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Let Me Survive: A True Story
 
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Let Me Survive: A True Story [Hardcover]

Louise Longo (Author)
2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Book Description

September 1, 1996
On September 30th, 1994, Louise Longo embarked with her husband and 5-year-old daughter on a three-week Atlantic cruise. It was a chance for them to spend some much-needed time alone together. But the night of October 5th brought a violent storm that would prove the catalyst for a terrible tragedy.

Longo's husband, Bernard, feared that the tossing sea would sink their sailboat, so they sought the safety of their liferaft. As the Spanish coast lay a mere 40 miles off, they anticipated a speedy rescue.

Days stretched into weeks. Their meager food and water supplies dwindled, and nary a sail could be seen on the horizon. Eventually, help did indeed arrive, but not before the family's ordeal had exacted a terrible toll.

Louise Longo's terse words reflect the agony, guilt, and rage of a sole survivor who escapes death at sea only to face accusations ashore.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

'A strange, gloomy, shadowy true story of deaths at sea is this one and it will play tricks inside your head. The mysterious actions and words of the skipper (the husband) form a devious maze of indecipherable oceanic madness. Bernard and Louise Longo and five-year-old daughter start out on a pleasant summer sail in the always unsettled Bay of Biscay. A wreck, days in a boat, unable to flag down ships passing by, bring things to a head. Louise gets to safety in Spain. The husband and child are dead. What happened? A good little thriller. A true one.' --Book World

'Written in a spare, no-holds-barred style, skillfully translated from the original French, this is the most compelling story of shipwreck and survival of the last several decades.' --I.M. Boating Books Catalog

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 160 pages
  • Publisher: Sheridan House; 1st Ed.(U.S.) edition (September 1, 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1574090062
  • ISBN-13: 978-1574090062
  • Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,400,399 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars A work of fiction posing as factual narrative., March 11, 2008
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The book relates the story of the author (Louise Longo), her husband Bernard, from whom she had separated two years before, and their five year old daughter embarking on a three week sail in the Bay of Biscay off the coast of France. During the night of October 5 Ms. Longo asserts that their sailboat was struck by two giant waves. The glass windshield of the wheelhouse shattered causing some minor lacerations to both herself and Bernard,that is,if you believe the story. (Regarding the credibility of her version of the events, I thought that safety glass is widely used in construction that resists that kind of shattering.) Fearing being struck by a third wave Bernard decides to abandon the sailboat and all three escape to a rubber liferaft. I just find this part of the story too much to believe. The sailboat wasn't sinking. It stretches ones imagination to believe that a sane person would abandon an intact sailboat fully provisioned for the relative vulnerability of a rubber liferaft with practically nothing on board! In addition, although there were no time constraints in abandoning the sailboat they take almost no food with them and only a very small supply of water and close to no supplies! A few days after their water ran out it starts raining and shortly AFTER this Bernard dies. We are asked to believe that he died despite having the opportunity of having some rainwater to drink. To clinche the credibility of these events, we are asked to believe that her daughter, Gaella, died minutes after they were found by a trawler. By the way, she dumps Gaella overboard shortly before her ultimate rescue by a helicopter.

To me, the story just doesn't ring true and I didn't believe it. She admits in her story about having lied to the authorities shortly after her rescue but doesn't relate as to what those lies were. While the sailboat was found intact after her rescue I don't believe they ever found the body of her daughter nor Bernard.

The real mystery about this book is what really happened to Bernard, Gaella and the sailboat and this is only left with one's imagination.
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