by Nando Parrado with Vince Rause
PRMS discard, hardcover 284 pages
Published: 2006
Genre: Non-fiction, memoir, survival
A chartered plane crashed in 1972 (I was six years old) and some young men on the plane survived. What a harrowing story! It is not one I would highly recommend, but if you like survival stories and against-the-odds outcomes, you may enjoy it. Parrado grates on me a bit . . . I may look for the 1974 book Alive by Piers Paul Read. Or I may not.
Page 169 - "When we first started eating human flesh, we consumed mostly small pieces of meat cut from the large muscles. But as time passed and the food supply diminished, we had no choice but to broaden our diet. For some time, we had been eating livers, kidneys, and hearts, but meat was in such short supply now that we would have to split skulls to get at the brains inside."
Even though the question of food for survival had already been written about, when I got to this part I got incredibly grossed out. What would you do to survive? Eat another human? At least the people they were eating had already died on the mountain; it's not like they committed murder. Still, what a horrific way to stay alive . . .
Page 227 - "'That's Argentina,' Garcia said. 'The High Andes. That's more than seventy miles from here.'"
While Nando and Roberto were walking, walking, walking, I wondered how far they were traveling. Up the mountain, over, down the mountain, through the valley, along the river, . . . when it got to this line I was stunned. To walk SEVENTY MILES while malnourished, weak, and without proper gear? That is simply amazing.
Page 232 - "Then he reached into his pocket and drew out the little red shoe I had given him when I left the fuselage. He was beaming at me, his eyes lit with joy and his face only inches from mine."
I love this scene! Not just the rescue, but the reunion of Carlitos with Nando. It took Nando and Roberto ten days (walking seventy miles in the mountains) to find help. The men left at the fuselage did not know if their friends were still alive, much less successful. The little red shoes that Nando's mother had bought for her grandchild were symbolic. So bittersweet.
Page 247 - "This is how life would look if I had died, I thought. I did not leave a very big hole. The world has gone on without me."
Grief affects different people differently. Nando's dad, thinking he would never again see his wife, son, or daughter Susy, got rid of Nando's belongings. Back home, Nando sees that life goes on. He didn't seem to have the same understanding as some of his peers, though. He's a bit too much of a party boy to me.
Page 262 - "In the years since the disaster, I often think of my friend Arturo Noguiera, and the conversations we had in the mountains about God. Many of my fellow survivors say they felt the personal presence of God in the mountains."
He goes on to talk about how he didn't sense God's presence and he thinks what saved them is love of other people. He has his own philosophy and waxes about it then says "I don't want to understand these things." How sad that he cannot see what Arturo saw.
Page 283 - "And all of us, sooner or later, will face the inevitable nearness of death. . . .'We all have our own personal Andes.'"
I do like that as a public speaker, he can empathize with people who are struggling with other issues and feel a connection to his story.
Page 284 - "As we used to say in the mountains, 'Breathe. Breathe again. With every breath, you are alive.' After all these years, this is still the best advice I can give you: Savor your existence. Live every moment. Do not waste a breath."
That is very sound advice! Since this book was a discard, I plan to leave it in a little free library. I enjoy reading and I am working on clearing some of the clutter in my home.
I loved the photographs in the middle of the book and the drawn map on page 239 showing the walk out for rescue. Very cool.
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