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The Way Out: A True Story of Ruin and Survival
by
Craig Childs
- A breakout book from a writer increasingly celebrated as the 21st-century bard of the American Southwest--a writer in the tradition of Barry Lopez, Peter Matthiessen, Terry Tempest Williams, among others. - In March 2003, Craig Childs received the Spirit of the West Literary Achievement Award, given to a writer whose body of work captures the unique spirit of the America...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
March 8th 2006
by Back Bay Books
(first published January 7th 2005)
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If you like to read "true life drama" and pushing the limit, living on the edge...this is a book for you. Any body ever read Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire?" Abbey was one of the most unconventional environmentalists since Muir. Craig Childs just picks up wheree Abbey left off and pushesthe limit even further. He is one intelligent guy as far as knowledge of survival in canyons and deserts.
I wish I could write descriptive narrative text the way Craig Childs does. His use of language is inspiring, as is the use of flashbacks to tell the various parts of this story.
At times however the descriptive narrative style can overtake the story, and become just a little too much. Too much detail, too often and the story falters rather than flows. It's a bit of a harsh criticism for a book that I really enjoyed, but I suspect that it might put many readers off.
At times however the descriptive narrative style can overtake the story, and become just a little too much. Too much detail, too often and the story falters rather than flows. It's a bit of a harsh criticism for a book that I really enjoyed, but I suspect that it might put many readers off.
Lovely descriptions of canyons in South Utah but thin plot and lost interest as quest for a way out becomes too drawn out.
I would have loved a few pictures as I don't think the pictures in my mind captured the true beauty that he experienced on the trip.
Vivid storyteller, you could imagine every detail as he described it.
Another book read for my English class. This one was my favorite of the bunch.
In the twisting chasms, sloping domes and crashing boulders of southern Utah Craig Childs sits, pen and journal in hand infusing the landscape with his drama. His close companion Dirk, no less dramatic, stabs the air with his pointed observations. Fortunately there are little flashbacks recalling Dirk's days as a cop and Craig's interactions with his crazy ass father. Without these, I fear the book would drown in the sometimes confusing, deeply involved, poetic style that Craig employs to descri...more
This was not my favorite of his, but good. A lot of tension. I liked that he wove personal stories in with the specific journey he wrote about.
This book has a disconnect with reality for me. The drama doesn't seem exactly real of being actually lost but the writing is good and the anecdotes are entertaining and informative.
Nice interweaving of flashbacks of his relationship with his father and his hiking buddy's experiences as a cop with being in the canyons of Utah. This is a testament to the power of nature/wilderness to provide a constructive & educational addiction (as opposed to the seeming dead end of alcohol/drugs.) A mountain lion points them towards the way out of endless box canyons. Amazing.
I was a little hesitant when I started this book. It seemed Hemingwayesque in it's macho two-men-bonding-in-the-wilderness voice, but I was soon caught up in Child's lyrical descriptions of the canyonlands, his memories of his father, and Dirk's dark story of his life as a cop. It's good. It's very very good.
Very different from the rest of the books I have read by this author. I guess the others were mostly written about a solitary experience in the desert but this one has a second character. One I really didn't like but the story was still good.
Read for the second time - fantastic insights into Craig, the desert, Dirk and their friendship. Some very powerful sentences within this book.
Wasn't my favorite--Thoreau joins Chris McCandless.
Dramatic narrative in the canyons of southern Utah.
Wonderful story, made me want to go on a walkabout.
My first Craig Childs book...I'm hooked. Good stuff...a must read.
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CRAIG CHILDS is a commentator for NPR's Morning Edition, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Men's Journal, Outside, The Sun, and Orion. He has won numerous awards including the 2011 Ellen Meloy Desert Writers Award, 2008 Rowell Award for the Art of Adventure, the 2007 Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award, and the 2003 Spirit of the West Award for his body of work.
More about Craig Childs...
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