After I saw Free Solo, a breathtaking documentary about Alex Honnold, an internationally famous climber who excels at climbing with no equipment, I requested Alone on the Wall, his memoir, from my local library even though I already have plenty of unread books from the library because I actually love reading books about people doing things that I would never do, especially if it is dangerous. Then a pandemic hit, a major health scare arose and even though I wanted to read it, life was in the way. I ended up being able to renew the book an embarrassing number of times for the same reasons. Do you consume a product from an easier medium like a movie or a television show, do something practical, rest, etc.?
Even when I chose to read Alone on the Wall, it can still be difficult to concentrate when there is not a lot of uninterrupted time to lose yourself in a book. At this stage in my life, it has to work if I read it in one sitting or multiple short spurts. Alex Honnold wrote the book with David Roberts, who apparently is not just some ghost writer that a publisher randomly plucked from a pile, but a climber of some note and considered the “dean” of mountaineering literature. I did not know anything about Roberts until after I finished reading the book so I suppose that I am not as well read in climbing literature as I would like to believe.
Alone on the Wall alternates between Honnold and Roberts’ prose. Honnold’s words appear in italics, and Roberts appear in normal Roman font with the exception of the last three chapters in the expanded edition which Honnold wrote entirely so he gets the normal font. In the acknowledgments, it was a relief to learn that Roberts thought that, “Alex is a good writer—good enough, as I told him in the early spring of 2014, that he could have written this book by himself.” Roberts is absolutely right. The alternating voice hindered my ability to get completely absorbed in the story, and I was constantly breaking my internal reading stride because the rhythm was not predictable. I came for Honnold, and while I surmised that Roberts was supposed to act as a translator to the average reader who knows nothing about the technical terms casually exchanged between avid climbers, Roberts failed to enlighten me. I would rather be a little lost and transported than lost and constantly adjusting to a new voice. I am not blaming Roberts for my lack of understanding because I could be dense, but it did not work.
Just because Honnold wanted to collaborate with Roberts, an idol and more experienced writer, does not mean that the editor should have kept Roberts’ sections in the book, especially since Roberts often quoted other climbers who write to provide context and flesh out detail to Honnold’s story. It felt as if the book prioritized placing Honnold in a spectrum of other climbers so Roberts felt that we had to learn about others’ achievements to appreciate Honnold. To be fair, when the book was originally written, Free Solo was not in theaters though Honnold was famous prior to the release of the documentary. A memoir does not have to present all sides to the story. I read Alone on the Wall because it is a memoir about Honnold’s life so I want it to be subjective and exclusively his voice. Anything else, good or not, is a distraction.
In spite of this unexpected and frequent interruption, I was able to enjoy Alone on the Wall, and maybe you will find Roberts’ contributions to Honnold’s story helpful. It does feel like required reading if you saw Free Solo, are an avid reader and want more details about Honnold’s life. The book focuses on his prior romantic relationships, his professional relationships with other climbers and sponsors, his foundation, his thought process while climbing, his other adventures for fun and to make history. Honnold actually does an objectively better job conveying the climbing techniques by describing his physical position than Roberts trying to define the climbing lingo.
Even if Honnold free soloed writing Alone on the Wall (your groans make me stronger and Gene Shalit is an inspiration), I probably would still have some difficulty following his memoir. For an alleged loner, Honnold knows a lot of people and climbs with quite a few. I had a hard time distinguishing all the climbers from each other, but if I was patient, Honnold usually did reference the prior expedition already outlined in the book, which helped jog my memory. I have no idea how some writers are able to capture a person on the page and make them memorable for a reader who has never met them, even if fictional, and others cannot. I am not blaming Honnold for my recall hiccups because writers with more experience have a similar problem. I do not think that I would have had this issue if I read Honnold’s book in fewer sessions.
If you do decide to read Alone on the Wall, make sure that you get the extended edition, which includes Honnold’s perspective as he prepares to climb and film El Cap. There is no point in reading a book that is missing the three most crucial chapters of Honnold’s life, especially since he is the only climber to date that has free soloed El Cap. It was kind of like reading Deep Throat’s memoir, and there is not one passage on why he decided to talk to a Washington Post reporter. Why are you here? Do you not believe that you deserve nice things? Who hurt you? I could understand if you already read the original edition. I probably would just watch the movie and not revisit the entire book, but as a completist, I would be curious about those final chapters. It just would be the equivalent of passing over his greatest accomplishment.
If you have not seen Free Solo, do not know who Honnold is and do not have a taste for mountain climbing, Alone on the Wall is not a gateway book for you to discover if you could have a taste for climbing lit. If this book was not my first introduction to Roberts, I would probably be more open to checking out the books that he did not coauthor. They sound interesting, but I have so many books that I want to read that I am not considering going down that rabbit hole. I have too many abandoned rabbit holes waiting for me to return.
Alone on the Wall was a decent, deeper introspective look at Honnold’s life that satisfied my curiosity after seeing Free Solo. If Honnold stops climbing, he could consider a life as a mountain climbing writer, but according to Roberts, he does not enjoy writing so I am not suggesting that if it would make him unhappy. It is not as if he needs the money considering he donates a third of his income. If you saw Free Solo and are not a big reader, it is not required reading. The documentary was sufficient.