Deep Down Dark
“Héctor Tobar takes us so far down into the story and lives of the Chilean miners that his reconstruction of a workplace disaster becomes a riveting meditation on universal human themes. Deep Down Dark is an extraordinary piece of work.”
George Packer, New York Times bestselling author of The Unwinding
Among longlisted titles for San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year, 2014
Among longlisted titles for Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year, 2014
Among shortlisted titles for Audie Award Finalist, 2015
Among longlisted titles for Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year, 2014
Among longlisted titles for Barnes and Noble Best New Books of the Year, 2014
Among longlisted titles for Buzzfeed Best Books of the Year, 2014
Among longlisted titles for Hudson Booksellers Best of the Year, 2014
Among shortlisted titles for L.A. Times Book Prize - Finalist, 2015
Nominated for National Book Critics Circle Awards - Nominee, 2014
Among longlisted titles for New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year, 2014
Among longlisted titles for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Best Books of the Year, 2014
Among longlisted titles for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Guide to the 100 Best Books of the Year, 2014
Nominated for National Book Critics Circle Award - Nominee, 2014
Winner of NPR Best Book of the Year, 2014
Deep Down Dark is the novel that inspired the film The 33 starring Lou Diamond Phillips, Cote de Pablo and Antonio Banderas. When the San José mine collapsed outside of Copiapó, Chile, in August 2010, it trapped thirty-three miners beneath thousands of feet of rock for a record-breaking sixty-nine days. After the disaster, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Héctor Tobar received exclusive access to the miners and their tales, and in Deep Down Dark, he brings them to haunting, visceral life. We learn what it was like to be imprisoned inside a mountain, understand the horror of being slowly consumed by hunger, and experience the awe of working in such a place-underground passages filled with danger and that often felt alive. A masterwork of narrative journalism and a stirring testament to the power of the human spirit, The 33: Deep Down Dark captures the profound ways in which the lives of everyone involved in the catastrophe were forever changed. A Finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award A Finalist for a Los Angeles Times Book Prize A New York Times Book Review Notable Book Selected for NPR's Morning Edition Book Club
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