Thursday, May 19, 2011

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

Moving. Readers who like true stories about amazing individuals have to read Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken. She tells the emotionally moving story of the life of Louie Zamperini. If this were fiction, we would criticize the portrayal of the protagonist as too much larger than life. Since this is a true story, I found myself constantly blown away by Louie and his life. After growing up in the Depression as a hell raiser, he found discipline in track, and competed in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin where he met Hitler. World War II interrupted his athletic career, and led to near death experiences in the Pacific, where one plane he was in crash landed, and another crashed into the sea, leaving Louie and other crew on a raft for weeks, battling sharks, shot at by the enemy, and starving to death. His capture led to the worst experience of his life: his treatment in a prisoner of war camp in Japan. Throughout everything, Louie’s indomitable spirit survived, rebounded and he dealt with whatever life threw at him next, which required even more resilience as he faced PTSD with nightmares of his treatment in captivity, and resorted to alcohol to numb his pain. This moving and powerful story engages readers from the first page to the last.

Rating: Four-star (Highly Recommended)
Click here to purchase Unbroken from amazon.com.

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