Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors

Thrilling tale of survival, friendship, and faith

Alive is the story a Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes Mountains and what occurred during the seventy two days they awaited their rescue. This is not a story for the easily faint or queasy, as some pretty disturbing and gruesome actions take place in order for the men to survive for almost two and a half months. The compelling themes of this story include the tests of friendship, the power of faith, the will to survive, the precious gift of life, and love. I loved this book because the author not only told the story, but let the reader bond with the characters and discover their different personalities. You feel their pain, sorrow, joy, sadness, anger, disappointment, and hope just as much as they do. The beginning of the book is a lot of background information and was a bit boring, but after you get through that it is a very enjoyable and exciting read. I recommend this book for anyone looking for a good adventure and can withstand a little bit of blood and gore. This story is truly remarkable teaches the reader how fragile life is and to live every day to the absolute fullest. I promise one will not regret reading this incredible true story.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is amazing! I love how it stays to the true story with

This book is amazing! I love how it stays to the true story with no elaboration and yet is so compelling all on its own!

Read this book!

I read this book by chance years ago, and my interest in the survivors and their story took off. At that time I would have rated it as many stars as I could, but now knock a star off only because I read Miracle in the Andes and think it tells the story much better. Then again, it is written by a survivor who has his own personal take on the story and, since he waited many many years to write it, has had time to put the whole situation into perspective. The author of Alive wrote the story based on interviews and pieced them together soon after the rescue. So there is still a feel of the excitement of youthful survival, whereas Miracle in the Andes is a more mature and thoughtful memoir. I would recommend both books, but if you had to choose between the two, I would go wit Miracle in the Andes, hands down. Beautiful and inspiring story, it will lead you to want more. I researched and found many pictures and video clips after reading both books, but still want more.

Great Book

Alive was one of the greatest books I have ever read. I loved almost every inch of it especially all of the in depth detail used to describe their circumstances throughout the book. The only problem arose in the middle of the story because it dragged on a bit with continuous details about eating the dead and having constipation. I loved the rest of the book especially the irony in the beginning when one of he players got on the intercom to tell everyone to grab a parachute because they were going to crash into the mountains. What I took from this story was mostly that, as humans, we can do anything we need to do, but not If we want to do it seeing as no one wanted to eat human flesh they just had to. I would definitely recommend the book to anyone who loves a good survival story because it truly is one of the best survival stories I have ever read and the best part about it was that Alive is a true story. All in all it was great book with a great beginnings long middle and excellently detailed escape for help by two young men. I would also recommend Into Thin Air, Miracle in the Andes, and Left for dead because they are also suvival books.

ALIVE! The Shocking, Thrilling story about sixteen men and their survival!

The book Alive, is a great complying story about the group of Old Christians rugby team, who crashed in the Andes Mountains in a Uruguayan Air Force plane, on their way to Chile. After the wreck of the plane, half of the forty-five had survived, after the next 2 weeks only 16 of them where left. The un-thinkable happened when they ran out of food in the plane, cannibalism. The survivors got tired of just waiting around for something to happen, so they sent Canessa and Parrado two of the strongest out to look for help. Finally after six days they found a village, not soon after that, helicopters were sent to find the other fourteen survivors. Seventy-two days in blizzard cold weather, avalanches, and starvation. the boys where finally safe. This book is an excited journey that takes you through what happens. It seems like you are there with them in their need of help. It's a good experience, shows you how much we take for granted in our daily lives. This book was great, it took awhile to get into, the first 30 or so pages are very dull. People should read this book because; it's thrilling, shocking moments, the friendship that out shown. The book draws you in, the last one hundred pages you won't be able to put the book down, that's how exciting it is! I do recommend reading this book, it's an adventure and survival book for you people who like those kind of books! It teaches you to never give up on your dreams! It's a great book! I hope you will enjoy it as much as it did!

Alive is an amazing read for those searching for what is important. Truly inspiring story.

