By Laura Hillenbrand
Wow! Unbroken is an extremely well-crafted story of the unbreakable spirit of Louis Zamperini. One is introduced to Louis as a young man growing up and getting into trouble. That is until he finds a passion and love of running. He quickly becomes one of the fastest runners in the United States, attends USC and earns a berth on the United States Olympic Team. Louis attends the 1936 Berlin Olympics for the United States and his future looks bright, but sparks are flying in Europe and World War II begins.
Louis enters into the armed services as an airman. Being an airman in the Pacific is full of danger. Crashes are commonplace and surviving is rare. Louis has several harrowing experiences that he and his crew pull through. Through the luck of God, and indomitable spirit he perseveres. That is until the fateful day that they are forced to fly an unfamiliar and ill-equipped "Green Hornet" on a search mission. When the airplane lands in the Pacific only 3 of its passengers survive. Louis is one of them. Their survival gear has been picked clean and they do not have half of their supplies. Their survival candy is stolen by one of the survivors and the men are left to their own devices. Louis uses cunning and is able to collect water from rain and catch the occasional bird to help sustain their lives. The candy thief succumbs along the way, and Louis and Allen eventually are captured by the Japanese.
Of course being "saved" by the Japanese is kind of like going from the pot into the fire. Each camp that Louis enters brings about new challenges and new dangers. There are varying degrees of brutality among the guards. Few are kind, most are brutal and some are deadly. Louis runs into his personal demon in one "Bird". The Bird is extremely lethal and very unpredictable. He makes it his personal goal in life to break Louis. Each day brings beatings and degradation. Louis gets a reprieve when the Bird is transferred to a new camp. As the Americans come closer to Japan, tensions heighten between the jubilant prisoners and their guardsmen. The massive B-29 has the Japanese quaking in their boots. As the American begin bombing Japan, Louis is transferred to another camp and into the waiting arms of the Bird. As the bird becomes more erratic and dangerous a plot is hatched to end his existence, but before the men could overpower the tyrant, he disappears into the mountains and Japan surrenders.
Louis eagerly awaits going home, but this is a process. His family knows that he is safe and on his way home, yet eagerly await his return. Louis engorges his life with food and alcohol. He is sought after by the press, because of his fame and his harrowing experience. He eventually, returns home to his families relief but is not the same Louis. The time in the Japanese Camps has left internal scars that are not readily visible. Louis is at a lost as to what to do with his life, he does meet his future wife in Florida but begins to drink heavily to escape his waking and sleeping nightmares. His life is spiralling out of control when his wife forces him to a tent revival with Billy Graham. After leaving abruptly the first time, Louis returns and has an epiphany. He had promised God one night on the raft that he would do the Lord's work if he was saved. Louis has a remarkable change and cleans up his life. He opens his heart to doing good and becomes a motivational speaker and runs a camp for troubled young men.
This story was very difficult to read at times. The brutality and degradation along with the density of the information made this a slow read, although I enjoyed immensely. I could only take the content in brief reads. I am giving "Unbroken" a 4.5 out of 5. This story needs to be told and read. I would keep this book for at least 8th grade as the content is brutal.
Links
Author: Laura Hillenbrand
Japanese Prisoners of War
Biography of Louis Zamperini
WWII Pacific Theater
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