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| Alive | 
 enlarge | Author: Piers Paul Read
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $6.87
You Save: $7.08 (51%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $4.40
Avg. Customer Rating:  (185 reviews)
Sales Rank: 20822
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 398
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0060778660
Dewey Decimal Number: 982.6
EAN: 9780060778668
ASIN: 0060778660
Publication Date: July 1, 2005
Release Date: July 5, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Bit Hard to Read March 24, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
 Staying alive against the odds March 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is the only book I've ever read where I caught myself shielding my eyes so as not to know quite so much about the fine points of cannibalism. I ended up skipping about two pages detailing the butchering of the bodies, which organs are the most nutritious, etc. However, the author was just doing his job and there's only a few pages involving cannibalism.
The plane came down in a snow field at 11,500 feet elevation, higher than the highest mountain in California by comparison. This put them far above the timber line in a frigid place devoid of all life -- not even a fly or a blade of grass. Due to incompetence on the part of search and rescue operations and also a so-called psychic who had the rescuers searching everywhere but the right place, the survivors were presumed dead and left to fend for themselves for 72 days, and would likely have never been found were it not for the daring feats of mountaineering by two of the survivors who went on an arduous 8 day trek out of the mountains and into Chile in search of rescuers.
With no food it was inevitable the group would have to eat the dead if they were survive. As someone explained, your survival instincts and your appetite will not only lead you to eat the dead, but eventually to savor it. Then, when the two expeditionaries finally connected with civilization, a peasant tossed them a crust of bread and their appetite for human flesh evaporated.
As horrifying as it was, there is an upbeat message in this book about the unshakeable will to live, about the utility of human solidarity in the face of death, and the mystical communion between the survivors and their dead comrades who saved their lives by providing the nourishment to survive.
This book has been around a long time. It's a page-turner and millions have read it, especially in South America where this event was known simply as the Andes crash, and the survivors are still celebrated as heroes. Google it if you want and you'll find lots more info, photos, and a Google map reference to the exact spot the wrecked fuselage came to rest.
Incredible Survival Story February 29, 2008
What would it be like being stranded in the Andes with very little food or water? Well Alive by Piers Paul Read might give you an idea. This emotional, and yet exciting non fiction book accurately depicts the terrible seventy-two days a team of Uruguayan rugby players and their relatives experience. The setting of the book is in the Andes Mountains, Uruguay, Chili, and takes place in 1972. The theme of this book is man's will to survive is more powerful than anything. The main characters of this moderately paced book would be the last sixteen survivors, the two strongest of them being Fernando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, who play a big role in the survival of them all. After being stranded for seventy-two days in the Andes Mountains this small rugby team forms a special bond and learns the true meanings of life. I think this is a very exciting, but gory book and would recommend it to anybody but only if you have a strong stomach because there are many references to dead bodies and eating human flesh. These rugby players show us that with faith and a strong will to survive we can overcome large obstacles.
Andes Survivors February 26, 2008
"Finally, Canessa brought it out to the open. He argued forcefully that they were not going to be rescued; they would have to escape themselves, but nothing could be done without food; and that the only food was human flesh." (page 78) This is an important quote from the book Alive by Piers Paul Read. Alive is about a Catholic rugby team called the Old Christians that got in a plane crash over the Ande Mountains. The people who survived the crash have to make the decision to eat human flesh or not since they are Catholic. I think it would be alright because, "They believe that virtue lay in survival and that eating their dead friends would in no way endanger their souls..." (page 80-81) Another opinion I have is that the victims used teamwork, encouragement, and sacrifice. I think this because, (on page 79) Zerbino said, "'...that if my dead body could help you stay alive, then I'd certainly want you to use it...'" Though this book may be intense, I recommend it to everyone because, people think they have it rough when little things go wrong. These people survived a plane crash and had to convert to cannibalism in an attempt to survive.
SURVIVAL & ENDURANCE February 16, 2008
This was such a great story of survival and endurance. It's about the Uruguyan rugby team of 45 whose plane crashed in the Andes mountains. In the end 16 people survived and were rescued. It's such a great moving human interest story of how these people survived in the snow and the worst of conditions doing the unthinkable to survive. They have endured so much. I wonder how these people endured such horrible conditions. After reading this book, I felt thankful for what I do have and wondering how 16 people survived in the tough times. A must read book. The movie was fantastic too.
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