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| Plot Summary of Between a Rock and a Hard Place |
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"Aron Ralston wants to climb all of the "fourteeners", mountains more than 14,000 feet tall, in Colorado. But he wants to do it solo, and in the dead of winter. Readers of outdoor adventures will immediately realize that doing the high climbs alone, in the winter is risky due to potential falling, hypothermia, frayed ropes, getting lost, frostbite, dehydration, storm winds, falling objects, avalanche, getting wet, and starving.
Writing in the first person, Aron dodges all of the usual causes of death for adventurers, and lives to tell of each one: falls in the icy, swift Colorado River, avalances in the Tetons, and battles over food with a starving bear. Then he goes on to test himself with a long distance hike and bike in the outback of Utah. Sweetening the challenge he explores a slot canyon by himself. He chooses to climb over a rock, a chockstone, wedged in the narrow canyon.
And it slips. The stone slips and pins his arm in the narrow canyon. Then Aron begins to really tell his story. He begins by being sorry he had neglected to tell anyone where he was going. The story traces highlights and adventures of his life, and recounts each effort to escape, until he finally cuts his arm off.
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Stephen M. Galvin , Resident Scholar
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"Aaron Ralston is a 27 year old who loves adventure. He takes off one Saturday to climb in some remote canyons in Utah. This is nothing out of the ordinary for Aaron as he is an avid outdoorsman; however, what is not ordinary for Aron is he fails to tell anyone where he is going.
As a boulder loosens under Aron's feet, he tumbles with it until it lands with his right hand caught between the boulder and canyon wall. Aron knows he is in deep trouble as this is such a remote place. For five days, he trys various ways to free his hand and realizes in order to survive, he must cut off his own arm.
He has a movie camera and videos his thoughts and actions for the five days he is contemplating this action.
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Carol Gizzi, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Between a Rock and a Hard Place |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Exploring/Searching...
- tall mountains
Outdoors story
Yes
Exploring:
- surviving in outdoors
Subject of Biography
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- explorer
- engineer
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity
- White
Nationality
- American (!)
How sensitive is this person?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other people
Physique
- very athletic
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 3 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- West
Desert?
Yes
Century:
- 1980's-Present
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- explicit references to deaths
- explicit references to torture
Book makes you feel?
- angry
Lot of foul language?
Yes
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
- a lot of stream of consciousness
Writer's slant towards subject:
- very favorable
- very unfavorable
Story of entire life, or part?
- story of set of events during life
If this is a kid's book:
- Age 16-Adult
Pictures/Illustrations?
- None
- More in color 6-10
How much dialogue in bio?
- little dialog
How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life?
- 76%-100% of book
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Click here for more information about this book
Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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