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

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

4.45 of 5 stars 4.45 · rating details · 131,586 ratings · 20,069 reviews

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordin...more

Paperback, Large Print, 776 pages

Published November 16th 2010 by Random House Large Print

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Dec 02, 2011 Annalisa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Annalisa by: Traci Gosman

Hillenbrand has broken the unwritten code for Americans to downplay the wrongs of the Japanese during World War II (other than Pearl Harbor) in favor of focusing on the egregious acts of the Nazis. My education in World War II history has focused on the Holocaust and the unforgivable damage we did to Japan by unleashing the atomic bomb. I appreciate all the research Hillenbrand did to bring us the other side of the story.

Louis Zamperini is my new hero. I loved his charisma and endurance, both of...more

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Julie Even if Wanda is correct, which I'm sure she is, I 100% concur with you, Annalisa, in that this book brings the war in the Pacific alive in a whole ne...more
Jan 15, 2013 04:53am

Annalisa Thanks, Julie. Wanda absolutely is right. I know there is literature out there on the subject, but that wasn't my point and she misunderstood me. I'm...more
Jan 15, 2013 07:23pm

May 08, 2011 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: tigard-library, non-fiction, somehow-usc-related, running

Wow am I in the minority.

I absolutely loved Seabiscuit, so I expected great things from this one. However, where Seabiscuit focused narrowly on a small set of characters and events, this was more sprawling, bursting with a poorly-sketched cast of characters who, over time, became nearly indistinguishable. For most of the middle section, the book wore me down with its unrelenting catalogue of abuse and privation. On a related note, I wasn't crazy about the fact that the book endlessly described...more

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Feb 24, 2011 Kemper rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, history, biography, non-fiction, over-there, war, military, usa-usa

I was cleaning up after the wife and I had dinner last night and there was a small amount of green beans left. There weren’t nearly enough for another serving to make them worth saving so I dumped them in the sink, but just as I was about to turn on the garbage disposal, I realized that to the POWs described in Unbroken those few green beans I was about to mulch would have been a feast they would have risked torture and beatings for. I was disgusted with myself for the rest of the night. You kno...more I was cleaning up after the wife and I had dinner last night and there was a small amount of green beans left. There weren’t nearly enough for another serving to make them worth saving so I dumped them in the sink, but just as I was about to turn on the garbage disposal, I realized that to the POWs described in Unbroken those few green beans I was about to mulch would have been a feast they would have risked torture and beatings for. I was disgusted with myself for the rest of the night. You know the book you’re reading is hitting you hard when you feel that much shame for letting a tiny bit of food go to waste.

Louie Zamperini is one of those guys who definitely earned that Greatest Generation label. The son of Italian immigrant parents, Louie was a rebellious kid who was constantly into one form of mischief or another, but when he finally channeled his energy into running, he became a high school track star in California. Louie was so good that he made the 1936 Olympics in Berlin at the age of 19, and even though he didn’t medal, he ran one lap of a race so quickly that he electrified the crowd and even caught Hitler’s attention.

As a college runner, Louie held several national records and many thought that he’d be the man to eventually break the four minute mile. He was poised to do well in the 1940 Olympics, but then World War II cancelled the games. Louie left college and ended up in the air corps even though he was scared of planes. He became a bombardier and went to the Pacific after Pearl Harbor. Louie survived several missions, including one where their B-24 barely made it back with over 500 holes in it.

While on a search and rescue mission, Louie’s plane crashed in the ocean, and only he and two others survived. With few supplies on two tiny life rafts, they’d endure exposure, starvation, thirst and sharks.

However, after finally reaching an island and being captured by the Japanese, Louie’s hellish experience as a POW would make him miss the raft and the sharks. Starved, beaten, tortured and degraded, Louie also faces extra punishment at the hands of a brutally sadistic guard who singled him out. Louie and the other prisoners desperately try to hang on long enough for America to win the war and free them.

I didn’t care anything about race horses, but found Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit an incredibly interesting read. She’s surpassed that book here with this well researched story. Hillenbrand creates vivid descriptions of Louie’s childhood, the Berlin Olympics, the life of an air man in the Pacific, and a Japanese POW camp while also telling the stories of the people around Louie.

