fao rydra_wong

[kaberett]

made the BRILLIANT choice this evening to unstick myself from the sofa and go do my Pilates at the literal cliffhanger in Touching the Void.

obviously knowing it turns out as a more-or-less safe landing* makes it slightly less [aaaaaaah], but at the point I was gazing through the ceiling and berating myself for Leaving It On A Bit Of A-- I had to stop. and stare with slightly more focus. and try not to just entirely dissolve into giggles.

(At the moment my brain is letting me read non-fiction and very little else. This is VERY FRUSTRATING given the amount of fiction I would REALLY LIKE TO BE READING, thanks.)

* safe landing: everyone walks away. good landing: you can use the plane again.

Comments

[watersword]

I love that safe/good landing joke.

[vass]

*g*

[rydra_wong]

literal cliffhanger

About as literal as you can get!

If the book is your first encounter with Touching The Void, I can also highly rec the documentary and the play, both of which are extraordinary in very different ways, and fascinating examples of choices made in successfully adapting something to different mediums.

safe landing: everyone walks away. good landing: you can use the plane again.

Joe Simpson climbed again quite successfully after that, PTSD notwithstanding, so arguably they even managed a good landing. Albeit not quite a safe one if we're strict with the walking away criteria ...

[kaberett]

First encounter was your enthusiastic rec/review of the stage play, which was the impetus to read!

He did at least some walking :-p But also yes having got to the epilogue etc I am willing to concede it was after all a good landing!

[rydra_wong]

I would be fascinated to know what you make of the documentary and/or play (the Bristol Old Vic production was filmed and is on BroadwayHD and Marqee TV) if you ever check them out.

Because AS YOU WILL BE ABLE TO IMAGINE, "staging" this story in other mediums creates some interesting challenges, since even if you had a Hollywood budget to depict everything visually (which neither of them do), it still isn't going to be legible to the audience what they mean.