ALIVE: A Book Review

I must say after reading Alive: The story of the Andes Survivors, I was totally satisfied. Peirs Paul Read's amazing account of the survivors of Uruguayan Air Force flight 157 from Montevideo on the 13th of October, 1972, was delicious. I could really sink my teeth into the juicy tale of horror that unfolded in the Andes that fall.

True, some of the descriptions of suffering are hard to swallow, and may leave a bad taste in your mouth, but in the end you will be wanting seconds.

I do wish Read would have stayed on course, and not excused himself from the table by chronicling the parents search in such depth. The sheer feast of drama, back at the plane, was like a cornucopia of human endurance. But I guess it helps you to digest the buffet of pain and suffering by cleansing your palate on some normality.

You could gorge yourself on the decent sized portions of heroism and sacrifice that were displayed on the mountain. Though most of the survivors were dishing up all they had, some were happy to sit back and be served a banquet of assistance. But in the end they all pulled together like the staff at a five star restaurant to make it through to the final course of this terrible meal.

It will tenderize your heart to see how, through the love of friends and family anything can be pulled out of the fire. All and all I have to say this was a great book, not too much sugar not too much spice, done to perfection in the oven of a great journalist. It will melt in your mouth. Bon appetit.