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

"Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand may be one of the best and most inspiring books I've read so far this year. I finally finished it last night (it was quite a read, some 490 pages) and I still have a bit of a high from reading such an amazing book. Laura Hillenbrand chronicles the unbelievable story of Louie Zamperini, a hell-raising track and field star turned Olympic athlete turned World War II bombardier. The book focuses on his life during the war, particularly from the period his plane was shot down and he survived 40 some days as a castaway floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to his time as a prisoner of war in a Japanese POW encampment. His ability to survive the harshest possible conditions and emerge from them alive, resilient, and unbroken is truly remarkable. I think I can safely say I've never enjoyed a biography as much as I have enjoyed "Unbroken", and I have a new-found faith for the courage and bravery of our soldiers.

In her meticulously researched biography, Laura Hillenbrand starts at the very beginning, going into great detail about Louie Zamperini's childhood, his inability to speak English when he first moved to California, his struggles with bullies, his love for pranks, and specifically, his incredible track and field abilities. Louie's brother struggles to straighten him out, and in an effort to distract his mischievous bordering on teenage delinquent side, he trains him to become a runner, and Louie swiftly rises in the ranks, making it all the way to the Berlin Olympics as the youngest American qualifier and even catching the attention of Hitler. When World War II comes around, Louie enlists in the United States Armed Air Forces and is deployed to the Pacific as a bombardier. One unfortunate morning, the notoriously defective plane Louie and his team were aboard crashes into the ocean, leaving Louie, his friend Phil, and Mac as the sole survivors. They float around in the ocean on rafts, circled by sharks, and eating raw fish and albatross for 40 something days, surviving through luck and sheer willpower. Mac passes away on the 33 day of being stranded, but Louie and Phil survive, only to be placed in the midst of their worst nightmare: Japanese Prisoner of War camps. Here, Hillenbrand's extensive research and attention to detail shines through, as she chronicles the absolute horrors of Japanese POW camps: the debasing of human dignity, the starvation, the slave labor, the mass executions, etc. She transports us to a radically different world of atrocities, horror, and sadism, where the limits of human cruelty are tested, and we read helplessly as innocent men are victimized for any and every reason. Louie's ability to survive the horrific trials and tribulations thrust upon him and come out of it unbroken, alive and with the ability to forgive his tormentors is truly unbelievable and something that should be remembered forever.

“The paradox of vengefulness is that it makes men dependent upon those who have harmed them, believing that their release from pain will come only when their tormentors suffer.” 

There isn't a book I have read this year that I would recommend more than "Unbroken". Laura Hillenbrand did a truly amazing job chronicling the inspiring life story of Louie Zamperini and allows us to travel alongside him in the most unbelievable journey of a life time. I don't have a single negative comment to make about this book and if I could, I would make every singly high school student studying U.S. History read it. "Unbroken" depicts war in a light most of us have never seen before, and makes us hope we never have to overcome the things Louie did. It truly is a story of survival, resilience, and redemption.