For the class’s second blog installment, my classmates and I were asked to do something unexpected: pay a visit to a bookstore. When I first read this, I was a bit puzzled because I wasn’t too sure if I could find time throughout the week to go to one. Luckily I remembered that the campus had one, meaning I didn’t have to venture off downtown on a Wednesday afternoon.

While at the bookstore, I couldn’t find any books that caught my attention. Before I could admit defeat, I ran into one of my friends who suggested I take a look at her copy of Arlene Blum’s Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life.

The jacket of Blum’s book is captivating: a woman looks head-on to a camera as she hikes up a mountain with more mountains behind her, providing a picturesque backdrop. Above the author’s name is a quote from the Seattle Post Intelligencer, claiming that Blum’s work is “too engrossing to put down”. Praise for the book doesn’t stop there as more quotes from magazines and an author are included on back of the book. For instance, Lynne Cox, the writer of Swimming to Antarctica, declares Blum’s story to be “magnificent” and “compelling”.

Similar feelings were expressed on book review websites such as  goodreads.com  and amazon.ca. One reviewer from goodreads comments that Blum’s books are generally “interesting and empowering” to read, giving this particular book an overall rating of five out of five stars. Another reviewer admits that this memoir is a “very inspiring story for all women”, also giving it a five-star rating. Although the memoir only got one review on amazon, it turned out to be an enthusiastic review. Similarly rating the book five stars, the review begins with a headline of “WHAT A LIFE…WHAT A WOMAN…WHAT A MEMOIR”. The commenter credited “Breaking Trail” to be a “well-written book…written with humor and insight”.

Thinking of Whitlock’s questions of how, why and who gets to speak autobiographically, Blum gets to share her story because she has accomplished something extraordinary: she was the first American woman to attempt climbing Mt. Everest. Her story, as magazines and online reviews have noticed, is one that has reached and inspired others. Blum alone is able to empower people from all sorts backgrounds and united them under her narrative.