Also reviewed by Heather.
Summary: On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.
Summary: On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.
The lieutenant’s name was Louis
Zamperini. In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent,
breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails.
As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a
prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight
of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an
airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and
a drift into the unknown.
Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of
miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation,
enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits
of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with
hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether
triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.
In her long-awaited new book, Laura
Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed
in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man’s journey
into extremity, Unbroken is a
testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit.
Review: Lauren Hillenbrand has truly delivered a
masterpiece. She breathed a spirit into
what so easily could have been another POW retelling that elevated it to an
entirely other plane. What Zamperini and
his friends went through was horrific, but what I appreciated, and what has
stuck with me, is that Hillenbrand continued the story through the darkness
Zamperini suffered when he came home and shed light on the difficulties these
POWs faced reentering the real world. To
be honest, reading about his struggles postwar was in some ways harder than
reading about what he had to endure in the Japanese interrogation camps, but
Zamperini was lucky. Through the encouragement
of his wife, he was reminded of a promise he made while trying to survive on a
life raft – that if his life were spared, he’d serve God for the rest of
it. It was so heartening to read of his
change of heart once that reawakening took place, and of the forgiveness he
readily offered his captors when given the chance years later.
This was a very hard book to get my
hands on (although it was published nearly two years ago, I had to wait for
months to get it, and I’m rushing back to the library to return it, since
there’s still quite a list of people waiting for it!), and I can completely
understand why. It’s nearly impossible
to not fall in love with Louie, Phil, and the friends he makes on his journey. His transformation from rebel child to Olympian,
his refusal to be cowed, and the change of heart that saved his marriage, his
postwar life, and allowed him to return to Japan on numerous occasions will
stick with me very much like Corrie ten Boom.
Rating: Four and a half stars.
For the Sensitive Reader: Detailed accounts of prisoner brutality and
some strong language (the POWs certainly came up with some colorful
nicknames).
1 comment:
My favorite nonfiction book. Ever.
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