When I was searching for true stories, I came across the novel 'Alive' which informed about a flight crash in Andes mountains and how some of them survived the rough ordeal. However this book was not available in the library and instead I found this book 'Miracle in the Andes' written by a survivor Nando Parrado himself. This added more emotion to the novel, coming directly from the "horse's mouth", so to speak. The last time I had read about a plane crash in an extremely cold environment was in Alistair MacLean's Night Without End - about 2 decades ago. But unlike the novel, this was real stuff and it was extremely mind-chilling. Nando's narration is superb and fluid. He easily explains the pre, during and post tales of the crash. His explanation of the cold and the vertical climb of the snow-covered wall-like mountain with bare hands and no protection is awe-inspiring. One wonders 'Is it even possible?' His narration of how close he was to death and how forcefully the huge void of the slope behind him beckoned him to nothingness is beautifully detailed. One can fathom Nando's character just by reading this novel. He has also written pages and pages about each character in the flight. I am surprised how unaware I was of this incident. Apparently this was a sensational news in 1972 when the survivors of the crash were rescued. A definite must-read. However I am not sure now if I have to read Alive now or not, which is apparently more detailed.
No comments:
Post a Comment