What do You think about Alive: The Story Of The Andes Survivors (1975)?
When you know from the beginning of a book that a plane full of young Rugby players crash lands in the snowy Andes mountains, and yet somehow some of those boys survive for weeks and weeks - you know it's not going to be a pretty story. And it's not. It's survival at its grittiest core, what do we humans really need to stay alive? Their story is told in an incredibly straightforward, almost newspaper-story type narrative. There's no real emotion. There's no flowery speech. It's just as true of a retelling as you can get under the circumstances and if I'm going to read non-fiction, that's exactly how I like it.What they go through on that mountain is so grueling: the terror, the fear, the frustration, the pain and hunger and the bone biting cold. And yet what's interesting is their faith throughout, their actual, real belief that they will be saved despite the deck being stacked against them. They get creative and turn the carcass of the plane into a shelter, they go on expeditions to find out where they are and look for help, they make their own blankets and sleeping bags and perform emergency medical procedures on each other. They eat everything that could possibly be eaten until there is nothing left but the bodies of their comrades that are frozen out in the snow. In order to stay alive, those are eaten too. It does make one squeamish, to read the grisly details of their meals and I keep asking myself if I could do it. Would I do whatever it took to be with my children again?Regardless of what I would do, this story did make for some very interesting reading. I could NOT for the life of me keep all the foreign names of those boys and their parents straight, though. It drove me loco. I finally gave up and by the end I knew who maybe five of them really were, but honestly, it didn't matter that much. The author did his best.No, this story is not for the faint of heart and sometimes, of course, people let their weaknesses get the better of them. But I found this incredible sense of triumph. Human beings are absolutely astonishing creatures and it's amazing how deep that survival instinct can burn.
—Corinne
The story itself is rather astounding - after a plane crash high in the Andes, which killed most on board (and a subsequent avalanche which killed more), the remaining survivors lived for ten weeks on melted snow, human flesh and organs of the deceased (and bone marrow and even intestinal contents, squeezed out) and almost certainly would have died had not two of them climbed out of the Andes and found a neighboring valley and other humans, a trip which itself took ten days. Read competed with other, more well known writers, including Gay Talese, for the story; he thinks his youth, his Englishness, and above all his Roman Catholic faith was what got him the job. (Most of the survivors were deeply Catholic and had overcome their resistance to anthropophagy by comparing it to the sacrament of Communion.) There are fascinating details sprinkled throughout, such as what such a diet will do to you (a bad combination of severe constipation and diarrhea), and the survivors wondering whether they ought to hide the partly eaten human remains scattered around the crash site so that their rescuers wouldn't think badly of them. The eventual contact with outside human life and rescuers is quite moving; several of the survivors were so overjoyed at seeing plant life that they began eating flowers and grass. Still, the writing lacks some of the verve of other adventure stories like The Perfect Storm and Into Thin Air.
—Lobstergirl
Not gonna lie--I read this book because I wanted to read about how they ate the people. That is what hooked everyone to this story, isn't it? I saw the movie to see how they ate the people. It's what everyone remembers and why we remember the Donner party all these years later. Dude, they ATE THE PEOPLE!!!!!!!In the book, they had already eaten the first people by about page 70; the book is hundreds of pages longer. Huh, I thought. What are they going to talk about for the rest of the book?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. 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.The only reason that I didn't give this book 5 stars is that I found the parts describing the parents' efforts to find the boys rather dull. I don't know if I just anxious to get back onto the mountain with the boys, but I found myself skimming those parts. I will say though that the reunions with the families were just amazing...I can't imagine what the families went through and how full of awe they were to see their sons again.One other thing I would have liked is to some sort of follow up to tell me what the rest of their lives turned out like, especially the older man who had the 4 kids and the boy whose sister and mother died in the crash (or shortly thereafter). Nevertheless, this was a compelling read...I would suggest reading it in the summer though because parts of it made me feel kinda chilly!!
—Patti
