Michel Roger concurs, stating that: "Read has risen above the sensational and managed a book of real and lasting value." [4] Editions [ edit ] Surprisingly unemotional account of the tragedy of the Uruguayan soccer team that crashed in the Andes in 1972. If you want to know what happened, hour by hour, day by day, before and after the crash and during search and rescue efforts -- this is the book for you. The breadth and wealth of details small and large here is remarkable. I doubt any other book comes close to delivering the same information. There wouldn't be much point to writing such a book after this one! On the other hand, if you want a more personal perspective, that spends more time inside the survivors' heads (or inside any specific survivor's head), you might instead want to look for one of the several memoirs of the event. The only one so far that I've read is "Miracle in the Andes" by Nando Parrado -- which offers many of the details of this book, but also spends considerable time going through what Nando was thinking throughout the experience. (And as debatably the person on the flight most responsible for their rescue -- although there are other contenders, particularly Roberto Canessa as the flight's most active doctor-figure and fellow expeditionary -- his thinking is maybe the most interesting thinking to examine.)

When I had heard of this book, I thought that it was a survival book, that the plane had crashed and everyone had survived and walked out of the Andes mountains, a perfect adventure for me. It was really hard because as anyone who cares for someone facing this sort of illness know all of your instinct is to wrap up that person and keep them warm and comfortable and safe but I was torn because I knew he had been better when he was walking so I kept driving him to keep moving and active when instinctively I just wanted him to lie down.” The author adds at the end that the survivors were disappointed with how little Read emphasized their spirituality and connection to God. What they talk about are the other aspects of survival and it is a very compelling read. There was an avalanche shortly after the initial crash, there are a couple of treks to find the tail and to see who is hardy enough to attempt a walk for help. There are deaths and fights and camaraderie and heartbreaks and survival and yes, they eat the people. Esta es una de las historias de la vida real más impresionantes e impactantes que he leído en toda mi vida. Para mí, es prueba fehaciente de la inmensidad de la fortaleza humana. Es una historia muy fuerte pero que te deja mucho como lector y como ser humano. Imperdible.En 1972, un avión lleno de jugadores de rugby y sus familias se estrella en la Cordillera de los Andes. La historia es bien conocida. Escasamente con nada de comida o agua, sufriendo temperaturas bajo cero, sólo dieciséis de cuarenta y cinco sobrevivieron. Después de casi tres meses luchando por sobrevivir, lesionados, famélicos, congelados, contra todas las posibilidades un par de ellos finalmente lograron cruzar a través de los Andes sin equipo de montaña y llegar a un pueblo cercano donde pudieron pedir por ayuda. Su supervivencia fue legendaria. Noticias sobre ella recorrieron el mundo, fue llamado el “Milagro de los Andes.”

This of course begs the question of how far any of us would go to survive. Would I be able to take a piece of glass and cut the flesh off of a recently dead human being? I don't think there is any way to answer that without actually being in that situation which, God willing, I never will be. And speaking of God, the boys' faith in God is awe inspiring. I sometimes snap at God when I get caught in traffic and these boys were faithful throughout (although they, understandably, questioned why some lived while others died). I will have to remember this story next time I get snappy. Over the next 70 days, the remaining survivors battled cold, avalanches, injury, fear and hunger. To survive, they prayed - alot. They devised plans for capturing water. They made forays into the vast white bleak landscape to search for supplies and a way out. They became makeshift doctors and surgeons and helped the wounded. They waited for rescue to come from the outside. And to fight off starvation, they ate their dead.It should have been the happiest of happy endings, yet Winn, whose second book The Wild Silence is published next month, admits the reality wasn’t that simple. “I think when you’ve lived that way in that complete natural state then returning to what we would consider normal felt abnormal,” she says. “It felt completely false to be living in a village and there was also this almost overwhelming sense of not being able to walk away.” before you judge them for what they did to survive,just ask yourself,what would you do if you were facing the same situation?It's such a controversial question and topic but for anyone who loves reality based or mountain hiking adventure type of books,this is a must read.. In 1993, Alive by Frank Marshall was released. A companion documentary, Alive: 20 Years Later, was made at the same time. In October of 1972, a chartered plane carrying 45 passengers and crew left Uruguay to travel to Chile. A majority of the passengers were made up of young men who were part of an amateur rugby team going to Chile for a game. Others included family and friends. Over the rugged Andes, the pilot made a fatal error, and the plane crashed into the side of a mountain, flinging parts of the tail section, fuselage, wing, rudder and even some passengers out over the desolate landscape. The survivors were, for the most part, very young men (average age around 23 years old). On average, they came from priviledged families. Most were devout Catholics. They enjoyed their cigarettes. They loved their mothers and girlfriends. They loved the game of rugby and were eager to experience a taste of the world outside their beloved Uruguay. I was most moved by the deep sorrow and strength of character of Irish emigrants who were forced to leave for the States. The farewell send-offs were known as American Wakes because most of them never returned.

I started by drafting a chronology of events, before working on plot and character outlines. Then I got all tied up in knots about being true to the history and got lost in a soap opera of characters. Let’s say it was a meander to get there,” reflects Anne, whose favourite authors include Joseph O’Connor and Sebastian Barry. No one will come away unmoved by the book, and no one will be able to put it down…. There is no way of reading Alive without a heightened sense of one’s own life and its value.” — New RepublicMoth, too, has benefited: “If I’m honest, he’s not as good as he was when we finished walking the salt path, but he is so much better than he was. It helps being on the farm.” Anne Madden pictured in Co Donegal beside cross, erected by Cornelia Adair, one of the characters in her historical fiction novel The Wilderness Way