Krakauer’s book is definitely a contender for the greatest disaster narrative of all time. As an embedded reporter for Outside magazine during the 1996 disaster on Everest, Krakauer directly witnessed many of the events he recounts. Bad weather and bad decisions combined to claim the lives of eight climbers. This account of the ill-fated expedition exhausts the usual critical clichés: gripping, tragic, suspenseful, etc. The fundamental structure of the book has more than a passing resemblance to Greek tragedy: Human hubris spurs the central characters to attempt something superhuman, and catastrophe ensues.
