Review by Booklist Review
During the same 1996 Mount Everest climbing season that Jon Krakauer made famous with Into Thin Air (1997), Norgay was the climbing leader for a group that took an IMAX film crew up to the summit. The IMAX team was successful after facing deaths using precious supplies and health to help injured climbers from other parties, and braving the most daunting weather conditions on the planet. But this work has considerably more depth than an exposition of the climb; the author is the son of Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa who accompanied Edmund Hillary on the first ascent of Everest. The son's climb is a pilgrimage exploring his relationship to his father, his Sherpa culture, and Buddhism. It is also a fascinating look into the world of climbers and their relationship to the Sherpas who risk their lives to assist them. What takes this beyond a rousing good tale is the extraordinary sincerity and profound heart that underlie it. --Eric Robbins
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The 1996 Everest tragedy is widely known through Krakauer's Into Thin Air. Here, Norgay, son of one of the first two men to scale Mt. Everest in 1953, describes his experience leading the IMAX team that filmed their own 1996 climb. Lower on the mountain during the infamous storm, Norgay's team had radio contact with the doomed expedition and participated in later stages of rescue. Possessing an amazing trove of cultural and historical understanding, Norgay, with Coburn (coauthor of Everest: Mountain Without Mercy), intersperses his narrative with stories of his father's famous ascent and provides insights into the society of the Sherpa, the Tibetan Buddhists who help Westerners climb Everest. Physiologists believe, he writes, that Tibetans "may possess a gene that allows for more efficient oxygen delivery at high elevations." Western readers will be struck by the significance Sherpas ascribe to fate in achieving a feat that for most Westerners is a glorification of individual strength and will. It's refreshing to encounter a Tibetan sensibility and perspective in an adventure narrative, although there's not much new here about the tragic 1996 events, the commercialization of Everest, the competition among groups, etc. But Norgay's clever weaving of the parallel stories of his climb and his father's enriches an already gripping tale. The broad, well-established adventure audience will devour this book. Photos. (May) Forecast: A 15-city author tour, Krakauer's name on the cover, Sherpa mystique and the skillful prose and storytelling will win this book the acclaim and sales it deserves. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
In an effort to emulate and understand his father, who with Sir Edmund Hillary reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, Norgay writes of his youth, his feelings, and his experiences in the 1996 IMAX climb. While both versions weave back and forth between the planning for and execution of the IMAX climb to the distant past, recent past, and back to the first-person report, it is not difficult to follow these transitions. Two principal differences emerge between the programs. First, although Norbu Tenzing, narrating the abridged set, is now a San Franciscan, he still has an accent and pace that require more active listening, while Grover Gardner's inflection, delivery, and fluid reading style on the unabridged tapes will be more comfortable to most American listeners. Both readers are eloquent in pronunciation of difficult place and personal names; however, one may sometimes get a little lost in all the obscure terms. Second, the unabridged version fills in more about Norgay's cultural background and offers some additional musings on life, death, religion, and the mountain. Those who appreciate the more contemplative approach to life and adventure may enjoy his thoughts about the after-life, gods, goddesses, ghosts, morals, offerings, and symbolism. The action is well described but slowly paced. Neither recording does much to help our understanding of why people take such risks or why we should think they are heroes, though that seems to be part of the writer's goal. Recommended for libraries with extensive adventure collections and patrons with mountain climbing interests. Carolyn Alexander, Brigadoon Lib., Salinas, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A journey to the top of the world and the soul of a family. Norgay, climbing leader of David Breashearss IMAX expedition, shares both his story of adventure and an intimate portrait of his search for his father, Tenzing Norgay. The elder Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary were the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, and the emotional core of the story concerns the authors construction of a connection with his deceased father by recreating his historic achievement. The family elements dont stand in the way of the genuine adventure of Norgays account, however, as the drama unfolds on the deadly terrain of Everest, where a sudden storm or a slight slip-up can easily result in many deaths. (The terrain is gruesomely littered with the frozen corpses of men who had tried and failed to make the ascent with previous expeditions, and some of them were very close to the authors own camps.) Norgay and coauthor Coburn cover the logistical details of summiting Everest with welcome precision and a clarity that opens the story to a much wider audience than merely the crampon-clad mountaineering herd. Indeed, by weaving the seemingly disparate elements of the IMAX expedition with personal elements of his own life and history, the authors tale escapes easy generic classification. Whether describing the bouts of edema that afflict the climbers, answering age-old questions about the ways one attends to certain bodily functions atop a mountain, or hinting ever so slightly that his father beat Hillary to the top by a step or two, Norgays narrative achieves a deft balance between adventure story and family memoir. Breashearss IMAX movie combined majestic shots with a gripping story of adventure, foolhardiness, and drive; this is a companion piece fully worthy of the events that inspired it. Essential reading for mountaineers, both actual and armchair. Author tour
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
