Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Introduction

This is a terrific book. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, tells, in riveting detail and in a quick, narrative fashion, the story of one man's life. In a life that so far has spanned 94 years, Louis Zamperini (or just Louie, as he is referred to throughout the book) was an Olympic runner, an Army Air Forces B-24 bombardier, a castaway in the South Pacific, and ultimately a POW of the Japanese government from 1943-1945. The author, Laura Hillenbrand, who wrote the bestselling book, Seabiscuit: An American Legend, crafts and involving story of Louie and the defining moments of his life and those around him. Ms. Hillenbrand traces Louie's life as an enthusiastic (but incorrigible) youth in Torrance, California, who turned to running as a teen on the urging of his older brother, Pete, an athlete in his own right

The Story

This biography takes off with a B-24 journey across the Pacific Ocean, but Lieutenant Louie Zamperini's story of survivalbegins when his plane, Green Hornet, with a crew of 11 crashes into the ocean, killing eight. The survivors drift at sea for 47 days: dodging strafing from a Japanese plane; hand-fighting sharks; and cheating starvation by wringing the neck of an albatross, consuming its raw flesh, and crafting the bird's bones into fishing hooks. Only two lieutenants survived the 2,000-mile raft-journey to the Japanese-occupied Marshall Islands. After enduring their harrowing sea journey, Zamperini is moved to Japan where another, longer story of fortitude unfolds. The author describes the horrific life American POWs suffered at the hands of the Japanese captors; they lived in maggot-infested huts with stinging insects while being subjected to arbitrary torture that filled their days for the next two years, as guests of the Emperor.

Hillenbrand sets the stage for this tale by chronicling young Louie's developmental journey. We follow the Torrance Tornado's "childhood of artful dodging" and watch as he acquires the confidence of someone "clever, resourceful, and bold enough to escape any predicament," including what he thought was the humiliation of growing up as a poor Italian-American immigrant in California, striving to speak English, and endeavoring to fit in at school. Louie seemed destined for juvenile hall, or court-ordered sterilization, but Louie's brother Pete refocused the Torrance Tornado's stubborn streak to track and field, leading him to the 1936 Berlin Olympics where his "blistering last lap" in the 5,000-meter race resulted in a handshake and praise from Adolf Hitler along with waves of speculation about the gold awaiting him in the scheduled 1940 Olympics in Japan. War changed everything, but Louie's fortitude stood him in good stead for the challenges he would endure in the prison camps.

Hillenbrand describes the terror of waiting for the next beating, the inescapable thoughts of hopelessness, and the endless pain of repeated blows from relentless torturers. A story so intense it's almost incredible, a story that challenges the reader's comprehension, this description of the life-and-death struggle of the POWs will remain with you longer than you ...