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In the Shadow of the Mountain
In the Shadow of the Mountain: A Memoir of Courage | Silvia Vasquez-Lavado
10 posts | 8 read | 10 to read
In climbing the Seven Summits, Silvia Vasquez-Lavado did nothing less than take back her own lifeone brave step at a time. She will inspire untold numbers of souls with this story, for her victory is a win on behalf of all of us. Elizabeth Gilbert Endless ice. Thin air. The threat of dropping into nothingness thousands of feet below. This is the climb Silvia Vasquez-Lavado braves in her page-turning, pulse-raising memoir following her journey to Mount Everest. A Latina hero in the elite macho tech world of Silicon Valley, privately, she was hanging by a thread. Deep in the throes of alcoholism, hiding her sexuality from her family, and repressing the abuse shed suffered as a child, she started climbing. Something about the brute force required for the ascent the risk and spirit and sheer size of the mountains and deaths close proximitywoke her up. She then took her biggest pain as a survivor to the biggest mountain: Everest. The Mother of the World, as its known in Nepal, allows few to reach her summit, but Silvia didnt go alone. She gathered a group of young female survivors and led them to base camp alongside her. It was never easy. At times hair-raising, nerve-racking, and always challenging, Silvia remembers the acute anxiety of leading a group of novice climbers to Everests base, all the while coping with her own nerves of summiting. But, there were also moments of peace, joy, and healing with the strength of her fellow survivors and community propelling her forward. In the Shadow of the Mountain is a remarkable story of heroism, one which awakens in all of us a lust for adventure, an appetite for risk, and faith in our own resilience.
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LeafingThroughLife
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Vasquez-Lavado‘s memoir is my favorite book of the year so far. She deftly weaves the story of her abusive childhood and self-destructive young adulthood with her journey to healing as she attempts to summit Mt. Everest. A story like hers could easily be told in an emotionally heavy-handed way, but Vasquez-Lavado‘s honesty and vulnerability make every last bit of her journey compelling and meaningful. January #bookspin catch up!

TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 9mo
24 likes1 comment
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LeafingThroughLife
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The library book sale has been good to me. Too good to me, one might say. Ergo, I give you “Breakfast in a Book Fort” with special cameo from a book I‘m actually reading because, yes, every once in a while I *do* take a break from buying books to read one. 🤪📚

StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego Always love a good book haul. 📚 9mo
Crazeedi Nice book haul 9mo
sherrisilvera I looove Doig! 9mo
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dabbe 🤩 9mo
BkClubCare STD DEVIATION is awesome 👏 You have some excellent reads here. I think I counted 7 and all recommended. 9mo
LeafingThroughLife @BkClubCare Woohoo! That‘s one I didn‘t really recognize when I picked it up, but it sounded good. Glad to hear it‘s a winner! 😁 9mo
30 likes6 comments
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Chelsea.Poole
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“A memoir of courage”: definitely!! An excellent audiobook narrated by the author who has seen some things! Full of trauma, handled beautifully but described fully, this book shows how Vasquez-Lavado became the woman she is today. Beginning with her childhood rape in Peru through adulthood and addiction in Silicon Valley, loss of her mother, and finally to reach the summit of Mt. Everest with a group of fellow trauma survivors. Inspirational!

Cinfhen I thought this book was super fascinating and inspiring 13mo
78 likes1 comment
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CuriousG
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Wow. My heart is cracked wide open.

There is nothing I can say to do this book justice. I clutched it to my chest and sobbed after finishing because of all the emotional energy built up, needing to be released, (in addition to the actual subject matter.)

This is tough stuff though, so you need to be prepared for that. TW for child abuse, child sexual abuse, child/sex trafficking, sexual assault, suicide, civil unrest/violence, and more.

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CuriousG
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30 book recommendations in 30 days...

Day 19 *bonus* book: I'm not even done this book so I can't say how the last third of it will hold up, but I'm confident that even if it is terrible, it will still have been worth it from the experience so far. This is an incredible memoir, but deals with very tough subject matter. TW for child sexual abuse, child abuse, sexual assault, trafficking, confinement, alcoholism, suicide, and more. #30recsin30days

AvidReader25 I love your bookshelf! 1y
CuriousG @AvidReader25 Thanks! I had someone build it for me and it even rotates! 1y
23 likes2 comments
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Cinfhen
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Wow! This book had so many threads and I was completely entangled and wrapped up in each one. Silvia shares her journey from young girl to being one of the few women to scale Everest. In between those years Silvia recalls all the traumas & obstacles that led her to face the mother of all summits. This works for multiple prompts #ReadingTheAmericas23 #Peru
#52Books23 #survivorStory #Booked2023 #SetInMountainRegion
5 star memoir

Cinfhen Also works for #BeginsWithLetterI 2y
Librarybelle Stacking! 2y
ShelleyBooksie Beautiful flowers 2y
Cinfhen Thanks @ShelleyBooksie 💐 it‘s a really happy bouquet 💜 I loved this book @Librarybelle although at first I was unsure of the author‘s writing style - im glad I gave myself more time to settle into the story 2y
92 likes5 stack adds5 comments
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readswellwithothers
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5⭐️! If, like me, “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed is your jam, you absolutely must read this book. Incredible, gutsy, and moving. So well written that even if your idea of “climbing” is getting to the second floor of your home, you‘ll still feel in your bones a glimmer of what it‘s like to climb Everest. I didn‘t know I was missing a woman‘s personal (SO personal) account of this incredible feat until I read this. It‘s Everest, and so much more.

Megabooks Sounds interesting! 2y
10 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Cinfhen
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#BookMail Tagged book is a #DoubleDip for #ReadingAmericas23 #Peru & #Booked2023 #SetInAMontainRegion and the other aptly named book was a #MegabookRecommendation 😍

BarbaraBB I bought that one too because of @Megabooks ❤️ 2y
Megabooks I hope you both love it as much as I did! @BarbaraBB @Cinfhen 💜💜 I‘m glad we‘re the best of friends. 2y
65 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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Messiejessie
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Everything about this memoir is gutsy. It‘s very honest and very vulnerable.
It‘s an epic journey taken in order to face trauma and find self acceptance. Silvia and the women she travels with are inspiring.

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Messiejessie
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‘It‘s awe.
It‘s that sense of being both small and part of something so much bigger than our smallness.
Awe is the gateway drug to healing trauma through nature.
Awe must be experienced. And trauma isn‘t something you can scoop out with a spoon. It has a home in you, and in that home, it lives, often comfortably, sometimes quietly, but always ready to trash the place at a moment‘s notice.‘

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