Gorge

My Journey Up Kilimanjaro at 300 Pounds

De: Kara Richardson Whitely

Narrado por: Kara Richardson Whitely

Kara Richardson Whitely knew that she could reach the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. She had done it once before. That's why, when she failed in a second attempt, it brought her so low. As she struggled with food addiction and looked for ways to cope with feelings of failure and shame, Kara's weight shot to more than 300 pounds. Deep in her personal gorge, Kara realized that the only way out was up. She resolved to climb the mountain again - and this time she would reach the summit without waiting for her plus-sized status to disappear.

Gorge: My Journey up Kilimanjaro at 300 Pounds is the raw story of Kara's ascent from the depths of self-doubt to the top of the world. Her difficult but inspiring trek speaks to every woman who has struggled with her self-image or felt that food was controlling her life. Honest and unforgettable, Kara's journey is one of intense passion, endurance, and self-acceptance.

©2015 Kara Richardson Whitely (P)2015 Tantor

Reseñas de la Crítica

"The author' story is immediately engaging, as she chronicles her initial Kilimanjaro triumph and her follow-up failure with wit, energy and color." ( Kirkus)

couldn't stop listening!

Easy to listen to, interesting perspective, helped me with my own life journey, great book

Made me want to hike Kilimanjaro too!

Where does Gorge rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Somewhere in the middle. Certain aspects I loved but others left me wanting more for her.

Who was your favorite character and why?

This is Kara's story and it was read by the author which I gave a 5 star rating to because only she could bring the right emotion to the ups and downs in her life and even the little nuances that a narrator would not have been able to do. Kara did a fantastic job of narrating.

Have you listened to any of Kara Richardson Whitely’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not, this is my first.

Any additional comments?

What I loved about this book is that Kara didn't wait until she'd lost all the weight or even some of it. She just went for it. The lesson in that is do it today. Don't say "I'll do it as soon as I....". Kara is unemployed and over 300 pounds and she did it. She found a way. Whatever your goal is, believe in yourself and just take that first step. I also liked that Kara was very honest about herself. I know she could not help but put herself down. Obviously that is how one gains so much weight. She recognizes it's not just pounds she needs to release but all that emotional baggage too.

I was hoping that she would have released more of that baggage, that would have been a more inspiring story. Having said that, I believe what she did is incredible and people in good shape that weigh far less would not even attempt. I hope that she will see that she is a beautiful person and if she believes that then the outside will follow if she continues to strive for her goal.

Her description of the climb was very interesting and frankly I am now dying to do this very same trip. I love the outdoors so I listen to many outdoor adventure stories. I run half marathons, hike, and camp. I love animals and doing new things. I've definitely added this trip to my bucket list. I hope I can be like Kara and get to the point of "let's just do this now" . There are some other trips on the horizon, we are taking our fist backpacking trip to Havasupai Falls in a month (Grand Canyon) and trying out our equipment. My first hike that is more than one day. But I will be looking in to a trip to Kilamanjaro very soon. Kara's description is what sold me.

A section of this book went in to the extreme bullying that Kara encountered her entire life. I think everyone should take notice and realize that their words even if not ill-intended can have a lifelong effect. I've run my share of half-marathons and encountered individuals that have much weight to lose. I struggle with how to show them I sincerely think they are awesome. I don't want to sound condescending but I want to encourage. Kara's account helped me to have a better perception.

I hope that she will continue on this positive path and her next book will be about her success in this next chapter of her life.

The audio was so slow and stilted

I was really hoping for a more focused, nuanced exploration of this fascinating journey. Instead, it seemed repetitive and slapped together. I'm sure the trip was life changing but the retelling of it (and the contextual forces surrounding it) rang hollow.

Also, the reading on the Audible version was terrible. It was so awkwardly paced.

The author talks way too much about her past.

All I really wanted to hear about was how she climbed the mountain, and most of the book was about her past and about being heavy. I found myself jumping to the end of each chapter just to hear the parts that were about climbing Kilimanjaro.

Just my opinion...

I really wanted to like it, but I didn't. Too much self deprecation and whining. I didn't find anything relatable or inspiring about this journey.

Also, the narrator did a pretty good job overall, but sometimes her mouth sounded clicky, like maybe it was dry or something?

Mediocre book, horrible recording.

I read an article by Kara and was actually really excited to listen to this book. Especially knowing that she was reading it. My favorite audio books are autobiographies and memoirs read by the authors. There's just something about that emotional connection that makes it special. Unfortunately Kara's reading of her own words is stilted and hard to listen to. So many sentences are read in a very broken, unnatural cadence that I had to replay them in my head after she was done in order to figure out what she meant.

Every chapter had major errors and parts that were re-recorded afterwards, sometimes by a completely different person. They tried to match her tone, but you can tell it's not her. That's not to be confused with the parts she re-recorded herself that just sound different because they didn't normalize the volume across the whole audio track. "Every chapter" may not sound like a lot, but the book has 40+ chapters, most under 10 minutes, so there are enough errors to make it hard to listen to. I literally stopped listening to it, listened to a whole other book, then came back to it because unfortunately I am a completionist and have to finish the books I start.

Then there are the issues with the book itself, which admittedly may not have bothered me as much if I was reading it and not listening to it. There was an insincere level of exaggeration and melodrama that may have been made worse by her reading performance. However, the amount of internalized fat phobia, privileged tone deafness, and white savior complex present throughout the book had nothing to do with her reading and everything to do with the content. There were also some extremely graphic descriptions in the book that were completely unnecessary and contributed nothing. There were side stories that felt like gratuitous filler, because she never really connected them to the main narrative.

This book was uncomfortable to listen to on every level and anything but inspirational. I actually had to go find some body positive books by people who know how to talk about weight issues and disordered eating from a recovery perspective and not from a position of continued self-loathing. I can't speak to the actual level of the author's recovery, but I can say she writes like she's still in it and her language choices can be extremely triggering. There's a way of discussing past versions of ourselves with perspective and compassion when you've done the work and managed some healing. This is not it.