About book To Reach The Clouds: My High Wire Walk Between The Twin Towers (2002)
"Man On Wire" ("To Reach the Clouds") is only film I have every paid to view at the cinema more than once. The film was on (very) limited release in the UK. I first saw it on 7th August 2008 (thirty-four years to the day of THE wire-walk, and six years after the book was first published), and eleven years since I saw with my own eyes the view from the observation deck of the World Trade Centre (my host wasn’t sufficiently well-dressed to be admitted to the restaurant in the other tower!)My attention was initially attracted by the overwhelming strength of the critical review in ‘The Sunday Times'. I just had to see the film a second time because this was one of the best films I had ever seen, and I really, really, needed to share it with a couple of my older friends.So when I later discovered that the film (2008) was a film of a book (first published in 2002) …. well, I just HAD to buy and read the book Normally I read the book then see the film; not the other way round, as here. I rarely see more than one film a year at a cinema; and I probably don’t buy more than three new books a year (the vast majority of my reading centres on the second-hand market). Seeing the film (documentary) before reading the book will have coloured my opinion of the book; it could hardly not do so, because the film (documentary) and book are style-twins. Here is a film director who knew to take the text of the book, along with the protagonists, and make his film absolutely straight; such that both the style and raison d’être of Petit’s writing is mirrored in the style of the screenplay. The literary text though austere, is exquisitely crafted. James Marsh (director) has succeeded in making an utterly compelling film. I was not in the least surprised to hear that the film went on to win the Oscar for Best Documentary; I should have been affronted if it had not.But why, oh why, has “To Reach the Clouds” not won a major literary prize? It’s true that I can’t pick a paragraph, point to it, and say, “what a descriptive tour de force”. The magic of the text lies in its entirety; how one is gripped by the pace of events, how one takes a step back as realisation dawns that Petit more than unlike other human beings. He is a man with tunnel vision so extreme that he literally cannot emotionally reward his many loyal friends. His friends are pretty incredible too. Their reward has been only that they can say, ‘I was part of that’. A ‘that’ which thankfully ended neither in death nor imprisonment.Should Jean-François Heckel ever write his side of this extraordinary story, I would queue up to buy it (in English).
Man on the Wire (previously published as To Reach the Clouds), Philippe Petit (Skyhorse Publishing, 2002) The text is prefaced with a quote provided by Werner Herzog the Mad German director"One more thing: Philippe, you are not a coward-so what I want to hear from you is the ecstatic truth about the towers."My favorite thing about this book was the way it read like a screen play. It had the pacing, intensity andstructure of an inner dialogue Or more accurately a monologue. I read most of the book in one sitting while at the laundromat. I suppose partially because it is autobiographical, however one gets also the strong sense that this is symptomatic of the personal character of the book's protagonist. Petit seems a very passionate and willed individual, I mean he did plan and execute an illegal high-wire walk between the two twin towers. From the beginning the towers and Petit had a special relationship. Starting with the first newspaper article he read discussing their plans to the requiem to them at the end of the book. They were "my towers". However, it is less the towers than the void between them that he is attracted and awed by. It is that void which he had to conquer. In many of even the first images, to those later of him performing the walk, the towers are not the focus. Rather, they serve to frame the void that is his calling.Towards the end he describes the process of tightening the wire after it has been fastened to both the North and South tower. He describes the beauty of the catenary curves this produces, "an infinite number". In fact each clandestine action and accompanying rigging has it's own most seductive catenary curve. The pencil drawing he uses to illustrate to my mind resembles a cheshire grin, perhaps that of the cat from Alice and Wonderland?The book is truly inspiring if only because his own personal madness became his greatness victory. If only we could all be driven to such madness. Petit closes with a plea for rebuilding, and offers his own proposed design. He closes with this offer;"When the towers again twin-tickle the clouds, I offer to walk again, to be the expression of the builders' collective voice. Together, we will rejoice in an aerial song of victory. I will carry my life across the wire, as your life, as all our lives, past, present, and future-the lives lost, the lives welcomed since.We can overcome."
Do You like book To Reach The Clouds: My High Wire Walk Between The Twin Towers (2002)?
For such a small book it definitely packs a punch. It's been recommended to me several times and I final got around to reading it. I'll be honest and say that the characters didn't appeal to me very much the types of people that I loathe - that break the rules and always get away with it and have an inner arrogance that it's their right to be able to do these things. BUT. What a story. Reading about how Philippe and his entourage made this 'coup' happen is amazing. And towards the end the story really picks up its pace and genuinely was taken in by it all. Because at the end of the day this guy did a high wire walk between the two towers - that don't exist anymore. So while I think he was a bit of arrogant dbag, the things he's done are pretty amazing! Well worth the read!
—Natasha Chowdory
This book is fantastic. The closer Philippe's "coup" got, the more tense and exciting the book got. By the time he stepped out onto the wire, it was like standing on the ground between the towers, looking up and watching him walk. The planning and craftiness that went into the "coup" were amazing. Obviously, Philippe is not quite like most people... but how boring would the world be if we did not have people like him? One of my first thoughts was how devestated he must have been on September 11th... throughout the book, WTC was called "my Towers." In the memoriam section of the book, Philippe addressed this, by demanding that we build both a memorial and a new WTC. (Both of which I firmly believe need to be done.) He then offered to walk between the new towers. He called the new towers "our towers." Recommended to anyone who is an armchair-daredevil, interested in 20th century history or someone who longs to reach the clouds themselves.
—Jessica
As a rock climber I can relate to Philippe Petit. Some may have thought it was a stupid stunt or just dangerous and senseless. Yet inwardly I think we all wish we could be like him. The amount of research and planning that went into this 'coup' is staggering. Only a passionate and driven individual could have accomplished it. His writing style puts you right in the middle of the conspiracy, as if you were there with him. Reacting to every setback. Anxiously waiting to see if the caper would succeed or utterly fail. Even though we all know how the story went. I felt the color and depth of his cast of helpers. His laser-like focus on this one moment. He brought it all to life in vivid detail. This is the story of a mad genius at the peak of his art. Just a marvelous read.
—Christopher
