If you were a climber and were expecting this to be some kind of literary version of The Eiger Sanction, then you'd probably be disappointed. But then, I don't think M. John Harrison would care too much, given that many of the readers of this book were probably expecting it to be a sci-fi masterpiece, rather than some kind of Mike Leigh nightmare. Out of print until recently (it was reissued in 2004) this 1989 novel is less about climbing and its community and more about growth - or the lack of it. There's a couple of technical terms, but they're used more as a kind of polari - a code for the band of climbers, where they're able to hide from real life. Non-climbing readers won't find anything to frighten them in the argot - but the behaviour of the characters is another matter. Apparently semi-autobiographical, the novel is a catalogue of weaknesses and fears, laid beside the fleeting joy of a successful climb. Death is ever-present, and life is almost worthless. It flicks back and forth, memory worrying prior events, which would be irritating if the world within wasn't so grimily evocative. I can't exactly say why I liked the novel. It's oblique, and not easily pinned down. Its characters are transitory, and seem to take delight in their unlikeable natures. The weather's shit, and humans have ruined the landscape - in actuality, as opposed to the far-flung future normally Harrison's stock-in-trade. But there's something of the Smiths, of the "it's grim up north" mentality at work here that's irresistible. It's a portrait of the North as forceful as any you'll find. This book places me more firmly in England than pretty much anything else I've read. There's a level of frustration, of decay, of endless waiting around which seems so much a part of my memory of the place.
I was initially dubious about this book. I don't tend to like fiction that deals with some concrete activity, preferring works that revolve around a period, place or lives. I'm not so interested in the jargon, in-jokes, rites and obsessions shared by a few. I'm more interested in how different people come together. My initial misgivings were mostly born out. The book does have memorable moments – a book dealing with mountain climbers is hardly wanting in this regard – and some of the characters are genuinely likable and rendered with economy, though some easily sank into the background. The style is also unadorned and at times strives for that a McEwanesque foreboding, but other times it seems simply drab. I wonder if this wouldn't have been better as non-fiction in which the emotions and experience would have superseded the novelist's concerns with what mountain climbing 'means'.
What do You think about Climbers (2004)?
If I were going to make a list of the ten best British novels I've read this would be in there. It's hard to say what it is that I liked so much about this novel. Maybe it's because I recognise a lot of the landscapes, climbs and characters but I think it's more than that. Harrison does urban decay and urban encroachment into the rural environment brilliantly. He has this knack of mixing the banal with the wondrous so that the beauty of both is revealed through their contrast. It is these moments, set against the general mood of incomprehension and confusion - some might say bleakness - of the narrative that really make this book what it is and the sections that deal with actual climbing are some of the best I've read, but you don't have to be a climber to enjoy - although I'm not sure enjoy really hits it - this book. This is one I will read again and again. Brilliant!
—Owain Lewis
This was in the sci-fi/fantasy section of my local bookshop and I used to climb so I gave it a punt.It is about climbers and it was contemporary fiction nearly 30 years ago. This is basically "last of the summer wine" but with youngish climbers not doing much rather than 3 old blokes falling in rivers and sliding down hills in baths. Its not as funny or as interesting. You don't get any insight into why they climb, there is no overall plot or character arc.If you want insight into climbing read Joe Simpson, if you want to waste your time read this. It's only saving grace is its very short and easy to read
—Claire
