickmansworth
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