Alive is the story of the Old Christians rugby team from Uruguay that crashed deep in the Andes Mountains and their fight for survival that included doing what many people would consider the unthinkable. The incredible bravery and endurance displayed out of disparity by the boys are evident through the entire story. Many a good moral lesson can be learned out of this book such as how many of us are quite blessed and not grateful for the everyday luxuries that many of us take for granted in our society. The book is quite factual in tone and can be easily mistaken for a boring story. This only occurs because, as Read points out in his introduction, the survivors felt as though the details of their story should not be in any way exaggerated or brought out to be more than they really were. They also felt that the story itself is powerful enough that nothing extra was needed to make it sound better (which Read does an incredible job of). I personally loved every aspect in this book with the exception of the explicit details that the author went into regarding the parent's search for the kids which I feel were not entirely needed and may be extremely uninteresting to other readers. If you do buy this book, then you should definately find one of the versions containing pcitures of the boys and other people that flew aboard the fairchild as well as some of their other experiences. The add tremendously to the experience of reading this book. One should definately read this to better grasp the highly unknown aspect of human nature that is our survival gear as well as to read just an overall fantastic story. If you loved this book as much as I did, the two books below are similar stories that bring about relatively similar themes. Enjoy!!!

Amazing Read - Endurance of Mind, Body and Soul

A synopsis isn't truly necessary here. If you are reading this review, you already have a vague sense of the content . What you don't know, is how it's going to make you feel and you will feel it, believe me. You will feel yourself in the center of that glacier. Piers spared no detail. Those details are, at times, very hard to take. Nando Parrado once said "You will see and do things over there that you would NEVER imagine yourself seeing and doing" I "thought" I knew what he meant. Only after reading "Alive" did the depths of those words truly take hold of me. It cannot be an easy thing to put anguish into words, but Piers managed to do so. Not only the anguish of the boys, but of their families as well. The highs are as heart wrenching as the lows. You can imagine being there with Carlos Paez Vilaro when his Son's name is read off the survivor list. This is only a small portion of the emotions this book evokes. The spirit, the will of these boys being raised and dashed repeatedly. The turmoil, the lost hope and even mistrust that sometimes arose between them. The faith they had in their expeditionary party. It's all here, no stone is left unturned. This book gives you something that will stay with you always. Even when all hope is lost, life is still worth living. I am so glad I picked this book up. You will be glad you did too. I must offer the warning of graphic content. I thought I knew what to expect in that department, but I was wrong. It can get to you. You don't physically "see" it, but through Piers's words, your imagination will paint a fairly vivid picture. Until you have walked in these boy's shoes, (picture the shoes your now wearing in waist deep snow for 72 days.) you honestly have no right to judge the boys. The dreaded "C" word does NOT apply here. They took no lives, they only did what they had to do to stay alive. "Was it worth it?" You may ask yourself. These 16 survivors have now grown to over 100 strong. There is no better testament to life than that. Read the book!

Awe-Inspiring Story, Unpleasant Book

The book Alive, by Piers Paul Read, was an admirable story of a plane of rugby players who crashed in the Andes and were forced to survive ten unforgiving weeks in a desolate snow-covered region. Although the story itself is noble and intense, the book wasn't my favorite. I loved the story, and respected the people who were a part of it; however the read altogether was lackluster and tedious. The chapters seemed to drone on and on, and it seemed to me as though the author simply copied and pasted each chapter into the next. After a while, I got tired of reading about the living eating the deceased. There were many fascinating parts of the story in which I was eager to find out what would happen next, but the boring parts seemed to overrule these. I feel like the book could have been a lot shorter and still gotten the point across, in fact I probably would have been more willing to read it had it not been solely about people eating each other. And so, I would not recommend the book, but rather the story itself.

Seventy Days of Isolation

After leaving Uruguay for a rugby tournament in Chile, a team of men along with forty or so other people (including friends and family) find themselves stranded in the middle of the Andes. Their flight crashed due to powerful winds, cloudy weather conditions, and misjudgment by the pilot. Although most died instantly in the wreck, the survivors turned to every means of survival fighting frostbite, starvation, dehydration, injuries obtained in the crash, and even insanity. Alive is a story of love. When it came down to it, the love for family and friends was the only motivation for survival after all hope was lost. Leadership and teamwork are other very prominent themes of the book that saved lives. Without the leadership of certain individuals and the teamwork of every survivor, no one would have lived through the seventy days of isolation. I really like the story this book enlightens because it is so unique and inspiring. It was such a life-altering event and was very well told. The book had good detail and imagery with gory and stomach-churning events. Some parts of Alive get slow and excessively in depth for their importance and are hard to follow, but it's an overall easy read that draws the reader in. I would strongly recommend Alive for thrill seeking readers who like stories of adventure and survival. It inspires one to live life to the fullest and appreciate every aspect of life. Even when times seem hard, hope and determination should never be lost.

Be ready for excitment and sudden twists, with this book!

