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Aron Ralston had plans with friends, but at the last minute, his plans changed. Faced with a couple days of nothing to do, Aron decides on the spur of the moment to head for Utah to go hiking in the canyon lands. For this twenty-seven-year-old man, hiking and mountain climbing is a wonderful break.
Aron meets two lovely women enroute who beg him to join them instead of going off solo, but Aron insists on keeping his original plans. But by early afternoon, Aron finds himself in the beginning stages of a nightmare. A rock slide wedges his right hand and wrist against the canyon wall.
Stuck there with very little water and food, Aron begins six days of a torturous, slow death. He’s told no one where he planned on going—or how long he planned to be gone. With nothing to do, Aron begins video-taping goodbye messages to his family and friends. Will Aron come up with a plan to rescue himself? Is anyone even looking for him?
BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE is an aptly titled book—as Aron literally is. The book is chocked full of descriptive phrases, making the reader feel as though they are present in the mountains with Aron, seeing what he sees, and later, feeling his misery. And even though we know Aron survives (he wouldn’t be able to write the book if he hadn’t) the reader begins to wonder if Aron will make it.
BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE is kind of a Reader’s Digest type rescue story—just not condensed. If you enjoy true life stories about hardships that men (or women) find their way out of, this is the book for you. There is some foul language in this book.
Reviewed by Laura V. Hilton
for The Road to Romance
January 22, 2005
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