07 Oct 2012 02:54:20
It is unsurprising that some of the 16 Uruguayan rugby players who survived the infamous 1972 plane crash in the Andes would later develop a motivational speaking sideline. The trials that the young men endured – freezing temperatures, terrible injuries and most notoriously, a lack of food that forced them to eat the bodies of their dead friends – are so extreme that just reading about them should ensure you never complain about anything again – unless it involves necrophagy. Yet Read's powerful account of the crash and its aftermath (in this 40th anniversary edition) also charts the parts of the survivors' struggle that don't come under the "inspirational" banner. Often, he records a despair so real it seeps through the pages, while the narrative rarely pushes an image of straightforward heroism. These are recognisable human beings, not saints: peevish, petulant, prone to feuds, rage and selfishness. It makes their survival all the more moving, but what lingers are the moments of ingenuity, and the resilience of the human spirit.