She also does a superior job of describing a phase of World War II that tends to get overlooked, Japanese war crimes against prisoners. The number of prisoners killed by the Japanese through starvation, beatings and forced labor are staggering, but Hillenbrand also shines a light on the Japanese policy of killing all POWs if that area was about to be invaded. Per her research, they were preparing to begin slaughtering prisoners in Japan in late August and September of 1945, but the dropping of the atomic bombs and the surrender of the emperor probably saved those POWs lives. If the war would have carried on or a conventional invasion done, then mostly likely those prisoners would have been killed.*

*(Do not take this as my personal feelings about whether nuclear weapons should have been used or not. I’m just relaying a part of the book here, and Hillenbrand makes no argument as to whether dropping the bombs was justified. She writes that many of the POWs believed that the bombings probably saved their lives and leaves it at that. And if you feel like trying to start a comment fight about it, I’m just going to delete it so don’t bother. I left my sword and shield at home today and don’t feel like battling trolls.)

Ultimately, while this is a book about people enduring incredible hardship and cruelty during war, it's a hopeful book, not a depressing one. Great writing and the care that Hillenbrand took with the people and places make this compelling reading.
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Apr 30, 2013 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: for-kindle, wine-club, 2013, reviewed

Remember when we used to have live TV and stations would air previews for a program they were trying to promote? Have you ever then gone and watched that program only to discover that the preview was kind of misleading?

Well, the previews for this book are wicked misleading. Everything about it—the jacket cover, the book description...ok, maybe just the jacket cover and the book description—led me to believe this was a story about a World War II soldier lost at sea. And yes, there is certainly a...more

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Nov 28, 2012 Jason rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jason by: Dolly

Holy mackerel. This is the single non-fiction book you ought to put on your read list for 2013. Even if you don’t read it, it’s presence on your shelf will enrich your library.

This is a WWII survival story of an American aviator in the Pacific theater. And wow! Louis Zamperini. Zamp!

An Italian immigrant with the fastest mile in college track who shook hands with Hitler at the ’36 Olympics, shot down in the pacific, 40+ days in a 2-man raft with 3 people, captured, paraded for propaganda, torture...more

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Mar 19, 2011 Jeanette rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography-memoir, history, asia, america, nonfiction, world-war-two-nonfiction

A solid and resounding 3.5 stars
The promotional buzz for this book focuses on Louis Zamperini's survival at sea after a WWII plane crash, and his subsequent ordeal as a POW in Japan. If that's what piqued your interest in the book, I suggest beginning with Chapter 12,(or a few pages before, so you can get the part about the crash). For the first eleven chapters, it's as if Hillenbrand couldn't decide which story she wanted to tell. Instead, she tried to tell them all, and did so poorly. You can...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Laura Hillenbrand’s book about Louie Zamperini’s life as an Olympian and later as a POW in Japan gives us powerful reminders that some things in life are real cool and some things just basically suck. Here’s a list that Unbroken brings to mind – things that would be either great (↑) or decidedly not (↓).

Having a family that supports you as a child even when you’re a light-fingered, hyperactive little hellion. ↑

Becoming enough of a juvenile menace that the police are called to intervene. ↓

Having...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone 13+

Shelves: six-star-worthy, wwii-and-holocaust, autobio-bio-true-story, christian, christian-memoir-or-bio

Some people would think, "What a big, boring book!" at first glance. To tell you the truth, that was my first take. However, this book is very far from boring and unlike any book I've ever read, let alone biographies. I don't remember one page where I felt I was about to die of boredom. In most biographies, it gives you the facts, and it reads like a boring textbook. Not Unbroken. You can feel the thrill of Louie winning a gold medal. You can feel the trepidation Louie feels when sharks roam und...more

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Aug 15, 2011 C rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-non-fiction, i-recommend, audiobooks

I'd give it 10 stars if I could. I liked it that much. While I was on the second half of this book, I started it over again with my husband to listen to while we were stuck in traffic. It is no less engaging the second time around.

