Roberto Canessa new book

Thanks. Just put it on my Audible Wishlist and will buy it next pay.

I've requested it from the library and should have it soon. I note that the co-author, Pablo Vierci, also wrote a book about the survivors that I am anxious to read, La sociedad de la nieve ("The Snow Society")which has, for reasons I can't fathom, never been translated into English. It contains first-person accounts from each of the sixteen survivors, plus much additional information from Vierci (extracts from these first-person accounts were used in the documentarty, Stranded)..

Here's the Google translate version of the Amazon.com blurb for the book:

This is the definitive book on the survivors of the Andes. The Greatest Story Ever Told. Each survivor testifies in first person and tells how the accident influenced their lives and how they live today. Interspersed with these chapters, Vierci recreates chillingly the most important moments in history: the airport exit of Montevideo, who did not travel for arriving late or being sick, accident, the wounded, the avalanche, the first expeditions in search help, group organization, death of coach rugby, death of family and friends whose bodies began to eat to survive, when they hear that presumed dead and no longer seek the finding tail aircraft rescue, the last expedition: a week of walking at 4,000 meters high and 20 degrees below zero, when they find the Chilean sheep carrier, the first questions of the Chilean press when rescued, back home.

I got Canessa's book from the library, and have read most of it. My take on it is a bit different from miss chicken's.

First off, though, I will agree with her that the book is not laid out in a narrative style, which must be considerably more difficult to follow in the audio version (as she did) than in the book version. With the book, you can flip back and forth if you need to check something, refer to the table of contents, etc. There was also an "Afterward" by co-author Pablo Vierci that would IMO have served well as a forward, because it explains how he and Canessa determined to write the book together, and how he, Vierci, got the stories of the other contributors, such as parents of Canessa's patients, people involved in the search, etc. When I saw how the book was broken up by chapters from these other people, I flipped to the back and read the afterward, which helped explain why and how those stories came to be included.

Another benefit to the book version were the pages of photographs, many of which I had not seen in any of the other books. There's a shot of Canessa and Nando on the occasion of Sergio Catalan's first trip to Uruguay as their guest, in 1975. There's a photo of Laura Canessa with their first child, Hilario, as a newborn (and a little explanation of how his name relates to the circumstances of the rescue), a family picture of Roberto and his 3 kids, all under age 10 or 11 at the time (by the looks of it), visiting Los Maitenes for the first time; Roberto and his 4 kids (young adults and/or older teens) in 2001 at the cross marking the burial site in the Valley of Tears, and some others, besides photos of the crash site that we have seen before.

I inferred from miss chicken's post that she was a bit disappointed that the book was about Roberto and not about the crash, rescue, other survivors, etc.

I did not feel that way, not at all. For one thing, I knew before I got the book that it was not about the crash, the rescue, the survivors: it was about Roberto's post-Andes life and how his experience on the mountain had shaped who he became and what he did with his life. That is made abundantly clear in the title itself: I HAD TO SURVIVE: How A Plane Crash in the Andes Inspired My Calling to Save Lives. That's exactly what the book is about, and for that reason, while it certainly helps to know the background story well, a reader could enjoy the book immensely knowing no more about the crash than what s/he picked up from the Wikipedia entries. The theme is about how the struggle to survive and get out alive influenced Roberto's personal and professional life in great and small ways thereafter.

While the story of the sixteen survivors and their ordeal is one of the most powerful narratives ever, I find their post-rescue lives to be as much or more inspiring: the way they have supported each other, in big and small ways, over the years. Their continued friendship and support of Sergio Catalan (and his family). Their making successes of their own lives, in a variety of ways, though some, like Carlitos, struggled with demons, but was helped by support (and a kick in the butt) by his friends. They did not end up on skid row, in treatment for PTSD, in fact all but Moncho Sabella, who married late, had children; even Javier had 4 more children with his second wife. Zerbino, in the extra on the DVD of Stranded, says that their story is one of love -- love for each other, their friends who they feel are constantly with them, and to and through whom their own children are inextricably linked.

So, I found Canessa's story of how he had turned his experience into a drive to save hopeless cases by becoming a pioneer in a new field of pediatric cardiology a gripping one. He hops back and forth in time to the trek out, of which he has vivid memories, and how he was inspired by that experience to tackle the impossible on a daily basis and "never give up," as his mother said she knew he would never do. He also reflects on how some of his less attractive qualities -- stubbornness, imperviousness to criticism, being pushy in getting his own way (and more besides) -- were actually invaluable assets in tackling the hopeless cases that presented themselves, and in keeping up his own spirits and those of the anxious parents of his tiny patients. To be constantly working with people in crisis, often dealing with tragedy and death, staying positive and yet realistic, takes a special sort of person.

Roberto's story is one of how the Andes tragedy shaped him into such a person.I am going to re-read it, as I have been going rather quickly through it the first time.

miss chicken mentioned the interesting parts about the searches for the survivors that were going on behind the scenes -- not much covered by Read's book or by any of the movies (except, to a slight extent, by Stranded). I enjoyed that, too, but a book with even more about the search, very interesting stuff too, is Clay Blair's book, Survive! Because the author did not have access to any of the survivors or their families when he wrote the book, it's an account of the accident and the days on the mountain that is full of inaccuracies. But what Blair did do was go to Chile and interview a lot of people with knowledge of the searches, the efforts of Canessa Sr., Nicolich Sr. and Harley Sr., Carlitos' dad, the moms who were in touch with a psychic, and much more. That part of his book is well-researched and very interesting, as is his information about the plane's navigational systems and some possible contributing factors to the accident that may have been the fault of ATC in Santiago. You can pick up that book as a used paperback on Amazon or alibris for a buck or two, and it's worth reading (just skip over the parts where the author doesn't really have good information. Read's book is hands down the source for the survivors' 72+ days in the Andes and their immediate post-rescue lives).

I really want to read it, hoping to soon. I've seen the documentary 'Stranded' though, absolutely fascinating.