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A review by kblincoln
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
5.0
Brutal. Historically rich. Devastating. Awful. Painfully Raw. Yeah, it's all that.
A family member told me this was one of the best books she's ever read. I don't think I would have picked it up otherwise, as I am leery of both brutality and depictions of Japanese atrocities from WWII.
I'm not exactly GLAD I read this book, but I can't say I didn't learn a wide variety of things historical, moral, and emotional about WWII and the depth of human depravity and resilience.
Louie Zamperini's story from lifeboat to Kwajalein Island, to POW camp under a larger-than-life super-villain, to less terrible POW camp, and back again to torture is so cinematically powerfully presented in this book that I'm surprised it took them this long to make a movie of it.
You couldn't make this stuff up. Not only the Olympic hero who rises from poverty, but the crazy POW camp guards and the B-24 air fights, and the fake socks to steal rice, and the unrelenting misery punctuated by small defiances and the descent into PTSD drinking and redemption by a bible thumper.
Unbelievable. And yet Laura Hillebrand makes everything very, very real in a way that makes my teeth ache like I've taken too big a bite of ice cream in my eagerness to devour Louie's story.
The scene that stands out for me as the epitome of depravity and resilience is where Louie's nemesis, the camp guard "The Bird" forces all 250 enlisted men to punch Louie in the face as punishment for someone else stealing food. For some reason I could barely read that page, my eyes skipped ahead in the text not wanting to let the full import/realization of what that was really sink into my brain.
Anyway, a must-read for any WWII historian. But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is triggered by violence and brutality.
A family member told me this was one of the best books she's ever read. I don't think I would have picked it up otherwise, as I am leery of both brutality and depictions of Japanese atrocities from WWII.
I'm not exactly GLAD I read this book, but I can't say I didn't learn a wide variety of things historical, moral, and emotional about WWII and the depth of human depravity and resilience.
Louie Zamperini's story from lifeboat to Kwajalein Island, to POW camp under a larger-than-life super-villain, to less terrible POW camp, and back again to torture is so cinematically powerfully presented in this book that I'm surprised it took them this long to make a movie of it.
You couldn't make this stuff up. Not only the Olympic hero who rises from poverty, but the crazy POW camp guards and the B-24 air fights, and the fake socks to steal rice, and the unrelenting misery punctuated by small defiances and the descent into PTSD drinking and redemption by a bible thumper.
Unbelievable. And yet Laura Hillebrand makes everything very, very real in a way that makes my teeth ache like I've taken too big a bite of ice cream in my eagerness to devour Louie's story.
The scene that stands out for me as the epitome of depravity and resilience is where Louie's nemesis, the camp guard "The Bird" forces all 250 enlisted men to punch Louie in the face as punishment for someone else stealing food. For some reason I could barely read that page, my eyes skipped ahead in the text not wanting to let the full import/realization of what that was really sink into my brain.
Anyway, a must-read for any WWII historian. But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is triggered by violence and brutality.