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Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors Kindle Edition

by Piers Paul Read (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 4,105 ratings
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#1 New York Times Bestseller: The true story behind Netflix’s Society of the Snow—A rugby team resorts to the unthinkable after a plane crash in the Andes.

Spirits were high when the Fairchild F-227 took off from Mendoza, Argentina, and headed for Santiago, Chile. On board were forty-five people, including an amateur rugby team from Uruguay and their friends and family. The skies were clear that Friday, October 13, 1972, and at 3:30 p.m., the Fairchild’s pilot reported their altitude at 15,000 feet. But one minute later, the Santiago control tower lost all contact with the aircraft. For eight days, Chileans, Uruguayans, and Argentinians searched for it, but snowfall in the Andes had been heavy, and the odds of locating any wreckage were slim.
 
Ten weeks later, a Chilean peasant in a remote valley noticed two haggard men desperately gesticulating to him from across a river. He threw them a pen and paper, and the note they tossed back read: “I come from a plane that fell in the mountains . . .”
 
Sixteen of the original forty-five passengers on the F-227 survived its horrific crash. In the remote glacial wilderness, they camped in the plane’s fuselage, where they faced freezing temperatures, life-threatening injuries, an avalanche, and imminent starvation. As their meager food supplies ran out, and after they heard on a patched-together radio that the search parties had been called off, it seemed like all hope was lost. To save their own lives, these men and women not only had to keep their faith, they had to make an impossible decision: Should they eat the flesh of their dead friends?
 
A remarkable story of endurance and determination, friendship and the human spirit, Alive is the dramatic bestselling account of one of the most harrowing quests for survival in modern times.

“A classic in the literature of survival.” —Newsweek
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  1. Print length
    377 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Open Road Media
  5. Publication date
    October 11, 2016
  6. File size
    4195 KB
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  1. ‘It’s like Holy Communion. When Christ died he gave his body to us so that we could have spiritual life. My friend has given us his body so that we can have physical life.’
    Highlighted by 263 Kindle readers
  2. He felt triumphant. His conscience had overcome a primitive, irrational taboo. He was going to survive.
    Highlighted by 247 Kindle readers
  3. Aconcagua, which lies between Mendoza and Santiago, rises to 22,834 feet, the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere and only about 6,000 feet short of Mount Everest.
    Highlighted by 219 Kindle readers
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A classic in the literature of survival.” —Newsweek
 
“Read has risen above the sensational and managed a book of real and lasting value.” —Rolling Stone
 
“[Read] records a despair so real it seeps through the pages, while the narrative rarely pushes an image of straightforward heroism. These are recognisable human beings, not saints: peevish, petulant, prone to feuds, rage and selfishness. It makes their survival all the more moving, but what lingers are the moments of ingenuity, and the resilience of the human spirit.” —The Guardian
 
“Read’s style is savage: unliterary, undecorated as a prosecutor’s brief. . . . Alive is thunderous entertainment: I know the events by rote, nonetheless I found it electric. And important. Alive should be read by sociologists, educators, the Joint Chiefs of Staff. By anyone, in fact, whose business it is to prepare men for adversity.” —The New York Times
 

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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01JTVGF7C
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media (October 11, 2016)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 11, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4195 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 377 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 4,105 ratings

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Piers Paul Read

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Top reviews from the United States

Wiggins1
5.0 out of 5 stars Moving
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2024
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I had vaguely been aware of this story since the movie premiered in 1993 (which I have never seen) but had never read any accounts of the tragedy or what really happened on the mountain. This was clearly detailed, often hard to process (as, I am sure, it has been for many); but, so moving in the accounts provided by the survivors and their families. The research was obviously well done and the story complete. I know that the remaining survivors are now older men and I would be interested to know how their lives progressed in the succeeding years of their lives.
3 people found this helpful
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John McAlexander III
4.0 out of 5 stars Not my kind of book .. But a Challenging read !
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2024
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I know, because I had previously had heard About this event, that this book was based upon a true story. Eventhough that being the case, I could never find myself in any type of cannibal-type setting. I have read other books that contain cannibalism, and I understand how such methods-of-madness
people can be drawn into. SAD ! This book is not for the 'faint at heart'. If you do not have a strong moral disposition before reading this book... Do Not Read this book !!! The subject matter is interesting, but the actions Taken Within the book are very CHALLENGING!!! RECOMMENDED to the Morally Strong !! Not recommended to a novice reader. Many quite graphic depictions are described within this book ! !
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jhbandcats
5.0 out of 5 stars Terrifying and compelling
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2024
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This is the second time I’ve read this and I’m still in awe of the story and the fact it was written so cogently within a year of the plane crash. It has a rather harsh, abrupt feel to it. The author describes some of the young men as, variously, violent, immature, and arrogant, and he goes into detail about the strife and bitter arguments amongst the survivors. In agonizing pain, increasingly weak from starvation, tempers frayed and insults flew.