In excitement to be going to their big game, 40+ Rugby Players and their families boarded their plane; the Fairchild. After hours upon hours of waiting the team finally took off, headed towards Chile, yet to pass through the Andes Mountains. Half way through the treacherous journey, the plane hit an air pocket and fell several hundred feet to the summit of the mountain, and killed many of the travelers. Throughout the next eight weeks stranded on the mountain, the team went through hell to try everything to be rescued. Cannibalism, avalanches, and starvation all contributed to the hulk of their journey home.
This book was an exciting adventure, to read and to experience. I thought that all of the adventure, and sudden changes kept the book interesting. I would definitely recommend this book to others! I LOVED everything in this book, except the fact that the first 20 or so pages were really hard to get into. The reason people should read this is because it was just a feel-good book, with a couple twists of horror. ALIVE, portrayed many situations where only friendship could save someone, and I really appreciated that aspect in this book. There were many themes present in this book; death, life, survival, friendship, and dealing with harsh changes in climate or just within families. This book was very complex, but not too hard that it was difficult at a high school level. Some words were worthy of looking up in a dictionary though!! Out of five stars, I would definitely give this book a four and a half! Definitely put this book on your future reading lists!!

Gruesome Noteworthy Nonfiction Book, Worse then most Horror Flicks, Bizarre...

Piers Paul Read's "Alive," concerns itself with a South American military plane trip of mainly young sports Rugby guys, devote christians (most orignally probably from Europe, not Indigenous), from Uruguay that turned to cannibalism to survive a wreck in a remote Andes mountain area in heavy snow in 1972. What lead to the wreck was a series of bizarre events. There was even a crash prediction of the Uruguyan military plane from one of the rugby player's girlfriends (not a passenger) at a stopover due to several rugby players' criticism of the girlfriend's home country's supposedly dilapated-looking cargo plane. The Uruguayan military plane (newly purchased from the USA, but had a white top that could not be seen in the snow) was not equipped with a first aid kit or blankets, no basic supplies of any sort, and the wing that was lost in the wreck before the plane crashed carried the batteries for the radio--so the plane wrecked passengers could not communicate with any air control, and on and on. The few supplies that included wine that the pilots had bought and some chocolate were soon gone including by a passenger that took more rations without permission. Two of the rugby players in the wreck were medical students with little training as they had less than two years or less of medical training that were stuffed with courses in psychology, sociology in their curriculum instead of medical practice, and they were faced with multiple serious injuries of many passengers. On and on it goes...Good clairvoyants on land were consulted by parents of the wrecked passengers but the area was vast to cover. The introduction to the book is interesting also. I am about a third through this book, and I have a difficult time putting it down. It is also well written and easy-reading.

The Team Trained to Play, Is Now Trying to Stay Alive

Alive, by Piers Paul Read, tells the story of a team of rugby players from Montevideo, Uruguay who are on their way to Santiago, Chile for a tournament. Their plane crashes in the Andes Mountains, and the book is about how they survived.
Alive shows how teamwork is so important in a team even if they are not playing a sport. For example, each team player had a specific role like how Roberto took care of most of the injured by cleaning their wounds. Every single player had to share a short supply of food. Leadership was another theme in the book. Antonio who is the captain of the team showed his leadership by sorting out the food and giving much-needed effort to save his team. The book also shows the importance of patience. The team suffered through starvation, freezing, and being helplessly lost for about ten weeks. They made it through that with out even thinking about giving up for one second.
This book is very suspenseful and very scary in a good way. People were dying left and right in this book. They died out of the blue. For instance, when an avalanche hit their camp two players died instantly. It happened so quickly.
Some reasons that people might find that they didn¿t enjoy this book might be that it has so much description in it. There are certain parts of the book that are so slow that it loses some of your interest. The author also speeds through some parts, showing no description at all. He didn¿t give a great description on how Nando and Canesso saved everyone. The plane crash that he described was good, but it took up about a page and I felt like it could have been longer and more descriptive.
This book is a book I think everyone should think about reading. It gets you thinking about what you would do if you were in that type of situation, and it teaches you a lot about survival.
If you were a young person you would not find this book to your liking. It has a lot of graphic parts. For instance, everyone has to eat his or her dead friends to keep from starving plus it is an extremely hard read.
A book that is extremely similar to this book is named Brian¿s Winter. They are so alike in so many ways. If you like survival and a real thriller, then also read Brian¿s Winter. The only difference is, one is fiction, and the other, non-fiction.
Overall I would rate this book a five star. It just is such a thriller and such a fun read for the most part. I would definitely recommend this book.

