3 Review(s)

Alive: The Story Of The Andes Survivors is the harrowing story of an Uruguayan rugby team and is a critically acclaimed work by the British author, Piers Paul Read. Summary Of The Book Alive: The Story Of The Andes Survivors documents the events concerning the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. The Uruguayan Rugby team is not just a college sports team but part of a life changing event. The Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 contained the Rugby team. The airplane crashed into the Andes Mountains on the 13th of October, 1972. Only sixteen passengers were found alive out of the forty five people who were on that plane. After a rigorous search by the rescue team, the survivors were found eating the remnants of those already dead in order to survive. To call this incident a mere accident would be reductive to say the least. These survivors lived to tell the tale that kept them alive in such an impossible situation. Piers Read puts together various interviews of the survivors. Read also stated that fictionalizing the story, although necessary for some parts, was never required since the accounts of the survivors were heart wrenching on their own. The survivors did not just survive through instinct but they survived because of friendship and faith. These are the qualities that Read wished to impart through this story. One of the most notable things about the narrative is the combination of subjectivity and objectivity with which Read treats all the accounts in his stories. Alive: The Story Of The Andes Survivors was received well critically. Many critics have called this book a great example of classic survival literature. Frank Marshall had directed the film adaptation of this novel, Alive: The Miracle of The Andes, in 1993. A documentary was made as its companion called Alive: The Miracle of The Andes. About Piers Paul Read Piers Paul Read was born on 7th March, 1941. He has won several awards for his novels but is also known as a biographer and historian. He has also published works such as A Married Man, The Professor's Daughter, and A Season in the West. Read found recognition with Alive: The Story Of The Andes Survivors. He has always been known to criticize middle class English ethics that are laced with Catholicism. Sin and salvation are also themes Read generally uses. Apart from being a writer, Read is also a scriptwriter and dramatist.