| Plot Summary of Alive |
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"Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read is the unimaginable mental, physical, and moral struggle by airplane crash survivors to stay alive during a ten-week ordeal in the Cordillera De Los Andes of South America. In 1972, a small aircraft carrying 40 team members, staff, family, and friends of a Uruguayan rugby team along with 5 crew members en route to Chile, smashes into a mountain in Argentina killing dozens aboard, however nearly two-dozen manage to survive the impact. On a patched up radio receiver they find out that the search for the plane has been called off, so the crash victims are forced to rely on their own initiative to endure the harsh conditions at such a high altitude. Several more die of injuries suffered in the crash, inadequate medical supplies, a subsequent avalanche, and prolonged exposure before sixteen fortunate individuals are rescued.
How they were able to survive is more bizarre than the fact that they survived. With no left food they were forced to resort to cannibalism of their deceased teammates frozen and buried in snow corpses in order to live. Reluctant and disgusted at the prospect at first, they ate the flesh of the dead with a determination to live. The young men fear never being spotted on the mountain side, so have two individuals hike their way down into the valley below to summon help for their stranded comrades. "
David Fletcher, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Alive |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Kind Of History
Time of history:
- 1970's
History of disaster/tragedy?
Yes
Kind of disaster:
- Plane/Blimp
Nationality?
- Central/Latin American
Subjects of this Historical Account
Religion? (if plays a major part)
- Catholics!
Ethnicity (if plays a major part)
- Hispanic
Is the portrayal sympathetic?
- Sympathetic
Intelligence of subject of
history:
- Smart
Setting
The Americas (not US):
Yes
The Americas:
- South
Style
How much gore?
- 10 (a tremendous amount)
How fast-paced is the book?
- 10 (a tremendous amount)
Accounts of torture and death?
- explicit references to deaths
Book makes you feel...
- encouraged
How much focus on stories of individuals?
- Focuses mostly on history of key players
How much romance?
- 1 (None)
Is this a kid's book?
- Ages 16-Adult
Maps necessary?
- Not enough maps
Length of book
- 350-400 pages
How much emphasis on small details?
- 5 (an average amount)
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