Reviewing The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin

                While in college I took a course titled the History of the Later British Novel as a transient student at the University of North Florida by a wonderful professor, Dr. Marnie Jones. One of the intentions of the course was for us, as students, to learn about and explore the meaning of the novel and fiction. What we discovered are there are two main opinions regarding the purpose of the novel/fiction: 1) The purpose of a novel is to entertain. People use fiction to escape from every day realities. 2) The purpose of the novel is to provide commentary or spark conversation about a particular topic or social issue.

Based on all I learned while pursuing my degrees in English and History, I formed the opinion that novels are meant to entertain and regardless of whether or not the author intends to or not (some do and some don't) there is going to be some form of commentary or moral. Why did I come to this conclusion? Even if an author creates a completely fictional world and story there is analysis that can be created based on even the world (s)he created and how it is designed. Questions naturally arise: How does its creation different from the world the author is/was living in? What elements of it are relevant to the story/plot and how would they be different if the environment was different? All of these questions, whether intentionally built into the fiction or not, tell a story both about the author; their relationship with their current world, and offer something to the fiction being constructed. If it didn't add something to the story, it wouldn't be included.

Why do I mention this? It directly relates to my review of The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin.

The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If you believe that the purpose of fiction is or should be more than entertainment; it should teach the reader something or at the least spark conversation about something, this book may be for you. Especially if you want to read, learn more, and contemplate about love - not hot and steamy roll down a hill with your lips and legs inseparably intertwined love, but a deeper, life-altering, non-physical love.

On the surface, this is a survival story. Ashley, a freelance writer trying to get to her wedding and Ben, an orthopedic surgeon that has a history with love get on a charter plane when commercial flights are canceled. The pilot, Grover, a man Dr. Phil would have nothing on when it comes to discussing and giving advice on love and relationships, crashes in a massive expanse of wilderness. The crash leaves Grover dead, Ben and Ashley stranded high on a plateau with mountains, snow and trees for miles.

Conveniently (all too conveniently), Ben is an orthopedic surgeon and trained and practices emergency medicine. He also has a back-pack filled with supplies from a recent mountain hike and he is a long-distance runner, so he has a lot of stamina. The deceased pilot has important survival supplies that Ben doesn't have otherwise. If you can push past the perfectly set-up plot, you can enjoy the story that emerges.

About half-way through (maybe Chapter 34) the book I suspected what was going on. However, not too long after Ben said something that really piqued my interest, “We’ve all seen movies where two strangers are lost in some vast wilderness. And then just like An Officer and a Gentleman, they end up rolling on the beach. Mad, passionate love that solves all their problems. Movie ends, and they walk off into the sunset. Weak-kneed and googly-eyed. But this is real life. I really want to get out of here and back home.”

That same quote that piqued my interest is ultimately what left me feeling disappointed at the conclusion of the book. I expected the "twist." (There were lots of hints.) I wanted this, somehow, to end a different way and was let down when it didn't. That being said, this was a good book. It was entertaining and easy to read.

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