Glad I Stuck it Out

I almost didn’t make it past the first third of this book. I put it down for several days, with no intention of picking it back up. Three of the four men that this book is about are very unlikable; they are arrogant, brash and had zero respect for the jungle or its inhabitants. They mistreat every animal they come across, kill things that they didn’t need to and it was the scenes of animal cruelty that caused me to skip over pages entirely, and then put the book down.

Then, for some reason I started reading the reviews on Amazon. Some reviewers agreed and said pretty much exactly what I was thinking. One of them mentioned some deliberate lying that happened by the book’s author, that got one of the men killed. This piqued my interest and so I picked the book back up.

As the book goes on, the problems I had with lack of respect for the jungle and animals fell by the wayside. Possibly because of the fact ooooh boy did the jungle get its revenge! The men faced crazy hardships that they had no one to blame for but themselves. The author continued to be unlikeable and make very questionable decision, but does a decent job of bringing the reader into the madness and unthinkable discomfort one endures being lost alone in the jungle, starving and suffering from numerous maladies. I found myself at a point where I just had to find out how he comes to be saved, and it is pretty unbelievable. This guy is one hell of a lucky guy, and it is mostly due to the persistence of his friend who starts out the biggest jerk of the bunch.

Apparently the author is now a motivational speaker, and an activist for rainforest conservation, so I am glad to hear that he no longer advocates slashing and destroying the life of the jungle as he seemed to at the beginning of his story.

If you can put your head down and power through the poorly written and developed, and at times disturbing first half of the book, the second half is a pretty crazy ride.