Lean Fall Stand by Jon McGregor

Published: 2021, Harper Collins

Genre: Fiction

Themes: Antarctic research, extreme weather, communications, injury

My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤❤

Before starting this book you will need to switch your imagination to 'wide screen' and channel your inner David Attenborough as you picture the stark white landscape of Antarctica. You must be prepared to mentally stand in the extreme cold and feel the force of the wind crashing against your body while you watch the field workers go about their business. Jon McGregor will take you across the ice and snow with Robert 'Doc' Wright, a veteran of the Antarctic, and his two young researchers Luke and Thomas and very quickly you will understand the constant danger of just being in that environment.

When an unauthorised expedition goes wrong, the whole team are plunged into mortal danger, and each man finds himself alone and fighting for his life against the elements. What happens next tests the limits of their mental and physical strength and the consequences extend far into the future.

The chapters where the action takes place in the Antarctic are convincingly written as Jon McGregor had an opportunity to travel there in 2004 as part of the Writers and Artists Programme run by the British Antarctic Survey. The harsh environment is so different from a snowy day in more temperate latitudes, where most of us live, that the detail can only come from personal experience.

The book is divided into three sections. The first is 'Lean' which is action packed and takes place in the Antarctic, then 'Fall' and 'Stand' change the mood sharply to a more contemplative style that covers the return to the UK and what happens next. In every chapter we see the protagonists challenged by trying to communicate with others, and all their frustrations when the people they are talking to can't hear or don't understand.

I found the book at first exciting, and then thought provoking after the change in direction. I think the author did well to shift the emphasis from high adventure to more personal struggles without losing the tension of the plot. All the characters have clear personalities and Doc's family have been carefully crafted to enable contrasting views to be voiced in a difficult situation.

This is a well written book and has the pace of a thriller that stands out from others books because of the unusual setting.

Comments

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