Customer Reviews

Angels in the Wilderness: The True Story of One Woman's Survival Against All Odds

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I met Amy at BEA where I got a signed copy of her book. She was sincerely nice, and I was honored to meet this person who survived such an unbelievable ordeal. However, when I read the book, I felt disappointed (as an editor) by the writing and lack of editing. A powerful story that could have become a huge success as a book was instead relegated to mediocrity due to no editorial direction. I had seen so many reviews of the book prior to BEA; if only the publisher had put as much effort into the book itself as it did into the marketing plan. If you are a quick reader and a backpacker, I still recommend reading the book for the power of Amy's experience. The story gets lost in the middle, however, and the details of her recovery in the hospital are too, too much, while the details of her private life get glossed over and leave the reader confused.

While we can all agree that "Angels in the Wilderness" is the tale of the author's heroic tenacity and the equally heroic response of strangers and friends alike, I cannot agree that it is an interesting read.

I too was hooked from the first page. Unfortunately, after the third page, the author leaves her hook (the fall and stunning injury) and instead concentrates on her life history and personal philosophy. This goes on far too long, forcing me to continually fight to keep reading. My interest only resurfaced with chapter 17 and the beginning of Amy's rescue.

There is hope. Honestly, there is a very good story here. If the author were to work with an editor to trim the fat from this amazing tale, it could become a story for any reader. As is, it may appeal only to diehard solo hikers and those who know Amy personally.

Meanwhile, I look forward to the next edition and continue to pull for Amy's continued recovery.

Keep fighting Amy:)

Award-winning graphic artist Amy Racina went on her first backpacking trip with her family at age sixteen. This was the beginning of a life-long love affair. As an adult she found herself often "suffused with longing to be in the mountains as I make my way through ordinary life." Amy made it a custom to spend some time alone in the wilderness each year, and in the summer of 2003 she decided to make her "trip of a lifetime" through some of the roughest, most inaccessible, and most staggeringly beautiful terrain of the Sierra Mountains.

But in the far flung reaches of the Sierras, Amy lost her trail, and then with one life-changing step, fell over sixty feet onto a harsh slab of rock, breaking numerous bones, smashing her nose, and sustaining severe bruises all over her body. She was already off trail and had not seen another human being in two full days. This is the remarkable story of how she survived for four days, unable to stand and barely able to move, how she was rescued by three passing "angels" who heard her calls for help-and how she recovered and returned to her beloved mountains less than two years later.

More than the story itself, the writing here is suffused with glowing honesty and wonder, bracing as mountain air. "'Please let me live. Please help me,' I pray. . . . I am led to remember that eventually all humankind will die. . . . I feel the quality of the sacred in the very desperation of my situation." The "quality of the sacred" is precisely what characterizes this courageous and oddly tender tale. -- Marc Polonsky for the FEARLESS REVIEWS

This extraordinary tale is one of the very few wilderness survival epics. Most solo hikers who suffer severe injury off trail do not make it out. Their story is told, if at all, on tattered scraps of paper found on their body. Amy Racina fell sixty feet onto granite, both legs were broken, a hip and kneecap were fractured, and she had open wounds.

Once I got started on this book, I hated to put it down. This is the kind of thing every hiker pushes to the back of their mind. "So there's no trail, I've done this lots of times. I'm always careful, so I'll be fine". Amy wasn't fine.

The book starts with the fall. The first sentence is "So this is how it ends." as she thinks she is going to die. The next two chapters give you the background - how she grew up a hiker, and how she was on this "trip of a lifetime" when she fell. I'm following along, nodding my head as she describes the backcountry and plans her trip, but I'm tense knowing what is to come.

After the fall, she decides to try to get down the canyon where she should hit a trail. She can move a few yards a day, sometimes calling for help. At maybe a day from death, someone hears her and the rescue begins. This is enough already for a good book, but there is a whole second part of this story that also demands your attention. It took a large support system of friends, and an immense amount of painful and exhausting physical therapy - the Repairing Amy part.

Amy is now out backpacking again. We have a friend who has been going through physical therapy for a stroke for a couple of years, and this book made me realize that I really didn't have a clue about what she was going through.

For me as a backpacker, the drama of the hiking story is the compelling reason to read the book, but I recommend it to anyone who is encountering the experience of repairing the body through extensive physical therapy. It is very, very difficult, but it can be done.

This is surely one of the great stories of survival, on par with `Into Thin Air', `Alive' and `Touching the Void'. A story of heroism, survival and recovery. Amy Racina is an ardent hiker who enjoys great solo journeys in the Mountains of California. She planned a 162 mile journey in Kings Canyon National park in 2003. This was to be in one of the most remote parts of the park, Tehipite, many miles from the nearest hikers, well beaten tracks and worn trails. In this brilliant account the author tells the tale of her tragic accident, a terrible fall, and the rescue at the hand of three `angels' and her subsequent recovery. It is a harrowing tail of someone approaching death in the wilderness, alone. The only downside of the tail is that a majority of it deals with recovery and less of it with hiking. It would have been more interesting to learn more about the great outdoors. However this book will be of great value to anyone recovering from any form of injury. Nevertheless the author provides interesting insights into the `spiritual tools' for survival and interesting stories of her family history and its relationship with the Sierra.

This book drew me in from the very first sentence and for the next couple of days I carried it around, reading passages every spare moment I had until I was done. Not only is the tale of Amy's rescue and recovery a riveting story but she just happens to be a very gifted writer who is able to take the reader right through the journey with her. This is not just a story of great courage and determination, but also the way her perspective on life changed. As a very autonomous and independent woman it was not easy for her to be so vulnerable. I loved reading the parts where she discovered how much her community of friends came through for her. I also appreciated Amy's descriptions of how she broke enormous undertakings into small, manageable, achievable tasks so that she didn't become overwhelmed and paralyzed. It is full of great life lessons. Enjoy it!

Angles In The Wilderness: The True Story Of One Woman's Survival Agains All Odds is the biographical story of how heroine and author Amy Racina became lost in deep wilderness and faced a truly life-threatening situation. After falling sixty feet onto a granite boulder during a solo hike in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range of Northern California, she kept herself alive through sheer determination. Dragging herself by her hands despite exhaustion and pain, she survived four days until her cries were heard by another hiker and she was airlifted out of the canyon. Angels In The Wilderness was written shortly after her miraculous survival, and includes black-and-white photographs as well as quotes from a journal she kept while hiking the trail. A profound true story of human courage and the will to live.

Thank you Amy for coming back to share your awesome story and your incredible inspiration. You are truly an amazing spirited woman!

Just as an adventure story it is exciting reading.
As a soul-examination in the face of death it is enlightening reading.
As an exploration of life versus risk it is intriguing reading.
And she is a writer with a superb way with words, a great pleasure to read. You will want to read this book more than once.

I would have to agree with the other two star reviews here. Way too much of the book was spent going on and on about her feelings, beliefs, etc. The actual survival story and what she achieved is no doubt amazing but I really struggled to stay engaged. So much so that I abandoned the read.

I have a lot of respect for what she did and those that helped her, but it wasn't very well written and much of the book is not about the actual event itself.