The tone in the end of the book takes a sharp turn into intensity, sorrow, and alarm. The last stretch of the mountain was very dangerous and difficult, leaving many of the group members in rough positions. Some of the climbers become ill and don't get to finish their journey. Many of them have frostbite or other injuries, barely making it through to each camp. My heart was constantly beating as I read one person after another falling of the mountain, becoming too sick, freezing, getting lost. Many beloved characters did not survive. It was difficult for me to read about these amazing people dying, I can only imagine how hard it must have been on Krakauer. He may not have been utterly close with every person, but losing Doug Hansen and Rob Hall was not easy on him. "As I turned my head to the side, my ear brushed against a wet spot; tears, I realized were running down my face and soaking the sheets. I felt a gurgling, swelling bubble of hurt and shame roll up my spine from somewhere deep inside. Erupting out of my nose and mouth in a flood of snot, the first sob was followed by another, then another and another" (281). The saddest part is that Doug began having health issues early on in the book and although everyone was concerned about him, they all had faith that he would be able to make it to the end…also hoping that he would since he was unable to the first time he attempted. Poor Krakauer will live the rest of his life feeling like there was maybe something he could have done to keep Hansen, Hall and the others alive. But truth is, no one can ever be blamed for their deaths.
Into Thin Air was an extremely fascinating book. Mt. Everest has always been something that I wished to one day learn more about and this book taught me tons of interesting facts about Everest that I would not have learned anywhere else. I thought that it was a great book overall; it was factual, adventurous, exciting, sorrowful, and from time to time, a little bit humorous. My one complaint with the book would be that sometimes the factual parts of the book took away from the actual story. I enjoyed learning about the history of the mountain and all the past climbers, but I would get really into the story and then Krakauer stopped and went into a history lesson of Everest. It also just made it a little hard to read at times. It became a little boring and hard to follow along, but other than that Krakauer had and amazing journey and I'm glad he shared it with the rest of the world. There is absolutely no way that I would ever be able to have the courage to do what these brave men and women did. It takes such dedication and fearlessness, I really respect them for it.
I agree, that the factual excerpts kind of got distracting after a while. The main issue with the reading for me was the events weren't in chronological order, so I felt like I was weaving in and out of the storyline and it was hard to keep track of what was past and present. Other than that, I too think this book was an excellent piece of work, and I really enjoyed the crazy adventure of it (not exactly my cup of tea).
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