Review by Noan Eshir -- The Altitude Journals

[Noan Eshir]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Altitude Journals" by David J Mauro.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Th inspiring true story: The Altitude Journals by David J. Maruo is about the author going on a 7 year adventure who after an emotionally draining divorce, found inner peace in the most unexpected of hobbies: climbing the 7 highest summits in the world, see how he recovered from his inner demons and not only overcoming them but finding forgiveness, love, and understanding by venturing through the harshest conditions atop natures highest peaks.

This is not only inspiring but an entertaining read. Each chapter (excluding the first) was focused exclusively on each Mountain, the preparation, the current dilemma troubling Mr. Mauro during each expedition and the colorful cast of characters he interacts with during said exhibitions help giving them an episodic feel for each chapter, Most of the recurring characters are memorable and each of them help David in one way or another whether it be physical, emotional support or even just the mere thought of them helps him persevere.

That being said, I’m giving this book 3 out of 4 stars only, the reason being that their were times that some parts of the chapter and paragraphs feel like filler and dragged on for a bit, especially in the earlier chapters, ironic since the last mountain chapter was the longest chapter in the whole book and yet for me was a real page turner, I say that it feels like filler because it adds nothing to the current story, they could’ve easily either been written shorter or taken out completely, an example being during one of the early hike climbs, one of their fellow climbers was going to drop out due to a personal matter, now referencing this Is no problem but a few pages earlier the other climbers who declined to join were just referenced in a short sentence and that was it, but this one character was given almost a whole page explaining why he couldn’t make it, and afterwards he was never mentioned again they are other examples in the first half of the book, it didn’t make the book bad or boring but it did made you think why it wasn’t cut.

There’s also some minor things like there was a conflict midway into the story and it wasn’t fully resolved, its possible it might not have been truly resolved in real life but I would’ve wanted a small caption saying “we are fine now” or something related to that.

After all that nitpicking, I highly recommend this book to any climber enthusiasts or anyone looking for an inspiring and a good true life story, it’s a slow burn at the start due to the filler feel but once you get over the first chapter, it’s smooth reading from there.

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The Altitude Journals
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