Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

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

22 reviews

op3's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.75

Really good story, I loved the book. But with many books recounting true events there was a lot fluff. Although I felt it made the book more realistic it did take up an incredible amount of time to read.
Loved it as a book to read passively, but isn’t the kind I’d have read for an assignment in class.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Addiction, Mental illness, Death, Alcoholism, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness, War, Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Violence, and Suicide

Very serious book on PTSD, War, and being a POW. Expect for more than a few dark themes to come up.

agianeskis's review

adventurous emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Body horror, Alcoholism, and Violence

sammirobinson's review

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Torture, Mental illness, Bullying, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Excrement, Gaslighting, Genocide, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and War

bambicat234's review

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring tense slow-paced

4.75

I dont normally like war stories, or sports stories, biographies OR religious books. This combines all of the above and somehow kept my interest pulled in the entire time I read it. This author is an amazing storyteller. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Torture, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, and Confinement

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Suicide, Genocide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

maggieleeanne's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Genocide, Torture, Suicide, and Alcoholism

aggrano's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Death, War, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Slavery, and Violence

myworldtoread's review

emotional informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Torture, Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Violence, and War

gaillinot's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative sad medium-paced

3.75

Warning - this book is about 1/4 his early life and survival on the raft in the ocean. The rest is about his time as a POW in Japan. That was brutal and I was not prepared for that. I listened to the audio on a road trip with my husband we both agreed that the POW stories were hard to take. So, that much of the book was hugely informative. While Hitler was killing souls, the Japanese were torturing POWs. In the end there was redemption and forgiveness on the part of Zamperini which made the unbelievable even more astonishing. If you can stomach abuse in POW camps then this is an amazing book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, War, Forced institutionalization, and Animal cruelty

caitrisriding's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

It has taken me far too long to get through this book, but this book was so worth it in every way. 
Such a gripping, horrific yet beautiful story. I am just so thankful to Laura for putting in the tremendous research, time, & details that she did to write this & do it justice. She thanked so many people who helped in her endeavor and ended with a dedication ti all those who served and were prisoners of war during WWII. 

There were some parts of this book that were a bit slow to read and get through. There was also insanely gripping, terrifying, disgusting, heartbreaking, funny, & breathtaking parts also. This story was done so very well in my opinion and I think that everyone should read this book. We all need to know & be able to remember and reflect in the sacrifices that have been made for us to have the freedoms we have, and this book will punch you in the gut with what men went through for that purpose. 

I especially loved the ending. The interweaving of redemption of Louis’ story, coming to Christ, the full circle and hearing a little of all he went on to do and how he became a changed man. Such an inspiring story & beautiful tale of God’s love and redemption. Not written in an overly religious way at all, but written as it happened for Louis. Really loved that she didn’t just leave that out , and I hope it will positively impact others who read this book. 

Highly recommend. A wonderful job   by Laura Hillenbrand. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Death, Violence, Vomit, Excrement, Blood, War, and Alcoholism

tibbarasden's review

dark informative inspiring slow-paced

4.0

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It is a very in depth look at the life and experience of a WWII POW. It mainly focuses on the war but covers Louis's whole life. What I enjoyed in particular was the look at his life before the war. His childhood and dreams of the Olympics. Especially since we get a look at the Olympics held in German before WWII. I enjoyed how the author included accounts from other people as well as Louis. What I didn't like is the inconsistency in the pacing. At some points the story flowed really well and really captured what these men went through. At other times it got repetitive or bogged down with numbers and statistics. The info dump about the planes was particular difficult for me to get through. I also had mixed feelings about the account of what happened after the war. I know that it wasn't the main focus, but it felt a little rushed. Especially because Louis is spiraling, but then finds God and all is well. It didn't have the emotion and impact that the rest of the book did. Still worth the read. Especially since it focuses on the Japanese side of WWII and what POW went through. Other than Pearl Harbor, most of my knowledge on the war is Germany focused.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and War