Unbroken

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

By Laura Hillenbrand

 I really love reading about WWII.  Much more so that any other war the United States has been involved in. I'm not really sure why.  It seems like a time when the country came together as one. Oh I'm sure there were objectors to the war, thoughts about what if we lost, etc, but the overall impression I always get is hope and togetherness.  Also after this book I really want to get back to the Time-Life WWII books. Someday.

The book touches a bit on the early life of Louis Zamperini, which is good as I almost didn't continue reading past the first few chapters.  Louis was such an unlikable kid.  I kept asking myself "why am I still reading about this kid who continually breaks the law?" In retrospect I'm glad I did. There are a few pages about his life after the war but the heart of the story is about Louis Zamperini's time in Japanese prisoner of war camps.

This is where I usually talk about a brief summary of the book.  If you are at all interested in this story just go and read the book.  Instead here are some of my thoughts.

Having learned to fly at KTOA, or Zamperini Field in Torrance, CA I almost feel like I have sort of a connection to Louis Zamperini.  Having read and enjoyed Seabiscut, also by Laura Hillenbrand, I kinda knew that this would be a great book.  Spoiler alert! It was.  The book had me at the edge of my seat starting with Louis' 1936 Olympic race and there I remained until he made it back to the United States.  What's most amazing (and another reason I enjoy World War II stories so much) is that he never seemed to lose his determination or spirit.  You could almost say he remained unbroken?  No matter how bleak life looked while in the POW camps.  Reading these kind of books makes me wonder if I too would be able to survive. 

After the war Louis forgave his captors.  Traveling back to Japan he met with the former POW guards, all except for his nemesis, The Bird, who refused to meet with him.  He had to convince them that he truly forgave them for what he did.  Louis said that it eased his mind much more than had he tried to take revenge on them.  In the 1998 Nagano Olympics he even carried the Olympic torch through the town of Naoetsu and past Camp 4 where he stayed in his last POW camp.

This past June my dad and I went to see Louis Zamperini give a talk in honor of the 100th anniversary of the city of Torrance.  Most of the hour long talk was a showing of the 1998 Olympic piece that covered much of the material in the book.  Afterwards an energetic and spry Louis gave a short speech and answered a few questions.  In the book it mentions that his childhood home is a historical landmark.  I'll have to drive by one of these days, it's not far away.

I've talked about/recommended this book to a few of my coworkers.  So what are you waiting for?  Go read it now.