Between A Rock And A Hard Place (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
Considering that: a) I already knew the full story of Ralston’s days trapped by a boulder in a remote canyon, b) I had already seen the brilliant 2010 film made of his experience (127 Hours, starring James Franco, a favorite of mine ever since his days as Daniel on Freaks and Geeks), c) this book could fall into either of the dodgy genres of celebrity memoir or jock’s adventure story, and d) the title is such a horrible use of a cliché, I wasn’t expecting this book to be the well-written and utterly gripping reading experience that it turned out to be. I’ll be disappointed if I learn that Ralston had a ghost writer; I want to believe that he can write this well. There’s no reason why not, anyway – he was top of his class at Carnegie-Mellon in mechanical engineering and French, and he has a great memory and a lot of common sense.Indeed, I think Ralston’s intelligence (along with his top physical fitness) was a big part of what saved him in the end. His engineer’s grasp of basic physics gave him the ability to construct a pulley system (even though it didn’t work, it made him feel like he was moving towards an escape), his outdoor adventures and time with a search and rescue group informed his instincts about threats and aids to his survival, his medical knowledge was sufficient to guide him through a rudimentary surgery on himself, and his ability to recall vivid details of past family occasions and sporting escapades kept his mind on pleasant memories rather than on the obdurate reality of his situation.Ralston alternates taut present-tense chapters chronicling the details of his crisis with more laid-back chapters recalling other major climbing and skiing exploits from his adventure-filled 27 years (I’m not sure why, but this approach was likened to Tarantino’s films in a number of reviews and in Ralston’s own acknowledgments section). It would be easy to dismiss him as a dumb, foolhardy kid – he was stalked by a bear and almost trapped in a serious avalanche long before he ever entered Blue John Canyon alone – but instead I admired him for his pursuit of the fullness of life. His chapters about climbing and skiing were possibly a bit too technical for laypeople: I tired of the sportsman’s jargon and the names of all the pieces of gear and types of mountain features. Just when I was getting weary of these interludes, about halfway through, Ralston cleverly changed tactics, now devoting the alternating chapters to the nascent rescue attempt, as his family and friends realized he was missing and involved law enforcement and National Park officials.Even though I knew Ralston would survive, and I had seen a film representation of the grisly method of his escape, I still found the last few chapters very suspenseful. The quality of the writing is such that readers feel they are right there in the canyon with him, trapped and growing more hopeless by the hour. Ralston had written his own epitaph, divvied up his belongings and his ashes through video messages to his family. He was ready to accept death. But then he had a vision – one that was somehow different from his hallucinations of flying up out of the canyon to meet friends, or his so-real-you-could-almost-taste-it waking dreams about ice cold beverages. He saw himself giving a piggyback ride to a little boy, with the stump of his right arm holding the boy steady, and somehow he knew that this was his future son, in their future home. The assurance that he still had life ahead of him gave him the motivation he needed to start the amputation in earnest.It may sound trite, but ultimately the book was a cogent tribute to the strength of the human spirit. Without a spiritual component to his existence, Ralston could easily have succumbed to dehydration, starvation, hypothermia, or shock. Instead he survived the ordeal, got married and had the prophesied son, continues to climb mountains with a special prosthetic attachment, and travels around giving motivational speeches (for a cool $25,000 a pop). Not bad for a daredevil who made the reckless mistake of going climbing alone without telling anyone where he was heading. Though I don’t think I could ever manage his kind of athletic feats, I do envy him his experiences of pushing his body to its outer limits, and living life right on the knife-edge of death.(This review originally appeared at Bookkaholic.)
There is only one character in this book, and that character is, you guessed it, Aron Ralston. Between a Rock and a Hard Place is Ralston's account of his ordeal pinned to a canyon wall by a half-ton chockstone in Blue John Canyon. He alternates between chapters telling of the delirium of those five days and the choices he must make, and a sort of "how I came to be the way I am" recounting of his life story. The irony of the book reveals itself to the reading pretty early on. A seemingly random accident, with a one-in-a-million rescue, has been fated for this kid his whole damn life. I call Ralston a "kid" (even though he was my age when he had this accident) because he shows time and time again that he has learned very few lessons from his great experience of the world.Let me get some of the problems with the book and Ralston out of the way, so I can eventually say something nice. Aron's a bit of a 90s douche of the highest order. He loves Phish and String Cheese Incident. He quotes the Matrix movies and Fight Club and Eastern philosophy. He writes from a thoroughly egotistical point of view - not spending enough timing concerned with anything but his own enjoyment of the world and his own survival. I mean, I can relate to that, but it's not intriguing to read Ralston's account of his search and rescue when he often uses hyperbole to express other people's emotions and actions. Come on, man. We know your mom was really worried, but you sound a little silly trying to explain just how much she cared and how scared she was. I believe you.When writing about his winter fourteener project - an attempt to solo climb all of the mountains 14000 feet or higher in Colorado - he sounds like a typical priveleged mountaineer, full of bravado with no reason to risk his life. He's a bored child in a huge playground. I guess I should reserve judgement on that particular matter, but I can't overlook his reckless endangerment of friends and strangers alike on some of his outings. While on a hike with two guys he meets south of the Grand Canyon, he jumps foolhardy into the ragin Colorado River and nearly kills himself and endangers his two companions who save him from the current. Later on, the same year of his accident, 2003, he skis down a slope in Colorado against the better judgement of himself and his friends and then beckons them to follow. When the avalanche nearly kills one of his friends - Mark, a search and rescue expert, who expressed his ambivalence about Aron's fourteener project - Aron admits that he's done wrong and acted foolishly, but we're not convinced that he'd do it any differently if given the chance.So, I don't especially like the guy, but I did find some redeemed bits in his book. I found his detailed account of the ordeal in the canyon to particularly revelatory about the decay of the human mind and body in such situations. Ralston is intuitive and highly resourceful as a survivalist (if not as a writer) and his very specific descriptions of his attempts to break the chockstone or lift it from his arm are intriguing. His intensity and will to live shine through in his observations. This is a man who wants to live, but knows he will, in all likelihood, die if not for a great amount of skill and luck. For most of the time of his entrapment - 5 days - he plans calmly and conserves energy and water and uses his obviously futile activities as ways of distracting himself from his misery, or warming his body against the cold nights. He tries, but fails to amputate his forearm. It is only in an act of desperation, an upsurge of primal energy that he realizes the only way he can free himself, to break his own bones with a rock, that he is able to survive. What does this say about man, and nature? We must be beasts, in order to live, sometimes.We feel Aron's thirst, his need for a margarita, his revulsion at drinking his own piss. What is not convincing is his final assertion that this ordeal was all for the best, in the end. Did he learn a deep lesson about appreciating his friends and family or, like so many other mountaineers and extreme sport enthusiasts, has he just garnered another scar, another tick on his record, another bragging right, another brutal scrape with death?
