Book Review: Holding Fast

The jacket copy for Holding Fast, by Karen James, tells the reader that this is "a real-life journey of adventure, tragedy, love, and loss on the summit of Mount Hood." Tragedy occurred in December 2006 when Kelly James (late husband of the author) and two other climbers were trapped on Mount Hood near Portland, Oregon. After it was discovered that the men were missing somewhere near the summit, family members and friends waited and prayed helplessly as storms pounded the mountain with hurricane-force winds so that rescue workers were unable to search for the victims. When the storms finally relented, rescue workers recovered the body of James from a snow cave near the summit. His companions' bodies have never been recovered.

Now, two years later, James's widow, Karen, shares the "untold story of the Mount Hood tragedy." The book also recounts Kelly's past: the challenges of a difficult childhood with an abusive father and then stepfather; the love story that evolved between Kelly and Karen; and Kelly's relationship with his four children from a previous marriage.

Most of the book is devoted to the events surrounding the climbing trip that took Kelly and his two climbing friends' lives. When Kelly and his two companions missed their pickup time at the base of Mount Hood on Sunday, December 10, 2006, Karen received the call she feared the most. Sheriff Joseph Wampler of Hood River, Oregon, called to make sure that Karen hadn't heard something from Kelly before he and his crew launched a search party for the three men.

That Sunday evening, Karen and the children succeeded in getting a call through to Kelly's cell phone, getting what information they could about where he was holed up in a snow cave near the summit. This was to be their heartbreaking last conversation, as Kelly told his sons his location and reported that the other climbers had gone down the mountain to get help. He told them that the only food he had was half an orange. And he and Karen spoke briefly, saying "I love you" one last time. It was obvious that Kelly was in bad shape, and the situation was serious.

Karen and other family members and friends flew to Oregon to await the results of the rescue attempts, to be there when Kelly was rescued from the mountain. Anxiety turned to frustration to despair as the weather conditions prevented search and rescue teams from locating Kelly and the other climbers, who, unknown to Kelly, had not made it down the mountain.

Throughout the account, Karen comments on the faith that provided comfort to her during this ordeal:

"When your world falls out from underneath you and you are on your knees, there is nowhere to look but up. Suddenly everything you have claimed about your God and your faith is put to the test. During such a time, you learn where you stand with your Maker, and the most significant question of your life slaps you right in the face: Do you really believe?"

Of course the sad ending to the story is that once the storms relented, it was too late for rescue. Kelly and his friends were dead. Probably the most interesting part of the book for me was when Karen and others pieced together the clues left behind-- the possessions Kelly left in the snow cave, pictures on Kelly's camera, sent and received calls recorded on Kelly's cell phone, and tracks in the snow--to come to some conclusions about what went so terribly wrong on the mountain that weekend.

I think the greatest weakness of this book is that it is unclear what its purpose is. It promises to tell the untold story of what happened on Mount Hood, and it does. It's a gripping, heartbreaking story--three men in the prime of life, experienced mountain climbers--heading out for a weekend adventure that took a tragic turn that no one could have foreseen. It's a unique story, definitely one worth telling.

Yet the extended portions of the book that deal, in great detail, with Kelly and Karen's life before the tragedy and her grief responses after Kelly's death are not necessarily a story worth telling. Karen's descriptions of her husband indicate that he was a loving husband and father with a lot of personality--one of those warm charismatic people that everyone likes. Yet what makes him unique, sadly enough, is his death. Without that, no one would be writing books about Kelly James or Karen and Kelly's love story. While these things were incredibly meaningful and significant to them (as all of our loved ones and our own love stories are to each one of us), their story beyond the Mount Hood incident is not necessarily book worthy.

And this is often the weakness of many books that deal with personal tragedy and grief. While each one of us in this life will experience the profundity of the loss of someone that we love very much, it obviously isn't by any stretch of the imagination a unique experience. As someone who has lost both a sister who died at age 20 and a husband at age 35, I would never suggest that such losses are not deeply significant; in fact, such losses change the person who is left behind to put the pieces back together in huge ways. It is rare to find a book that deals with circumstances like these in a meaningful way, and my managing editor and I frequently discuss what quality there is that makes the difference. And we haven't found the answer. We just know that authors like Joni Eareckson Tada and, in my opinion, Lisa Beamer, author of Let's Roll, have managed to achieve something that most writers, including Karen James, have not. Some writers successfully find that path between personal loss and the Big Picture, but most do not.

A small, but annoying thing that happened throughout the book was the author's recounting of the use of what many would think of as inappropriate language or mild profanity. For example, she tells us that one holiday (Valentine's Day maybe?) after Kelly's death she knew in advance would be a "h--- of a night." I'm not a prude about language, but I'd like to think a good editor would either encourage the author to find a better way to express herself or just have the guts to tell us it was going to be a "hell of a night." Why the consonant/dash when most of us know what word is being left out? If you're going to force the reader to think it, you might as well just say it.

This was my second opportunity, as one of Thomas Nelson's bloggers, to review one of their books at their expense. I have to say that this is a creative program for publicity for Nelson's new releases, and I think it's a great way to get the word out about new releases. Time constraints may take me away from Nelson books for awhile, but we'll see what other options for book reviews arise. It's hard to turn down a free book.