- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Crown; 1st Edition edition (May 9 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1400097673
- ISBN-13: 978-1400097678
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 658 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#173,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Travel
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In October 1972, a plane carrying an Uruguayan rugby team crashed in the Andes. Not immediately rescued, the survivors turned to cannibalism to survive and after 72 days were saved. Rugby team member Parrado has written a beautiful story of friendship, tragedy and perseverance. High in the Andes, with a fractured skull, eating the flesh of his teammates and friends, Parrado calmly ponders the cruelties of fate, the power of the natural world and the possibility of continued existence. "I would live from moment to moment and from breath to breath, until I had used up all the life I had." Parrado, who for the past 10 years has been giving inspirational talks based on his experiences, lost his mother and sister in the crash. Struggling to stay alive, his guide becomes his beloved father: "each [stride] brought me closer to my father... each step I took was a step stolen back from death." More than a companion to the 1970s bestselling chronicle of the disaster, Alive, this is a fresh, gripping page-turner that will satisfy adventure readers, and a complex reflection on camaraderie, family and love. Photos. First serial in Outside. (May 9)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–In 1972, Parrado and his rugby teammates from Uruguay were flying to Chile to play a match against the national team. Crossing the Andes, the aircraft crashed on a remote, high-altitude, glaciated slope. This remarkable story of the survivors omits none of the raw intensity and brutality of their experience but is burnished by time, casting an analytical perspective on ways in which their subsequent lives were influenced by the ordeal. The many forms of courage exhibited and the sustaining power of love of family are the basis of the narrative as the group supported one another in a collective refusal to surrender to the mountain. Parrado credits their physical conditioning and the rigorous team ethic inherent in the sport as the foundation for the trust and allegiance that enabled the men to battle the odds. Reduced to the most elemental human needs and learning from a radio transmission that rescue efforts had been abandoned, they reluctantly realized that their only food source was the bodies of the victims. Parrado was respectful of the spiritual faith of those who clung to a belief in rescue, but put his energy into engineering a plan and acted as a leader of the expeditionaries who hiked through the perilous mountains to find help. A detailed chronicle of these events was presented in Piers Paul Read's Alive (Avon, 1975), but Parrado's memoir offers a reflective expansion of that work. Dramatic photographs are included.–Lynn Nutwell, Fairfax City Regional Library, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
How Strong is Your Will to Survive?,,
By
This review is from: Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home (Paperback)
Most of us will never have to ask ourselves such a question, but at only 23 years old, Nando Parrado had to.We have all heard the story of the Uruguayan rugby team travelling to Chile by plane that met with disaster. The plane, unable to maintain its height because of severe weather conditions, collides with one of the sharp mountainous peaks. The plane is cut in two, one half plummets from the sky only to crash among the towering peaks of the Andes, while the other half--carrying survivors--hits the incline of a snow-covered mountain and dives deep into a valley. Those who survived the crash, look to the skies above, hoping and praying for any sign of rescue. With limited food supplies and limited clothing to shield them from the cold, they are forced to come face to face with the knowledge that they must act or they will die. Three brave men begin a journey--a gruelling trek that no one has ever attempted before, with only a glimmer of hope and no clear path to their destination, they set out to help their friends and save themselves. One of these men is Nando Parrado; Miracle in the Andes is his personal story. The first few pages of the novel walks the reader through Parrado's first moments after the crash as he wakes up and realises his gruesome predicament. He describes the cold as it first hit him, "burning his skin like acid," making it hard to breathe, hard to move, and as a consequence even harder to live. Those first moments are terrifying, and the reader is right there with him, experiencing every chilling second. As the book progresses, Parrado reflects on his life leading up to the crash. Unlike Nando, his father was a hardworking man who worked long hours to make sure that his family could live the life that he did not. His father's philosophy was that all the good things in life have to be earned. Parrado talks about how his father tried to teach him this lesson, but he did not listen as he was more interested in girls and rugby than having to grind out a living. Yet Parrado must have learnt this lesson; how else could he have survived what he did? Written in the first person, Miracle in the Andes enables the reader to experience each long, excruciating step of Parrado's journey. It is an open and honest account of a tragedy and one man's struggle to survive. I would not recommend this book for in-flight reading! But I do highly recommend reading this book at some point in life. Miracle in the Andes is not just a story of survival; it is a story of the lengths a person will go to save a friend. The boys who were travelling to Chile to play rugby became men through their experiences. They should be thought of as heroes, an example to us all - "that anything is possible as long as you are willing to suffer." If this book has any lesson for us, it is perfectly expressed in the last line: "Do not waste a breath."
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling read,
This review is from: Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home (Paperback)
Excellent read relating to the human spirit and survival. Touching and exciting with the final attempt to escape the frozen tomb in the Andes most riveting. An easily readable yet impactful book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must read...won't last more than a day or two....,
By Sam P. Claire ""Cat"" (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home (Paperback)
This is an excellent book. I read this during some difficult transient times with work and quickly realized that my self-pity was shameful. Although the author doesn't really dwell on any major spiritual miracles here (he keeps it very objective and to the point), this book does make you wonder about the mysteries of the universe and the fate of each and every person.
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