bhsmith's review against another edition
4.0
I remember this story poking around the news cycle a few years ago, but I never followed much of the drama or really knew much of the story. When NPR decided to start their "Morning Reads" book club several weeks ago with "Deep Down Dark" as their first choice, I thought it sounded like an interesting book to pick up.
And... it was!
Thirty-three miners went in to their mine on an August morning and a collapse left them trapped thousands of feet below the surface. They had very little food and were forced to live in hot. humid conditions without any way to reach the outside world. After 17 days, and on the brink of starvation, a drill from the surface finally pokes through, giving the men hope that they will be rescued from the mine.
This book dives deep into the many different questions I found myself asking about the situation the miners found themselves in... physical, emotional, spiritual, logistical, etc. Author Hector Tobar spends equal time weighing the mental stress and anxiety with the physical toll taking place below ground. He explores spirituality and family matters with an intensely personal touch. It is no secret that the miners all survived, so he allows us to hear from most all of them as they recount the experience, what brought them in to the mine, what they were thinking, and many of their most painful moments. And, he explains the logistics of mining and mine rescue, which is central to this story.
Even though the entire book is pretty well described in the subtitle, this is still a page-turning description of what happened. While I know they all get out safe, part of me thinks that maybe something goes wrong (because the chances of something terrible happing are so high), or maybe there is some complication I'm not aware of. Tobar builds up this drama throughout the book and certainly kept me reading.
And... it was!
Thirty-three miners went in to their mine on an August morning and a collapse left them trapped thousands of feet below the surface. They had very little food and were forced to live in hot. humid conditions without any way to reach the outside world. After 17 days, and on the brink of starvation, a drill from the surface finally pokes through, giving the men hope that they will be rescued from the mine.
This book dives deep into the many different questions I found myself asking about the situation the miners found themselves in... physical, emotional, spiritual, logistical, etc. Author Hector Tobar spends equal time weighing the mental stress and anxiety with the physical toll taking place below ground. He explores spirituality and family matters with an intensely personal touch. It is no secret that the miners all survived, so he allows us to hear from most all of them as they recount the experience, what brought them in to the mine, what they were thinking, and many of their most painful moments. And, he explains the logistics of mining and mine rescue, which is central to this story.
Even though the entire book is pretty well described in the subtitle, this is still a page-turning description of what happened. While I know they all get out safe, part of me thinks that maybe something goes wrong (because the chances of something terrible happing are so high), or maybe there is some complication I'm not aware of. Tobar builds up this drama throughout the book and certainly kept me reading.
rlk7m's review against another edition
4.0
Book club selection
This book tells the story of these miners quite well, without dragging out the story. I was especially satisfied with the ending and coverage of the miners' lives post-rescue.
This book tells the story of these miners quite well, without dragging out the story. I was especially satisfied with the ending and coverage of the miners' lives post-rescue.
elinacre's review against another edition
5.0
LOVED this book. sooo interesting to get the perspectives of so many involved in this incident, from the miners themselves to their families on the outside to the government and rescue workers brought in to assist in getting them the hell out of there. the author is a great writer--i appreciated that nearly every time a miner was mentioned, he included a little tidbit that we'd previously learned about him, to help "ring a bell." i would have liked to see more photos, diagrams, maps, visual aids of any sort in the book. i found myself wildly curious about the inside of the mine, and googled and youtubed late into the night watching news clips and videos about the incident. i wish i'd been more interested in this as it was happening back in 2010. anyway, tl:dr: super interesting, super informative, super great. needs more pics. oh, pro tip: i stuck a big rubber band around the front cover to hold the page with the pics of the miners. much easier to turn back and remind myself of the face of the man focused on at any particular point in the book. :)
loveathena98's review against another edition
5.0
Read this for my NEHS book club. Very adult read. Probably one of the more mature pieces I've read. Entertaining, and glad to see a connection to a real world story that I heard about some years ago.
lisa_butler79's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Deep Down Dark - Hector Tobar
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
I read this book for a book with South American connection for my reading challenge. I don't read many non-fiction books probably because I find then hard to get invested in and for this reason I found this book hard to read. I was expecting the untold stories of the 33 miners trapped in the San Jose mine accident in 2010 but the book didn't portray this.
I wanted the more nitty gritty horrors of their survival trapped underground but this book failed to deliver that.
I don't know where I was in 2010 but I have no recollection of seeing this story on the news at all and the book was the first time I knew about this. I had to Google the story a lot whilst reading the book, probably because unlike most non fiction books this book didn't have any photographs to refer to so I struggled to visualise the mine and the rescue.
The book for me just didnt capture the horror, fear and excitement of such a real factual event. It has a lot of facts but the emotional side was missing. I finished the book more out of obligation to my reading challenge then the desire to keep reading.
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
I read this book for a book with South American connection for my reading challenge. I don't read many non-fiction books probably because I find then hard to get invested in and for this reason I found this book hard to read. I was expecting the untold stories of the 33 miners trapped in the San Jose mine accident in 2010 but the book didn't portray this.
I wanted the more nitty gritty horrors of their survival trapped underground but this book failed to deliver that.
