A ham-handed account of what had all the ingredients to be a gripping adventure tale—Sweden to Kathmandu by bicycle, trek to Everest, climb, return by same route—from Kropp, the second person to ever reach the summit of K2 without supplemental oxygen, assisted by Swedish freelance journalist Lagercrantz. Inspired by the Himalayan feats of Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler, the light-traveling by-fair-means high-altitude climbers, Kropp decides to tackle Everest with no support whatsoever. He will get wherever he has to go under his own steam, carry his own food and low-rent gear, climb unassisted by Sherpas or oxygen: “the high tech gadgets, the abandoned equipment, and the left-over, left-behind junk are a rape of nature.” But rather than this being an environmentally sound, good-spirited approach, Kropp comes across as superior, with a scary sense of purity and punishment: “I prepared for the ascent by running in the mountains above the city until I felt the taste of blood in my mouth.” The trip to Nepal is told in juddering diary entries such as “December 29 / Kashan / I get a pencillin shot in a small hospital,” and when he gets to base camp, many of the climbers disgust him: “Everest has become a luxury peak, a place for buffoons who want something to brag about at their garden parties.” (This is May 1996, and a good number of them will soon be dead.) Kropp spends too much time commenting on the conduct of others (“excuse me for gossiping”)—who is having an affair with whom, who lied about summiting what peaks—and too little building a compelling narrative about his own adventure. He climbed without oxygen, and perhaps that robbed him of the experience. He sinks his own self-righteous ship by sneering at Messner, who climbed all the high peaks without oxygen. “The sad thing is, you can tell . . . the thin air has probably damaged his brain.” “So much writing has been done about climbing—and life—at the highest altitudes.” Too much. Add this book to the ballast. (photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-56331-830-X
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1999
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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