To Reach The Clouds - Softcover

Philippe Petit

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571326900 ISBN 13: 9780571326907

Publisher: Faber & Faber Non-Fiction, 2015

Synopsis

To Reach the Clouds

About this title

About the Author

Born into a middle-class French family in 1949, Philippe Petit taught himself magic, juggling and high-wire walking while still a child. At sixteen he began to travel the world as a street juggler. He has performed illegal high-wire walks between the towers of Notre Dame, the twin towers of the World Trade Center, and the northern pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Review

He claims proudly to have been arrested 500 times for street-juggling and has written a variety of books on his art, but high-wire performer Phillipe Petit's latest slim volume recounts his biggest and most legendary coup. Back in 1971, after performing clandestine wire-walks on Notre Dame in Paris and Sydney Harbour Bridge, Petit set his sights on the ultimate target - walking between the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, 110 stories above the streets of New York. Proceeding without any official permission, for the next three years Petit threw himself eagerly into the preparations, and the book details every step of the way, following his quest as he surrounds himself with a motley crew of volunteers while taking on a challenge that even he admits borders on insanity. Told with the breathless exuberance of a circus ringmaster, the book is divided into almost a hundred short chapters and effectively illustrated with a variety of black-and-white photographs, drawings and blueprints. Going from assembling the necessary equipment to his complex methods of evading security in the towers, Petit injects verve and poetry into his tale, and for every moment that he comes across as arrogant and pretentious, there's another where the sheer audacity of the scheme carries the story along on a wave of enthusiastic energy. Events finally lead to the high-wire walk itself, written as a vividly expressionistic piece of prose, and the chaotic aftermath where Petit faced the wrath of the New York authorities. But throughout this mischievous tale there's a haunting sense of poignancy. The September 11th tragedy is only mentioned in the closing pages but its echoes are felt throughout, and despite the occasionally overblown writing style, the book is a strangely moving glimpse into a safer, more innocent time, and an engaging story of realizing mad dreams against all odds. (Kirkus UK)

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber Non-Fiction
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0571326900
• ISBN 13: 9780571326907
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240