I don't know where I was in 2010 but I have no recollection of seeing this story on the news at all and the book was the first time I knew about this. I had to Google the story a lot whilst reading the book, probably because unlike most non fiction books this book didn't have any photographs to refer to so I struggled to visualise the mine and the rescue.
The book for me just didnt capture the horror, fear and excitement of such a real factual event. It has a lot of facts but the emotional side was missing. I finished the book more out of obligation to my reading challenge then the desire to keep reading.
ps2's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
slow-paced
3.75
pagesofpins's review against another edition
3.0
I really appreciated that the author sensitively covered both the effects of trauma from the mine and of being idolized by a nation. In places a bit hard to remember who is who, picture where they are, ect, but overall an interesting story. So cool that they got these guys out alive!
jmooremyers's review against another edition
4.0
favorite passages:
"Once, Monica strode across the dry, dusty surface of the mountain in her sleep. Though they are filled with tears, her eyes are open this morning and she is fully awake and alert and present for the first time in seventeen days, watching the camp and its wives and girlfriends and brothers and sons speak, their breath visible in the air of a morning just turning to light." [page 167]
"They are famous now, yes, but that heady sense of fullness that fame gives you, that sense of being at the center of everything, will disappear quicker than they could possibly imagine." [page 243]
"From all these strangers, Luis does not get the sense that they think he's a hero, necessarily, or that they're in awe of him. Rather, he understands that it's as if he and these strangers had lived something together: a shared experience with him in the mine and them on the outside. What he feels from these strangers is the gratitude of people who've been given a true and hopeful story, a timeless legend born of their own time, in a humble country in the shadow of the Andes." [page 302]
"Once, Monica strode across the dry, dusty surface of the mountain in her sleep. Though they are filled with tears, her eyes are open this morning and she is fully awake and alert and present for the first time in seventeen days, watching the camp and its wives and girlfriends and brothers and sons speak, their breath visible in the air of a morning just turning to light." [page 167]
"They are famous now, yes, but that heady sense of fullness that fame gives you, that sense of being at the center of everything, will disappear quicker than they could possibly imagine." [page 243]
"From all these strangers, Luis does not get the sense that they think he's a hero, necessarily, or that they're in awe of him. Rather, he understands that it's as if he and these strangers had lived something together: a shared experience with him in the mine and them on the outside. What he feels from these strangers is the gratitude of people who've been given a true and hopeful story, a timeless legend born of their own time, in a humble country in the shadow of the Andes." [page 302]
jfbfsf's review against another edition
4.0
This was a thoughtful, in depth retelling of an infamous event, when 33 miners survived a mine collapse in Chile and then spent weeks trapped underground, as their country worked to free them and the whole world watched.
Parts of this story are slow - setting the scene in the Atacama desert, introducing the characters as they travel to the mine on the day of the collapse, giving them each some backstory, talking about their families. But I felt like all that was the point. The world knows the story - you can look it up on Wikipedia if you didn't live through it. This is a deeper investigation into who went into that mine, how they survived over two months trapped underground, and what happened to them after they were freed. The author is evenhanded and sympathetic to all of the characters, something that must have been challenging after hearing this event told from 33 different perspectives. It's clear that he took seriously the responsibility of telling the miners story, particularly since the miners themselves trusted him to write their official account.
An excellent, worthwhile read.
Parts of this story are slow - setting the scene in the Atacama desert, introducing the characters as they travel to the mine on the day of the collapse, giving them each some backstory, talking about their families. But I felt like all that was the point. The world knows the story - you can look it up on Wikipedia if you didn't live through it. This is a deeper investigation into who went into that mine, how they survived over two months trapped underground, and what happened to them after they were freed. The author is evenhanded and sympathetic to all of the characters, something that must have been challenging after hearing this event told from 33 different perspectives. It's clear that he took seriously the responsibility of telling the miners story, particularly since the miners themselves trusted him to write their official account.
An excellent, worthwhile read.
cher_n_books's review against another edition
4.0
4 stars - It was great. I loved it.
A personable and evocative story told by a journalist that is capable of writing a narrative nonfiction book. Now, on to the movie.
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Favorite Quote: It seems silly to Franklin for his fellow miners to think of themselves as national heroes when all they’ve done is gotten themselves trapped in a place where only the desperate and the hard up for cash go to suffer and toil. They are famous now, yes, but that heady sense of fullness that fame gives you, that sense of being at the center of everything, will disappear quicker than they could possibly imagine. Franklin tries to speak this truth to his fellow miners, but he does so halfheartedly, because he knows the only way to learn it is to live it.
First Sentence: The San José Mine is located inside a round, rocky, and lifeless mountain in the Atacama Desert in Chile.
A personable and evocative story told by a journalist that is capable of writing a narrative nonfiction book. Now, on to the movie.
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote: It seems silly to Franklin for his fellow miners to think of themselves as national heroes when all they’ve done is gotten themselves trapped in a place where only the desperate and the hard up for cash go to suffer and toil. They are famous now, yes, but that heady sense of fullness that fame gives you, that sense of being at the center of everything, will disappear quicker than they could possibly imagine. Franklin tries to speak this truth to his fellow miners, but he does so halfheartedly, because he knows the only way to learn it is to live it.
First Sentence: The San José Mine is located inside a round, rocky, and lifeless mountain in the Atacama Desert in Chile.