At the same time, what the survivors remember is their camaraderie and love, their team spirit. In later interviews, the disagreements have been forgotten but at the time, they were all-encompassing. It’s difficult to reconcile the two outlooks. It almost seems like this author goes out of his way to be as harsh and cruel as possible. In other books, the authors bend over backwards to be more understanding and philosophical about the situation.

In any case, this is an amazing tale of extraordinary survival. It’s a riveting story. I found myself thinking of it whenever I wasn’t actively reading. It may not be the most well-written nonfiction book I’ve read but it’s certainly one of the more compelling.
10 people found this helpful
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Angie
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2024
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This book jumped right into the story without all the nonsense that many books start with. I felt it told the story incredibly well and although the author stated at the end that the survivors didn't feel he wrote enough about the bond they felt, I feel that he did. However, I am not one of them. I did think it was written exceptionally well and I felt every emotion that the pages presented. Highly recommend this book and this author.
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Sarah
5.0 out of 5 stars A Testament to the Will to Survive
Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2024
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Rich in detail about an experience that, thankfully, so few of us will ever know. Fraught will terror, horror, astonishment, sadness, triumph, happiness and wonder. You cannot help but imagine what you yourself would have done if faced with the same decisions of the crash survivors and to be thankful that you most likely never will be.
One person found this helpful
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Vanessa Candelaria
4.0 out of 5 stars unexpected tears
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2024
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The book was not well translated but it got the story across. I was shocked when certain passages brought tears flowing down my face. Great story of friendship, survival, and struggles.
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Ahnya
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational but gruesome tail of survival.
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2024
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This is an incredible read. This story has everything, detailed moments that inform the reader of each boy’s character and motivations, the highs and lows of survival in an unpredictable unsurvivable environment, and yes, every gruesome detail of their diet. It’s absolutely riveting, but not for the faint of heart. The works best moments come in the story of the survivors relationships with one another. You come away with this incredible understanding that sometimes mediocre people become truly great from the community that surrounds them and uplifts them.
3 people found this helpful
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AmberK
3.0 out of 5 stars Great story, cheaply made book
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2024
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I love this story and I was fascinated by it, but the binding on the book broke very quickly after I started reading it and several of the photo pages fell out. I had to duct tape the spine to keep more pages from falling out. I’ve never had a book do this to me before.
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Gary Barbero
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book. A must read
Reviewed in Canada on September 27, 2023
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Well r
Written, keeps the reader involved, perhaps a little too much when the truth of the survival, rests on the shoulders of those who did not survive the crash, but I am sure, would have done the same if they did. Thank you Piers Paul….
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Jaime Marcos
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book!
Reviewed in Mexico on October 19, 2021
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Very well described, fast and easy to read!
Great story and excellent way of telling it.
When you are having a hard time to get sleep, read this book and imagine the conditions in which they were sleeping, you can rapidly fall asleep.
I strongly recommend it.
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NP
5.0 out of 5 stars Histoire vraie
Reviewed in France on January 23, 2024
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Captivant pour les lecteurs pas trop sensibles.
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Amazon Kunde
5.0 out of 5 stars Schreibstil: na ja.....
Reviewed in Germany on April 13, 2023
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Abwicklung perfekt...!
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John Hopper
5.0 out of 5 stars moving, gripping and matter of fact account
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 17, 2022
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This is the gripping, dramatic, grim and thought-provoking account of a group of young Uruguayan rugby players and their family and friends stranded in the snow capped Andes after their plane crashed when the pilot misjudged his location and wrecked his aircraft one day in October 1972. A number of passengers and crew perished in the crash itself or died of their injuries shortly thereafter. Even so there were some 29 survivors at this point of the original 45 passengers and crew. The survivors had very little food to share among them while waiting to be rescued, and soon they faced the inevitability of death .....until they took the shocking but necessarily life-saving step of eating the bodies of their dead friends and fellow passengers and crew. The account of these events is very detailed and entirely matter of fact and unsensationalised. It would be easy to be appalled and disgusted by this, but without this recourse, there have been no eventual survivors at all. In the end, after the deaths of 8 in an avalanche, and a further few from a combination of injuries and malnutrition, 16 of the boys eventually made it, after two of them managed to find a way out of the barren area where they were stranded by scaling a mountain, and raised the alarm. This is a great and almost spiritual account of reportage, written only two years after the events from the accounts of the survivors.
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