A Candid, Cautiously Optimistic Survivor's Tale

Source: Author Website

Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free by Héctor Tobar (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014, 320pp.)

In Copiapó, Chile on August 5, 2010, the men of the A Shift went down into the San Jose Mine to work, as usual. Hours later, the mine had collapsed, trapping thirty-three miners almost 2,300 feet underground. In an ironic twist of fate, one of these miners had already survived an earthquake and a tsunami. For another miner, August 5 marked his first day on the job. As the men’s families anxiously gathered outside the mine, the story made its way to the attention of both the local and world media. Covering events from the day of the incident, to its aftermath a few years later, Deep Down Dark gives an honest look at ordinary, flawed people—first, struggling to survive a disastrous situation, and afterwards, trying to survive the media onslaught that hounded them after their rescue. The story can be a bit slow at times and all too often, the miners themselves are hard to tell apart—but overall, it’s candid, cautiously optimistic survivor’s tale that’s worth checking out at least once.