Well, how interesting can a book about a bloke in a boat be? The answer is – very interesting, riveting even. 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea is exactly that, riveting. a b c d e f g Pearlman, Jonathan (February 4, 2014). "Castaway's family in El Salvador rejoice at his survival". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved February 4, 2014.

José Salvador Alvarenga - Wikipedia

Be strong. Think positive. If you start to think to the contrary, you are headed to failure. Your mind has to be relaxed “as you think about survival. Don’t think about death. If you think you are going to die, you will die. You have to survive and think about the future of your life, that life is beautiful! How can you imagine taking your own life? There are challenges and punishment in life but you have to fight!” I slept good, and you? Have you had breakfast?” Alvarenga answered his own questions aloud, as if he were Córdoba speaking from the afterlife. The easiest way to deal with losing his only companion was simply to pretend he hadn’t died.Despite his physical and geographical solitude alone on his boat, Alvarenga found a deep happiness living ‘without sin, without evil, just [him]self with no problems, no one to accuse [him] of anything. [He] was tranquil, and adapting to the ocean. This was [his] new life.’” Although he didn’t know it, Alvarenga had washed ashore on Tile Islet, a small island that is part of the Ebon Atoll, on the southern tip of the 1,156 islands that make up the Republic of the Marshall Islands, one of the most remote spots on Earth. A boat leaving Ebon searching for land would either have to churn 4,000 miles north-east to hit Alaska or 2,500 miles south-west to Brisbane, Australia. Had Alvarenga missed Ebon, he would have drifted north of Australia, possibly running aground in Papua New Guinea, but more likely continuing another 3,000 miles towards the eastern coast of the Philippines.

438 DAYS | Kirkus Reviews

Who survives 14 months at sea? Only a Hollywood screenwriter could write a tale in which such a journey ends happily. I was sceptical, but as a Guardian reporter in the region, I began to investigate. It turned out there were dozens of witnesses who had seen Alvarenga leave shore, who had heard his SOS. When he washed ashore (in the same boat that he had left Mexico on), thousands of miles away, he was steadfast in his rejection of interviews – even posting a note on his hospital door begging the press to disappear. True story of two men who left Mexico in November 2012 during a fierce storm and how one of them survived for over a year adrift in the Pacific Ocean. The ingenuity this man showed was amazing. He found a way to capture raw fish, turtles, and birds, accumulate fresh rainwater, and endure life in a twenty-three-foot boat with no motor while shielding himself from the sun by curling up in an ice box!

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I not only appreciate the incredible story told, a story that has much to tell anyone who has ever felt themselves facing seemingly insurmountable odds (which is pretty much everyone), but also the tremendous research which creates the basis for the tale, and the heartfelt sympathy and respect that Mr. Franklin gave to Salvador Alvarenga, our protagonist. This story is a feast for the mind as well as the heart. Days by Jonathan Franklin will feature on the Radio 2 Fact not Fiction Book Club on Friday 27 November. It was raining the day Córdoba died, recalls Alvarenga. The two men, as they’d done almost daily for weeks, were huddled inside the icebox. They prayed. Córdoba asked Alvarenga to visit his mother and said that he was now with God. The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the sphere of suffering shared, and in this case extended to the death march itself, there is no spiritual or emotional legacy here to offset any reader reluctance. Everything in this book comes from Alvarenga's POV. He could've lied about any number of things. He mentions hallucinatory like dream-states. For all we know, Ezequiel was successful in suicide, and Alvarenga didn't want Ezequiel's uber-religious family to know. There are hundreds of questions, to which, only Alvarenga knows the answer.

438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

José Salvador Alvarenga ( Spanish: [xoˈse salβaˈðoɾ alβaˈɾeŋɡa]; born c. 1975) is a Salvadoran fisherman and author who was found on January 30, 2014, aged 36 or 37, [nb 1] on the Marshall Islands after spending 14 months adrift in a fishing boat in the Pacific Ocean beginning on November 17, 2012. He survived mainly on a diet of raw fish, turtles, small birds, sharks and rainwater. [7] He swam to shore at Tile Islet, a small island that is part of Ebon Atoll, on January 30. [8] Two locals, Emi Libokmeto and Russel Laikidrik, found him naked, clutching a knife and shouting in Spanish. [9] He was treated in a hospital in Majuro [5] [10] before flying to his family home in El Salvador on February 10. [11] Who was Ezequiel? The truth is, Alvarenga didn't know. Nobody from the fishing village knew. They called him Ezequiel Cordoba or Pinata. The Telegraph said that another fishermen said "there was a boy on that boat" but that they didn't really know anything about him. Also, his age is unknown. Accounts vary on Ezequiel's age, stating anywhere from 22 (the book), 23 (The Telegraph) and 24 (NBC). I’d heard about Mexicans who’d done this before,” Alvarenga said. “How did they do it? How come they were spared? ‘I shouldn’t be a coward,’ I told myself. I prayed a lot. And I asked God for patience.” Jonathan Franklin does a great job here fleshing out Alvarenga's story with as much specific detail as possible pertaining to the 438 days, but also balances this side of the story with accounts from other people who have survived long periods at sea highlighting similarities and differences. He also quotes from scientists and psychologists who have studied survival and the mental, emotional and physical changes humans undergo in extreme survival situations. This helps put Alvarenga's experience into a larger, more meaningful context. The length of his voyage has been variously calculated as 5,500 to 6,700 miles (8,900 to 10,800km). [4] [10] Some newspapers originally reported Alvarenga's tally of 15-plus lunar cycles as 16 months, [18] but eventually corrected this to 13 months. [3] According to Gee Bing, Marshall Islands' acting secretary of foreign affairs, Alvarenga's vital signs were all "good", with the exception of blood pressure, which was unusually low. Bing also said that Alvarenga had swollen ankles and struggled with walking. [19] On February 6 the doctor treating him reported that his health had "gone downhill" since the day before and that he was on an IV drip to treat his dehydration.What a remarkable story! I've heard about people being found after days and even weeks at sea but never have I heard the story of José Salvador Alvarenga, a man who was adrift in the ocean for 438 days. Where was this news story??? Where was I??? Buenos dias,” Salvador Alvarenga said to his friend, who was propped up in the bow of their fishing boat. “What is death like?” Alvarenga was more than 10 years older than Córdoba. Alvarenga believes he survived, in part, because of his experience in the open sea, but he also credits simple optimism and faith that God would save him. The sun sank and the storm churned as Córdoba and Alvarenga succumbed to the cold. They turned the refrigerator-sized icebox upside down and huddled inside. Soaking wet and barely able to clench their cold hands into fists, they hugged and wrapped their legs around each other. But as the incoming water sank the boat ever lower, the men took turns leaving the icebox to bale for frantic 10- or 15-minute stints. Progress was slow but the pond at their feet gradually grew smaller. Franklin’s deep research provides tremendous insight into the incredible journey: into the true immensity and isolation of the Pacific Ocean, the daily requirements and suffering of being a castaway for more than a year, as well as the physical and even more illuminating, at least to me, the psychological toll that it took on Alvarenga, a man who probably was the one in a million who could have survived this ordeal.