Book review for one of my most favorite books of all time: 438 days
Have you ever read a book like its a movie going on and you cannot stop but keep reading the book to know what happens next? This book is exactly that! And that is the reason this is one of my favorite reads till date.
What this books is about?
438 days: an extraordinary true story of survival at sea is an amazing and a true story of a man who got lost at sea for 438 days and was able to still survive through his strong belief, his strong will power to go back to his life, and to reunite with his daughter whom he was not able to connect much with when he was on land.
The main character in the story, Alvarenga was a common fisherman who used to be full of life and was a go-to person for his friend and professional circle. He was away from his own family because he had made some enemies back in the days and was too afraid to go back to his hometown in the fear of getting killed.
One day, the fisherman takes one of his friends for fishing but sadly, it was a stormy day. However, Alvarenga was too confident of his fishing and driving skills on sea, so they still went ahead in the motivation of making a few extra bucks. In no time, they get lost in sea as the waves, which are hundreds of feet in height, come crashing down. The two men on boat get lost and hoped that someone would come to rescue them soon, without realizing that they are much beyond the boundary of the rescue. Days pass by but there was no sign of rescue and it was all a scary ocean all around. In a few days, the men realize that they are way off the coast but still hoped that someone will come to take them back home. The major fiasco happened when the motor of their boat stopped working. It was the closest both of them were to death in their lives. However, it was not over.
Following days were really tough - both of them were on a small boat with no facilities including food and water. They had to wait for rain to drink water, and had to catch fishes and birds through bare hands and eat them raw to survive. However, there was a fundamental difference between Alvarenga and his friend, Cordoba. Cordoba had accepted death way before Alvarenga , even though they were in the same situations. Alvarenga , however, was optimistic and wanted to go back to his life and reunite with his daughter. There was something in him that kept him going.
Sadly, Cordoba died after a few days, and Alvarenga was all by himself in the huge ocean, going across waters from one place to another without knowing where in the world he is. On the small boat, he saw - day, night, rains, storms, sharks, whales and everything you can imagine. He faced hallucinations on several days and sometimes days went by without food and water. He became severely sick and weak. But, it was not over.
He did not give up! Simply put - he wanted to get out and one fine day, he did get out. He found a piece of land and then a family, and then his rescue and identification happened. At first, no one believed his story, until he told about his history, and police and cross border verifications happened. Literally, everyone was shocked to see he was alive. His friends already had his funeral an year ago but he rose from the ashes only to inspire the world.
Today, Jose Salvador Alvarenga is still alive and reunited with his family.
What a book!!
What does this book teach us?
Well, this book teach us so many things - we get disappointed by small setbacks and sometimes don't want to move on from them. Alvarenga teaches us that everything can be conquered with hard work, belief, right mindset and grit. There is no such thing as winning and losing, and life is so much beyond that. The book teaches us that life is much beyond where our understanding of universe ends. Also, the fact that the human power is beyond measurable - it is just dependent on the fact whether the person gets to experience such circumstances in life which pushes him or her beyond the limits of the mind.