I was curious to read Peak partly because I remember when Roland Smith, the author, visited a school I taught at years ago in Oregon, and he was so interesting!
And I've always been fascinated by Mt. Everest (OK, maybe not always, but ever since I was hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail for 3 months and got obsessed with reading an Outside Magazine article about a climb-gone-wrong on the highest mountain on Earth. That was 1996, when 12 climbers died in one season, and Jon Krakauer wrote about it later in his book Into Thin Air).
Anyway, I'm glad I picked this one out. I really had a hard time putting it down, and felt like I was right there gasping for breath at 28,000 feet above sea level with the 14-year-old protagonist, Peak Marcello.
There's a lot about mountain climbing in this novel, obviously, but there are also other interesting story lines--about Peak and his self-absorbed, distant but famous father; the terrible treatment of Tibetans by the Chinese government; and what it's like to feel competitive with a close friend.
Highly recommended!
No comments:
Post a Comment