Joan's picks: Knife River and Into Thin Air

Knife River by Justine Champine: When Jess was 13 years old her mother disappeared, which is something she and her sister Liz struggled with for years. Now living in NYC, Jess receives a phone call one day to say that her mother’s remains have been found, which takes her back to the small town of Knife River where she grew up. She moves back into her childhood home where her sister has been living as if frozen in time, and now the two of them wait for the authorities to determine what happened, but the discovery of the remains raises more questions than answers. This is a book with real emotional depth – two very different siblings suddenly under one roof together again, each inhabiting very different worlds but both staring down the same mystery. 

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer: This was originally published 27 years ago, but remains one of the most gripping narrative nonfiction books ever written and it’s now been reissued. The author was on assignment for Outdoor magazine in 1996 and sent to Everest to write about the growing commercialisation of the mountain. He was an accomplished climber and joined Kiwi Rob Hall’s expedition to the summit which turned into a terrible tragedy when Krakauer himself collapsed and then five other climbers died, and a 6th lost his hand through frostbite – it was the worst season in the history of Mt Everest. In this book he tells the story about what happened but also ponders on what it is that drives so many people to attempt the climb. It’s a terrific read. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Time to talk books now, and I'm joined by Joe McKenzie.
Good morning, Hello. This is interesting Knife River by Justine Champagne.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Yes, that is it.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
That's how I'm saying it.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Brilliant, we'll stick with that.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
I believe it's her first book. It's a novel which
I would describe as something of a slow burn, And
those books can be really good the way that they
reveal themselves to you as you go through the story.
And it's about two sisters, Jess and Liz, and when
fifteen years ago they were living in a small town
called Knife River with their mother. Their mother went out

(00:44):
for a walk one day and never came back, and
the girls have spent the next fifteen years wondering what
on earth happened to her. And there's a guy in
the town that they're pretty sure is the villain, but
they've never been able to pin it on him, and
they keep harassing the police saying you need to go
and get this guy and pick him up. Even fifteen
years afterwards, and nothing ever happens. Well, Jess has moved
to New York City and she's trying to build a

(01:07):
life there for herself, but it's really hard because she's
got this thing in her life that makes it very
difficult to settle down to anything. So she drifts through
relationships and life's not going too well. And when she
gets a phone call one day to say that her
mother's remains have been found in this little town of
Knife River, she goes back and moves back into the
childhood home with her sister Liz, who never left. And

(01:30):
Liz just can't let go of the past. So she's
living in this little town that's failing. It used to
be a factory town. There's hardly any work there anymore.
She's got a menial job on a bank, whereas actually
she had much greater aspirations. So their lives are kind
of on hold, and in a wider sense, the town
around them is on hold. And the story about what

(01:51):
did happen to her mother eventually reveals itself. But as
I say, it's a slow burn. It's very well done,
and it's a lovely story about siblings and sisters and
women and relationships and the mystery of what happens when
someone just suddenly isn't there anymore.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
I can't remember what we were talking about, but it
was quite recently. You mentioned Drawn Cracker's book Into thin Air,
and I thought to myself, I must reread that, can you.
We're talking about a book back then called Everest in Ah,
that's right, which is about the commercialization of moss Everest.
Well done, good memory. And I thought to myself, I

(02:29):
must grab a copy of that and read it again.
I haven't read it well for years. And what do
you know, it's been reissued. Yes, here we go.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yes, So into THANAA first came out in nineteen ninety seven,
so it's almost thirty years ago. And it's the story
of John Krakauer, who was a journalist for a magazine
called Outdoors. He was also a climber. He'd done some
pretty amazing, pretty scary, I thought, climbs around various parts
of the world. He did one in Alaska which sounded extraordinary,

(02:57):
and Outdoor magazine wanted him to write a piece about
the commercialization of Mount Everest. So he teamed up with
Rob Hall, the New zeal And mountain guide, who was
doing Guided a Sense of Everest, and he went there
in nineteen ninety six in the month of May, which
was one of the worst times ever on Mount Everest.

(03:20):
So John Cracker, along with the others in Rob Hall's party,
climbed the mountain. They encountered appalling weather which was unexpected,
and it blew in very suddenly. And he says in
the book if it had come in an hour earlier
or two hours later, it wouldn't have had the same impact.
But five people died on that expedition, one of whom

(03:41):
was our guy, Rob Hall, who was the leader. Another
guy was so badly frostbitten that he had to have
amputations when he got back to the real world. And
this is the story of exactly what happened then. But also,
you know, it talks about the need that people have
to go and climb somewhere like Mount Everest, And at

(04:01):
one point in the book he's talking about looking back
behind him and there's a queue of fifty people on
their way up to the top of Everest, and more
and more and more people were going there to be guided,
but obviously it comes with extreme risk. This I think
is considered to be something of a modern classic. It's
one of the great narrative nonfiction books and it's really

(04:23):
written from the heart and the mind and the personal
experience of getting stuck up on that mountain when things
were just dreadful.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Has it been reissued because it is a classic or
also because it's still relevant and it's sort of a
bit of a timeless story today.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
Well, I'm not sure why they chose to do it,
but I think having just read everest Ink, I thought
that this may have been brought out in a kind
of supporting role to that, to say this was the
beginning of guided as sense and people paying an awful
lot of money to go and climb this mountain, and
now it's rampant, there's more than ever of it going on,
and it's still as relevant now as it was back then.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
I'm going to reread it. Thank you so much, Joan
Knife for ever by Just Being Champagne was the first book,
and Enter Thin Air by John Cracker for took next week.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
See you then.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin. Listen
live to News Talks at b from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.