"In climbing the Seven Summits, Silvia Vasquez-Lavado did nothing less than take back her own lifeâ??one brave step at a time. She will inspire untold numbers of souls with this story, for her victory is a win on behalf of all of us."â??Elizabeth Gilbert This audiobook is read by the author. "Through her narration, Vasquez-Lavado, whose first language is Spanish, conveys a lifetime of warmth, humor and steely determination."- Bookpage "Complex and compelling, Vasquez-Lavado's quest to heal herself from the deep wounds of patriarchy is also a vibrantly feminist celebration of female resilience."â??Kirkus Reviews "Making history is nothing new for adventurous mountaineer, explorer, entrepreneur, author, and activist Silvia Vasquez-Lavado."â??Out Magazine Endless ice. Thin air. The threat of dropping into nothingness thousands of feet below. This is the climb Silvia Vasquez-Lavado braves in her page-turning, pulse-raising memoir following her journey to Mount Everest. A Latina hero in the elite macho tech world of Silicon Valley, privately, she was hanging by a thread. Deep in the throes of alcoholism, hiding her sexuality from her family, and repressing the abuse she'd suffered as a child, she started climbing. Something about the brute force required for the ascentâ??the risk and spirit and sheer size of the mountains and death's close proximityâ??woke her up. She then took her biggest pain as a survivor to the biggest mountain: Everest. "The Mother of the World," as it's known in Nepal, allows few to reach her summit, but Silvia didn't go alone. She gathered a group of young female survivors and led them to base camp alongside her. It was never easy. At times hair-raising, nerve-racking, and always challenging, Silvia remembers the acute anxiety of leading a group of novice climbers to Everest's base, all the while coping with her own nerves of summiting. But, there were also moments of peace, joy, and healing with the strength of her fellow survivors and community propelling her forward. In the Shadow of the Mountain is a remarkable story of heroism, one which awakens in all of us a lust for adventure, an appetite for risk, and faith in our own resilience. A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt an… (más)
I usually devour climbing books, especially those about Everest, but I gave up at 20%. It was mostly about the author’s traumatic childhood in Peru. There is also some info on the sisterhood of other victims that she was planning on guiding to Everest Base Camp (on the way to her summit attempt). (This was the audio version, with the author reading.)
Normally I have a problem with books written in this style (Alternating stories with one being the story of her climbing Everest, and the other the story of her growing up.) Usually I find one story more compelling than the other, and just skim through the other one to get to the "good" part. Both stories were as interesting, compelling, and well-written as the other. This was a hard book to put down. ( )
In this multilayered memoir, Silvia Vasquez-Lavado sheds the harmful legacy of her father’s misogyny, her mother’s passivity, and her lingering memories of childhood sexual abuse to become the first Peruvian woman to summit Mount Everest. Apart from mountaineering, she thrives as a dot-com executive, helps trafficked young women, and celebrates her lesbian identity. She also accepts responsibility for the poor choices that influenced her history of alcohol abuse and bad relationships.
This memoir probably could have been fifty pages shorter, but still, it is worth reading for Vasquez-Lavado’s hard-earned, compassionate view of the human condition in all its many facets. ( )
"In climbing the Seven Summits, Silvia Vasquez-Lavado did nothing less than take back her own lifeâ??one brave step at a time. She will inspire untold numbers of souls with this story, for her victory is a win on behalf of all of us."â??Elizabeth Gilbert This audiobook is read by the author. "Through her narration, Vasquez-Lavado, whose first language is Spanish, conveys a lifetime of warmth, humor and steely determination."- Bookpage "Complex and compelling, Vasquez-Lavado's quest to heal herself from the deep wounds of patriarchy is also a vibrantly feminist celebration of female resilience."â??Kirkus Reviews "Making history is nothing new for adventurous mountaineer, explorer, entrepreneur, author, and activist Silvia Vasquez-Lavado."â??Out Magazine Endless ice. Thin air. The threat of dropping into nothingness thousands of feet below. This is the climb Silvia Vasquez-Lavado braves in her page-turning, pulse-raising memoir following her journey to Mount Everest. A Latina hero in the elite macho tech world of Silicon Valley, privately, she was hanging by a thread. Deep in the throes of alcoholism, hiding her sexuality from her family, and repressing the abuse she'd suffered as a child, she started climbing. Something about the brute force required for the ascentâ??the risk and spirit and sheer size of the mountains and death's close proximityâ??woke her up. She then took her biggest pain as a survivor to the biggest mountain: Everest. "The Mother of the World," as it's known in Nepal, allows few to reach her summit, but Silvia didn't go alone. She gathered a group of young female survivors and led them to base camp alongside her. It was never easy. At times hair-raising, nerve-racking, and always challenging, Silvia remembers the acute anxiety of leading a group of novice climbers to Everest's base, all the while coping with her own nerves of summiting. But, there were also moments of peace, joy, and healing with the strength of her fellow survivors and community propelling her forward. In the Shadow of the Mountain is a remarkable story of heroism, one which awakens in all of us a lust for adventure, an appetite for risk, and faith in our own resilience. A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt an
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