amarnareads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

This was a very difficult read, I had to stop almost at every chapter to process the emotions it awakened in me.

This is a book about an horrific event, but in every paragraph one can feel the love, hope and kindness of each of the survivors.

Do I recommend it? Absolutely. But bear in mind that this is a heavy book both for the heart and mind.

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jhbandcats's review against another edition

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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. 

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