Unbroken (Movie Tie-in Edition): A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, Laura Hillenbrand

4.44 AVERAGE

kgp77's review against another edition

5.0
This is an incredibly moving account of one man's life journey and how world events impacted not only him but those around him. Most of the WWII history I learned in school invariably centered on the European theatre. As I read Louie's story I was horrified by what he and others experienced in the Pacific battles and captivity. These stories, as hard as they are to hear or read, must be told to keep history from being repeated.
It was important to know who Louie was before, during and after his time as a POW to understand how he reached the point in his life where forgiveness was freely given by him to his captors.
To say I 'enjoyed' reading this book is to attach a sense of lightness to it when in fact it was difficult and at the same time important to read the various accounts of what occurred in the POW camps.

rslove1285's review against another edition

4.0
This is not my normal type of book, but I really loved it. I learned a lot of history and it was written in an interesting way that kept me listening and eager to get back to listening when I was away from it.
It made me incredibly grateful to the people who serve our country in the military.

sticklea's review against another edition

5.0
adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Book was so reflective. Couldn’t sleep at night after finishing it.

jenniferrobin826's review against another edition

3.0
Read this and listened to much of it on audio because my son was reading the YA version. While I completely respect the story and Louis Zamperini's journey, this definitely wasn't a page turner to me, and it took me a while to get through - felt like a slog through at times. I know this is a well revered book, and I can see why but I should have known it wasn't my style. I also felt they could have done a better job explaining that the U.S. wasn't innocent either. I get that it wasn't the focus of Louis' story but since my son was reading this, it concerned me that the book was very one-sided.

k_bird's review against another edition

4.0
Really wonderful biography of Louie Zamperini, whose plane went down in the Pacific and who became a POW in WWII. He lived through the unimaginable and, after much difficulty, forgave even his abusers. The title's a bit of a misnomer--perhaps there were moments he felt broken. I think so. It's a true hero's journey. And a reminder of what people are capable of doing, both to tear down and built up humanity.

liza_palubicki's review against another edition

5.0
Loved this book. I appreciate authors who are both fantastic story-tellers and educators. Hillenbrand hits the mark dead on.

jendoop's review against another edition

5.0
Great book! It's unusual for a non-fiction book to engross me and this one did. The author is wonderful in relating the story within historical context while not rambling. A moving story about endurance, strength, and miracles.

valglidden's review against another edition

5.0
Such an amazing book. I had such a hard time putting it down. I was very intrigued to read the book after watching the movie when it first came out. I'm so glad I finally got around to it. Louie's story is incredible. The movie depicted parts of it but so many of the details were lost, especially his conversion after the war. It's a heartbreakingly beautiful story about perseverance, human kindness and evil, and God's grace
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sandra_goodson's review against another edition

3.0
Some parts of this were good but it was very repetitive. So...

kendallhoward's review against another edition

4.0
adventurous emotional tense slow-paced