Jennifer Wardrip - Personal Read

Once I finally got into the book, this was a good story of survival. The men and women who crashed in the Andes had to overcome horrible situations -- injuries from the crash, an avalanche, and then the lack of food. What they did to survive was admirable, even if some may judge them harshly over their decision to eat the flesh of their dead friends.

That being said, though, the story moves so slowly, and the author's writing style is so staid, that it took me forever to actually feel like I was reading something worthwhile.

A good story, but it's a journey to plod through it.

A reviewer

I read this book several times. It make me to know the god.The ability of human endurance and survival through hardships sketched neatly. Read this book it is an excellent work. But for more than two years I didn't eat any non-veg food.

Alive, a dissapointment at most.

This book is about the 16 survivors of the plane crash of a flight from Montevideo, Uruguay to Santiago, Chile. They battle terrible odds including cannibalism, weather and injury. I found the book disappointing. The voice seemed very boring, it sounded like a 4-year-old writing. It seamed like he was saying ¿and than they did this, and than they did this, than they ate each other.¿ It was a very boring voice, the plot however was good

Alive- a short review

Alive A short review Alive is the biographical story of the survivors of a 1972 plane crash in the cordillera region of the Andes. Alive gives the reader a view into how humans tolerate each other in a survival situation. I found the story tedious and repetitive. However, the social hierarchy the survivors developed was a very engaging aspect of the book. Some survivors, such as the Straunch cousins, were admired greatly because they were never harsh, and always remained calm. Others, who were touchy and high strung or did not pull their share of the work, were ostracized.

Uplifting and timeless

'What would I have done, in their place?' That's the question any reader of this terrifying true story must ask, and the answer may not come easily. In October 1972, a chartered plane crashed high in the Andes. The members of a post-graduate prep school rugby team from Uruguay, the 'Old Christians' as they were nicknamed, were aboard it with family members and friends, on their way to a match in Chile. Ten weeks after the crash, two survivors made their way far enough toward civilization so that an astounded Chilean peasant spotted them and summoned help. Soon the rest of the survivors, 16 souls in all, were located and airlifted to safety. How did those 16 people stay alive through those weeks when South America's winter gradually turned into spring, in a place of nothing but cold and snow? Through avalanches and howling storms, with no emergency supplies or equipment, and no survival training? These ordinary folk thrust into a most extraordinary situation made choices no human should ever have to make, and nevertheless managed to keep their humanity intact. Meanwhile, their families - told by the authorities that it was long since time to give up hope - refused that advice, and kept the search going. This is a gruesome book in places, because the author tells the truth just as he learned it from the survivors themselves. It's also one of the most uplifting reads you'll ever encounter.

Heart Breaker

It has been many many years sence I've read this book, but I will never forget it, as it is the one and only book that has ever made me burst out balling! It broke my heart. I think I shall read it again.....Linda in California

It's a miracle...

¿Alive¿ is the true story of the Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed landed in the Andes mountains. Of the forty five people that took off in the plane, only sixteen came down off the mountain about seventy days later with a tale of survival that won¿t easily be forgotten. This story is one of tragedy and human endurance. The author brings a tale that is astonishing to begin with, and tells it so perfectly that it seems unbelievable. As the story unfolds, we see what people will do to stay alive. The plane had crashed in the Andes Mountains on Argentinian territory. It was a lesson in terror for the passengers in the plane. Of the forty-five people on the plane, only thirty-two survived the initial crash. Some, on the other hand, suffered severe injuries. Time was against them in their search for survival. Also, they had very few warm cloths. As the few that suffered minor or no injuries tried to establish order, their paramount objective was to find a way to survive the first night. By the tenth night, their limited food supply, which was rationed ever so carefully, was nearly exhausted. The survivors then knew that there was no other choice. It was either eat those who had died or die themselves. Digging deep into their conservative, religious souls, they found a way to justify their course of action. After it was agreed upon, bodies were dug out of the snow and cut up. This, while one of the most dramatic parts of this tale, is just that, a part. They had to endure other deprivations. They had to survive the elements. They were almost buried alive twice. They had to overcome an intense despair of being forgotten by the rest of the world. Ultimately, only sixteen were able to survive. How they did so should fascinate all readers of adventure novels. People who find books dull and boring will be moved by this fantastic, true story of sixteen people who survived the Andes mountains, and came home alive while forced to do the almost unthinkable.

TERRIBLE!

I loved this book what they had to go through I couldn't imagine being traped in the Andes with little food and no civilization for miles.