The Way Out: A True Story of Ruin and Survival

Good writer, amazing descriptions and thoughts but the story I was waiting for and the one I got was slower and dragged on a little less exciting than I thought it was going to be.

I really liked Craig Childs' House of Rain, partly because it offered interesting observations and reflections on the Anasazi (Ancestral Puebloans), a culture I have studied a great deal, and partly because of the author's skill at descriptive writing. That book left me wanting to know about the writer, an unusual person who spends weeks at a time walking across the southwest, even in the middle of winter. Hence, I was drawn to read The Way Out, which, in part, is a reflection on Childs' relationship with his father.In The Way Out, Childs' memories of his father, and the stories of Dirk Vaughn's former life as a cop, which were woven in and out of the tale of their hiking expedition, were interesting. Both of the companions had tortured pasts that, in a way, were mirrored in the torturous piece of nature they had to navigate. But I did not see much of a parallel between the "The Way Out" of their physical trek and "the way out" of their past experiences related to a "disturbed, raging, alcoholic father" and the very difficult, violent, and painful, life of a police officer. (Perhaps the book's title was not supposed to apply to their life stories, which were such a prominent part of the reader's experience???) Dirk's "way out" of his past was to retire from police work (after a horrific car accident that caused a death prompted him to quit) and become involved in the rugged outdoors, which does not really relate well to the book's title. As for Childs' past related to his father, I now have pictures of the father from Childs' eyes, and pictures of some of Childs' experiences with him, but I have no idea how those experiences affected Childs' or how (or if) he found a "way out" of his father-son relationship. Or a "way through?" Or a learning to live with whatever residue remains within him from his relationship with his father?Just reading stories related to his dad was not enough for me. Where did Craig Childs go with those experiences? What did he do with them? How did they shape him? How do they drive him? How do they relate to his need to take on treks in nature (such as the one the book describes) that few people would have the desire or ability to undertake? How is he like his father? How is he different? Other than being torturous, how did his father-son experiences relate to the physical journey the book describes?Childs is a very gifted writer, and, for the most part I enjoyed his book. But by the end I was tired of each little observation or experience being molded by the powers of the intellect into a creative metaphor. Some descriptions were too contrived for me, and I felt like I was wading through molasses to get to the end. I would have liked less creativity!

Subtitled "a true story of ruin and survival," The Way Out is an account of Childs' and his good friend Dirk Vaughn's mid-winter crossing of a convoluted wilderness area along the Arizona-Utah border. During their sixteen day adventure the two men face not only the challenges of the broken, primeval terrain, but they also deal with their own inner demons--Childs' anger over the psychological damage inflicted by his late alcoholic father; Dirk's memories of the persons he harmed (including one man he killed accidentally) during his career as a policeman. If highly detailed description of a multi-day exploration through a maze of canyons carved out of Navajo sandstone, including flashbacks to earlier traumatic experiences, is your bag, this is the book for you. I, however, was almost as tired of the duo's adventure as they were by the end of the book. There may be such a thing as too much description.

I'd love to hear it read by someone just as gifted. I was transported to the places, walking in their footsteps, seeing what I imagined. As a wanderer and one who respects landscapes and finding the way, this have me a new respect for a live or die trying landscape.

This is the second Craig Childs book I have read. I expected this to be an adventure story but it turned out to be a present day adventure with a lot of anecdotes about Craig's adventure compatriot and his motivation to be in the backcountry. Altogether a satisfying tale but I would have preferred a bit less diversion from the present problems. Still, an amazing story of a crazy adventurer.

Childs get personnel in this rugged hike/climb book. The very difficult walk around at hand is intermingled nicely with flashbacks that explains why he and his hiking partner have become accomplished outdoors men. More than a few raw surprises keep the story from getting predictable. It all fits together well at the end. A different Craig Childs kind of book, but in the end you still get the great writing about why wilderness is so vital to the survival of each of us.

Excellent and amazing journey cover to cover!Highly recommend this book, as well as, all of Craig Childs' other books.

The Way Out is a book you'll want to read over and over again. It's just too powerful to fully absorb in one reading. As with "The Secret Knowledge of Water", Mr. Childs leads you into the very psyche of Living Land. He bears his soul and humbles himself before a chasm of rock. An absolute master of imagery and metaphor, Mr. Childs doesn't just take you into the majesty of a canyon or the solitude of the desert, he empties you out there so that you might fill again. "The Way Out" is his best work yet.Susan Haley, AuthorRAINY DAY PEOPLE

A huge disappointment. This is NOT a true story of survival. It's basically a tale of two blokes who go for a walk into the desert. It's a difficult journey but their survival is never in doubt. There are far, far better survival stories out there.The writers style is overloaded with similies and the writing is so pretentious at times it makes the book barely readable. Indeed, I gave up on the book twice before making a final effort to get through it. Just one random example;'Release this notion that I am a man subject only to the laws of men. Come, wind, wear down my edges and build new ones of me. Make me more than black or white. Abrade me into a world without end. Turn me to sand and spin me through the air. Bring me to the ground again and I will build the next civilization of stones.'There's 260 odd pages of nonsense like this with a dialogue between the two main characters that is far fetched and frequently borders on the ridiculous. The books only saving grace is the short sections on a former Police officer looking back on incidences throughout his career. That makes for some interesting snippets but does not rescue this tedious book.

what a great read