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Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'
La sociedad de la nieve / The society of Snow: Los 16 Sobrevivientes De Los Andes Cuentan La Historia Completa / the 16 Survivors of the Andes Tell the Whole Story by Pablo Vierci, Pablo Vierci
1 review
jhbandcats's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
I saw the movie Society of the Snow and started reading the book as soon as I got home. Both are vivid, compelling, horrific. After I started reading, I decided to reread Piers Paul Read’s Alive. I remembered it being different from Society of the Snow (SOTS) despite it being the same story.
Alive is a rather judgmental nonfiction narrative told in the third person. SOTS is indeed quite different, more philosophical and sympathetic. Alive was written within a year of the accident; SOTS was written 35 years later when people have spent half a lifetime reflecting on what happened. It alternates chapters of a third-person narrative with chapters written by each of the sixteen survivors.
It’s a beautiful way to tell such a terrifying tale, giving the survivors their chance to say - some for the first time - what happened. Each, of course, has a different perspective, some describing a full, emotional life since the recovery, others closed off from their lives to protect themselves from their memories and experiences.
It’s a story of life amidst a snow field of death, of determination and love and solidarity in the face of a bitterly cold hell. It’s unforgettable.
Alive is a rather judgmental nonfiction narrative told in the third person. SOTS is indeed quite different, more philosophical and sympathetic. Alive was written within a year of the accident; SOTS was written 35 years later when people have spent half a lifetime reflecting on what happened. It alternates chapters of a third-person narrative with chapters written by each of the sixteen survivors.
It’s a beautiful way to tell such a terrifying tale, giving the survivors their chance to say - some for the first time - what happened. Each, of course, has a different perspective, some describing a full, emotional life since the recovery, others closed off from their lives to protect themselves from their memories and experiences.
It’s a story of life amidst a snow field of death, of determination and love and solidarity in the face of a bitterly cold hell. It’s unforgettable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Grief, Medical trauma, Confinement, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, and Death of parent
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