iggy63 's review for:

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

5.0

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If you haven’t already done so, put this book on your Goodreads shelf. Go to the upper left of the screen and click ‘all.’ Then go to your list of books and click on ‘avg rating’ so the little arrow is pointing down. This will list all your books in descending order, based on reader’s ratings. I will be surprised if this book is not in the top 5. It might even be at the top. So the question is, “Is it really that good?” My answer is yes. It is superbly written, and the story of Louis Zamperini is one that should be told over and over. The plight of Pacific POWs does seem to have been overshadowed by other atrocities of WWII. Zamperini’s experience, crafted from his own recollections and corroborated by many other firsthand accounts, is astonishing. Lest we forget the suffering and sacrifices of these veterans, this book should be required reading at some level of education. The book is the perfect blend of research, fact and brilliant prose that makes well crafted non-fiction such a joy to read.

I was also stunned to learn of the author’s own personal challenges in writing this book. In the Epilogue Hillenbrand briefly describes her battles with acute chronic fatigue syndrome and extreme vertigo. For long periods of time she could barely lift her head off a pillow, and when the vertigo struck she was reduced to writing sentences by hand with her eyes closed to ward off the dizziness. Her perseverance seems to go hand in hand with that of her subject. All in all, an unforgettable book.