Deep Down Dark / Hector Tobar - 4****

[Book Concierge]

Deep Down Dark – Hector Tobar
Book on CD performed by Henry Leyva
4****

From the book jacket: When the San Jose Mine collapsed outside of Copiapo, Chile, in August 2010, it trapped thirty-three miners beneath thousands of feet of rock for sixty-nine days. The entire world watched what transpired above-ground during the grueling and protracted rescue, but the sage of the miners’ experiences below the Earth’s surface – and the lives that led them there – has never been heard, until now.

My Reactions
What a gripping tale of survival, faith, team work and perseverance! I remember watching the events unfold on television, though I was not glued to the TV as many were. I really had no interest in reading this book, but picked it up because my F2F book club chose it for discussion. I’m really glad I read it.

Shortly after the mine collapsed, the thirty-three men decided that their story was owned by all of them collectively, and that none would sell his story apart from the group as a whole. Victor Segovia, “a hard-drinking jumbo operator,” kept a diary while entombed, and this became a significant source for the book. Tobar was chosen to write their story and he was given complete access to the miners, their families, and several of the officials who were part of the rescue efforts.

While the story is ALL of theirs, the book does focus somewhat on a handful of the leaders who emerged – including Maria Segovia, the sister of miner Dario, who became the “mayor” of the tent city just outside the mine property – Camp Esperanza (Camp Hope) – where the families waited for their men to be rescued. In addition to the harrowing tale of their experiences underground, waiting for a rescue that might or might not happen, the book also relates the difficulties many of the miners had coping with their instant fame, and the aftereffects of the trauma they suffered.

Henry Leyva does an excellent job performing the audio book. His pacing is good, and his Spanish pronunciation is excellent. I was a little taken aback at the heavily accented English he used for the dialogue, but then I suppose other listeners would have been equally annoyed if he had NOT used the accent. It certainly made it easy to tell when there was dialogue rather than exposition.

NOTE: A movie was made of their story; titled The 33 , it stars Antonio Banderas. A paperback movie-tie-in edition of the book also carries this title, and has additional content not present in the original hardcover.

[Ladyslott]

I enjoyed this book, found it fascinating.