Book Review - Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston

Rating: 10/10

Twenty-seven year old Aron Ralston is a retired mechanical engineer and an experienced outdoorsman. He has hiked numerous mountains and escaped death several times. However, on April 26, 2003 somewhere in Utah, as he is hiking through an "easy" route, a boulder gets dislodged and traps Aron's right hand on the canyon wall. With scant food and water and a dying resolve, Aron manages to pull through for six days, and survive to tell his inspiring tale.

This book has been in our family's shelf since 2006 (it's my dad's - he brought it back from America). I never once thought of reading it all those years, until Danny Boyle came out with the movie 127 Hours starring James Franco. So, yes, I am guilty of that.

Anyhow, as much as I dislike non-fiction literature (I'm a lover of fiction through and through), I actually liked this one. Aron Ralston's writing style is very good, very detailed (don't worry, the amputation scene isn't all that bad). Between a Rock and a Hard Place is a very inspiring book, more than the movie I dare say. If you felt 127 Hours was not enough to convince you, then you should go read this book. :)

Movie Review - 127 Hours

Rating: 9/10

Aron Ralston was a mountaineer and outdoorsman. He was very much experienced. However, he did not see the rock falling and pinning his right hand and wrist against the canyon wall while on a hike in Utah. 127 Hours is a movie adaptation of his best-selling book Between a Rock and a Hard Place that describes the hell he went through for five days.

The movie is told in a mostly restricted narration - which means we hardly have the chance to get into the mind of Aron (played by James Franco) while he is trapped in the canyon. This restriction makes his actions more surprising; we don't know what will happen next. That exactly, is the point of the film: Aron didn't know what was going to happen him but he saw it through, he survived and lived to tell the experience.

My sister was complaining about the quality of the video, but I think the not-so-HD quality was done to impress the timeframe when it happened (year 2003, to be exact).

Anyway, I think James Franco did a great job. The musical score was great, courtesy of A.R. Rahman. The direction is, of course, brilliant. You can't expect anything less from Danny Boyle (of Slumdog Millionaire fame).