Review: Peak

Peak by Roland Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Over the last couple of years I seem to have one male student that recommends this book to me. It usually is a passionate recommendation. So when it came up on my Goodreads Recommendation list from my Best YA Books of All-Time bookshelf I thought I would give it a try.

Peak is an interesting story for sure. It is about a young man named Peak who is sent to live with his father because he is caught illegally climbing skyscrapers in New York. Now Peak’s father is no ordinary person, it turns out he is a world famous climber and is currently trying to lead an expedition of climbers up Mount Everest. Peak’s father has an ulterior motive. It is his hope to get Peak to be the youngest climber to ever scale the northern side of Everest.

I was really interested in all of the climbing in the book. You can tell that Smith did his homework to write this. I honestly never knew anything about the topic before. All I can say is these people are a special breed and I am a wimp in comparison. To get up Everest you have to become acclimated to the low oxygen at the higher altitudes. There are six camps on Everest. You climb up to one, get used to the thin air and climb back down to recover. Then you get to do it again, slowly working your way up the mountain. It’s crazy! Along the way you literally are flirting with disaster and death the whole time. The most dangerous part is the final summit attempt, it almost seems like it should qualify as attempted suicide.

The main character of the book is Peak. He is a believable character who I really liked. I think teenage boys would relate to him well. He is a bit of a rebel and a risk taker. It is great to see him struggle with the situation he is stuck in between the physical challenges of the mountain and the emotional challenges in the relationship with his father. His father has never really been a part of his life and it becomes apparent that he is using Peak to try and promote his climbing business.

The narrative voice of the book is first-person. I am glad that Smith chose this voice. I don’t think this book would have worked as well in third-person.

The book is supposedly a writing assignment for Peak’s private school back home in New York. The book is split into two parts. Each part is one of Peak’s Moleskines that he is planning on turning in as the assignment. Each part is split into multiple chapters. No chapter numbers are given, just chapter titles. The book is only 246 pages in length.

One of the themes of this book is realizing what is really important in life. I really liked this passage that closed the book. “The only thing you’ll find on the summit of Mount Everest is a divine view. The things that really matter lie far below.” Climbing Mt. Everest is arguably one of the most amazing physical accomplishments in the world. Peak realizes that family is far more important in the end.

I was struck by all of the informational topics that this realistic fiction story covers. In addition to the topic of climbing, readers are exposed to the Tibet-Chinese relationship and the religion of Buddhism. Both are things that I would like to know a little bit more about myself.

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Lexile: 780

Awards: ALA Best Book for Young Adults, ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, Booklist Editors’ Choice, National Book Award Winner, Junior Library Guild Selection