What do You think about Between A Rock And A Hard Place (2005)?
Hmmm. I do not think Aron Ralston is a hero of any sort.Yes, he amputated his arm because he had the wherewithal and the survival skills to remain calm in this massively dire situation.However, this book is full of his tales of stupid, arrogant mistakes where he consistently fails to consider the forces (and consequences) of his actions. He should have been killed numerous times. He is responsible, at least on one occasion, for almost killing two of his best friends. The entire time I was reading the book, I kept thinking, 'okay, maybe the lesson will sink in now. Maybe he'll gain some greater understanding of the way nature works and start to respect the world he is exploring.'Instead, he seems to use all of these experiences as some sort of ego-boosting mechanism to prove how totally awesome he is and how he is living the dream. But I just find that people who say stuff like this often do so in an attempt to evade responsibility and lack a concern for other people.None of this is to say that I don't appreciate the art of taking risks and testing the limits of character and mental strength. He just consistently misses all the life lessons that were presented to him in his numerous near-death experiences.All in all, the book is fascinating to read and I (mostly) enjoyed it. However, by the time he was recounting his seventh mishap where he should have been killed, I was definitely ready for him to hack his arm off and get on with it. The book is well written and exciting and I would recommend it. I'll probably even go see the movie, but that'll probably irritate me too...
—Jackie
Right off the bat, I want to say that I wish no harm to anyone, but this kid was headed for disaster and didn't seem to mind if he took others with him. This book is page after page of his blatant disregard for himself, others and nature. Beside his poor choice in music, he seems to thrive on just plain poor choices. I'm happy that he had the wear with all and physical strength to survive what would of been a horrible situation for anyone, but did he learn anything from it? Loosing his arm is just another bragging right, a testament to how "extreme" he is. I understand that he now has a wife and child. For their sakes I hope that he has grown up. This guy is no hero, just lucky. Ready this book just made me depressed.
—Minh Minimum
Note on my review below: I found out yesterday that Aron Ralston did marry and have a son, but that he has since been divorced, acquired a girlfriend, had another child, and been arrested for domestic abuse. Evidently, he still hasn't made much progress in his relationships. Here is the review I wrote a couple of weeks ago: tI can’t remember the last time a book mesmerized me so completely. I skimmed it the first time, just to see what happened, although I’d heard the story already. Then I started the book again, reading every single word, and I couldn’t put it down. Aron Ralston has a wonderful way with words and a great eye for detail. Also, he survived a horrendous and very gripping ordeal. But as I read, I was waiting for three things to happen. (1) Would Aron come to see the value of his life, and not endanger it needlessly? As I read of his earlier adventures, especially his solo winter mountaineering, where he narrowly escaped death several times, I was surprised that he was still alive for the slot canyon adventure that cost him his arm. (2) Would he see a purpose in life beyond himself? Before the accident, his life was a round of parties, concerts, and outdoor adventure. Would that change? (3) He prayed to God twice during his ordeal, the second time very humbly and sincerely. The inspiration for his escape came shortly after that second prayer. Would he acknowledge God’s hand in his deliverance?tThe book was published only a year after the incident, and maybe the totality of his experience hadn’t completely settled into him yet, but here’s what the ending of the book told me: (1) Aron gauged his recovery by the outdoor adventures he was able to get back into, especially the dangerous ones. With the help of three corporations, he designed a special prosthetic device that would allow him to resume his mountaineering, and he was especially excited to get back to his solo winter climbs. (2) He has inspired people everywhere with his courage and ingenuity, and he has become a motivational speaker. But he still affirms that “our purpose as spiritual beings is to follow our bliss and seek our passions.” So he is still very much into himself. Has he made any progress in his relationships with others? Where is the little 3-year-old boy he saw in his dream? (3) This was the most discouraging for me. After his prayers to God had been answered in a very miraculous way, he ended by book by saying “there are energies larger than we are that surround us everywhere, and when the times are right, we can connect with those energies.” So much for God.tNonetheless, I highly recommend this book. It’s more than just a good read. I felt like I lived Aron’s adventure, and it left its mark on me.
—Christy
