Buy This Book: Aron Ralston's "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" (the gut-wrenching memoir behind "127 Hours")
Colleen and I both read and loved Ralston's memoir when it came out, and this week I was blown away by the movie "127 Hours".
In 2003, Ralston was canyoneering in Utah and was trapped in a deep crevice when a tumbling rock smashed his hand against the canyon wall. Six days later, he made headlines around the world when he stumbled out of the canyon, having amputated his arm just below the elbow. The fact of that is gruesomely fascinating enough to motorize a blitz of publicity, but what makes this book so emotionally beefy and enduring (and the movie very successfully captures this) is the unobscured view of what human is. The breathtaking ease of a monumental mistake. The sharp knife of regret and the dull blade of self-reliance. Our need for each other and our need to deny it. What matters. What we fear. What we're willing to do to survive.
"127 Hours" is one of the best movies I saw this year. James Franco (whose book Palo Alto: Stories
was released by Scribner this fall) did a serious deepdive for this performance, and please, please do see this movie on the big screen. Or book a flight to Utah.
In 2003, Ralston was canyoneering in Utah and was trapped in a deep crevice when a tumbling rock smashed his hand against the canyon wall. Six days later, he made headlines around the world when he stumbled out of the canyon, having amputated his arm just below the elbow. The fact of that is gruesomely fascinating enough to motorize a blitz of publicity, but what makes this book so emotionally beefy and enduring (and the movie very successfully captures this) is the unobscured view of what human is. The breathtaking ease of a monumental mistake. The sharp knife of regret and the dull blade of self-reliance. Our need for each other and our need to deny it. What matters. What we fear. What we're willing to do to survive.
"127 Hours" is one of the best movies I saw this year. James Franco (whose book Palo Alto: Stories
was released by Scribner this fall) did a serious deepdive for this performance, and please, please do see this movie on the big screen. Or book a flight to Utah.
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