*****
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, Lauren Hillenbrand
number of voters: 6
percentage of voters who finished the book: 100
highest rating: 10
lowest rating: 8
average rating: 9.05
*****
In her book Unbroken, author Lauren Hillenbrand present the facts on the life of Louis Silvie Zamperini.
Louis grew up as a trouble maker of a kid who finally found an outlet for his energy by running track. He qualified for the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, where Adolf Hitler took notice and requested to meet the young runner. In 1941 Louis joined the Army and eventually became a bombadier. While on a rescue mission, his plane crashed, leaving only three survivors: Louis, his best friend, and another crewmate. The three men drifted on two small life rafts for 47 days, during which time they starved, baked in the sun, fended off shark attacks, and were strafed by Japanese planes. The men eventually reached land, where they were captured and taken as prisoners of war. While languishing in some of the most brutal Japanese POW camps, Louis was assumed lost at sea and declared dead...
These are the facts of the early years of Louis Zamperini’s life. Hillenbrand tells his story with a precision for detail, but also with a storyteller’s gift for narrative. There is more to the story, which I will withhold so as not to spoil it, but even if you know the tale from start to finish you will not be disappointed with Hillenbrand’s telling. It is a testament both to Zamperini’s life and Hillenbrand’s writing that knowing the story does not lessen the book’s impact.
In her pursuit of factual precision and objectivity, Hillenbrand does not come out and say what I will tell you now: Louis Silvie Zamperini is an inspiring man who has lived an extraordinary life. Any retelling of his tale is bound to be engrossing; Hillenbrand makes it riveting.
