
My Review: This is another one of my book club reads. Don’t you feel like you’re right there with us? Too bad you missed out on the yummy artichoke dip with pita chips and the pumpkin roll (January weight loss resolutions? Forgettaboutit!)
As
with many of my book club reads, this isn’t a book I would normally have picked
up. I do enjoy nonfiction, but nonfiction about mining isn’t necessarily
something that would have been on my radar. I do vaguely remember when this
happened, although I was not a huge news watcher in 2010 and so would have
heard about it somewhere other than there. So with all this being said, I don’t
really remember it all that clearly. I have since watched YouTube videos of the
rescue, and of course I’m well-versed now that I’ve read the book, but to
suffice it to say, I didn’t know what happened when I started reading this
book.
I
have quite a few thoughts about this book. First of all, it is really well
written. Hector Tobar, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, is legit. I never
felt bogged down by facts or confused. As most of the miners were Chilean
(there was one Bolivian), most of the names were in Spanish, and there were 33
of them, so it was easy to get confused (which would be easy to do in any
language, really, when there are so many people involved). Tobar does a superb
job of bringing each man to life, and then he continually gives little
reminders when speaking about them again, so that the reader is easily able to
remember who is who. I found this to be invaluable as I have no idea how I
would have kept track save for a few of the miners who were featured
prominently. Another thing I appreciated about Tobar’s descriptions was how he
really created a rich time and place of when the incident happened. I’ve never
been to Chile, but I felt like I was transported there, and also was able to
understand what the mine would have been like. Tobar’s writing was accessible,
descriptive, and had just the right amount of details. Too many details and
you’re bombarded and it gets so technical it’s confusing. Too few details and
you don’t feel like you understand the topic. Tobar was able to strike that
careful balance between just enough details with just enough description to
make it interesting and accessible. We have a wide variety of readers in our
book club and although we all like to read (hence the book club) there are
varying degrees of commitment to nonfiction literature. The general consensus
was that everybody really enjoyed this book, which is a pretty tall order from
my book club. They will all participate, they will be fun and lovely as always,
but they may not always love the book. I think everyone really liked this book,
and that is high praise from a diverse group of women.
This
book was inspiring and heartwarming. The miners themselves came from small and
seemingly insignificant places, but the world pulled together to save them. It
was an affirming and inspiring story about normal people and how ultimately we
all have to care for each other. I loved reading about the strength of some of
the miners, but also of their families, and although many of them did not end
up having the happy ever after that one would hope after such an experience,
there was something to be learned from each of them and what they took away
from the experience. One of our favorite things we discussed in book club was
about what each person is to do with the different experiences they are given
in life. I think this book did a great job of not only bringing out this
question but also of offering many different examples of how an individual may
act and what the consequences will be. The book was a good book club book in
that there was a lot of discussion both of the actual event (we definitely watched
some of the YouTube footage) as well as the overarching issues of men who were
put in this very strange and unprecedented situation.
My Rating: 4
Stars
For the
sensitive reader: There was some language and some mild suggestive discussion,
but it was a clean book and I was comfortable reading it in my church book
club.
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