I was listening to it during runs and hikes, then progressed to listening to it here, there, everywhere just so I could hear more. It is so well done, and so worth reading. If you are expecting a dry, dull narrative in age tinted black and white, you could not be more...more

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Jul 01, 2011 Kaethe rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, food, history, nonfiction, p-o-c, politics, ptsd, war

It didn't quite work for me. Maybe my problem is that Zamperini, the central figure of the book, is a man who has in large part made his post-war living off of his story, so it feels to rehearsed? I don't know. There are huge info dumps about Japanese society leading up to the war, and the politics at work after. The villain of the piece is horrible, but he's so horrible that it doesn't feel real, despite the documentation. Despite the title, Zamperini is broken, as a brief segment covering the...more

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Jun 03, 2012 Hannah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads, biography, non-fiction, historicals

I've just finished this awesome book, and have since washed the tears from my face. I can't hope to write a coherent review (there are so many good ones already written), so I'll just jot a few thoughts down:

* This is why I love non-fiction.

* Best book (by far) I've read this year.

* Every positive cliche adjective should be applied to this story.

* 5 stars isn't enough.

* If it was fiction, you wouldn't believe it.

* Go buy yourself a cloth hankie, 'cause a kleenex ain't gonna cut it by the last ch...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Gary McTiernan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand's unforgettable tribute to courage and grace, tells the harrowing story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who suffered unspeakable treatment as a POW in Japan during WW II. While some of her prose is awkward, the story she tells is so riveting that it is nearly impossible to put down. It weaves personal information about Zamperini with a thorough analysis of his experiences, taking us from the Depression and America's reluctant entry into the war and depositing us...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Ariel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, favorites

The best book I have read all year and one of the best non fiction books I have ever read. I saw the interview with Louis Zamperini on 60 minutes and immediately ordered the book. See it here: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?i... While the interview made Louis seem likeable and sweet the book revealed the true nature of this American Hero. The man is a national treasure and everyone should read his amazing story. Just to start with, he was an Olympian runner. Then the war comes and he become...more The best book I have read all year and one of the best non fiction books I have ever read. I saw the interview with Louis Zamperini on 60 minutes and immediately ordered the book. See it here: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?i... While the interview made Louis seem likeable and sweet the book revealed the true nature of this American Hero. The man is a national treasure and everyone should read his amazing story. Just to start with, he was an Olympian runner. Then the war comes and he becomes an ace bomber. He survives a plane crash, thirty plus days at sea in a raft, numerous shark attacks, only to finally be rescued but by the Japanese. You wonder how things could get worse than being stranded in a raft with no food or water but they do, drastically so. This man cheated death so many times that the only conclusion that can be drawn is that GOD had a plan for his life. His religious conversion was inspiring. By the time I closed the book I had tears pouring down my face.

Laura Hillenbrand is an amazing author. She knows a thing or two about suffering and pain because she suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome. Many days she is not even able to get out of bed. It was only recently that she was able to meet the subject of her book face to face. Louis and Laura's friendship as depicted in the interview was extremely touching. It is clear that they hold each other in the highest regard.

I learned so many things from this book. I only knew the part of the story where Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. I was very surprised to learn how the Japanese culture influenced their treatment of prisoners. Of course I knew that we dropped the atomic bomb on Japan but this was the first that I heard that there were kill orders in place for our troops. If the bomb hadn't been dropped, all of the prisoners that the Japanese held would have been executed. When you think of WWII, you think of the brutality of the Nazi's but this book really opened my eyes to a part of history that seems to have been swept under the rug. I would never have known about the Rape of Nanking or the Baatan Death March if I hadn't read this book. The thing that I will most take away from this book is the absolute selflessness of that generation of Americans. The way they put their lives on the line without thinking twice about it is something that I find extraordinary. Louis Zamperini and the men and women he served with are shining examples of that courage. Thankfully we have a gifted author like Hillenbrand to remind us of the sacrifices they made so we could have the freedom that we enjoy today.(less)

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May 16, 2012 Otis Chandler rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Otis by: Kara

Shelves: nonfiction, history, world-war-2

Wow. Amazing story, and well told - kept me up late at night! Louie Zamperini truly went through hell and came back - and it's inspiring to read a story of such willpower and determination. It was also interesting to me to learn more about Japan and their role in the war.

One big takeaway was just how cheap human life is in war. I think there was some stat about how 5/6 of the US airmen that died did so from accidents - that is simply staggering.

I love WWII stories, but most of the ones I've see...more

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Nov 09, 2012 Dolly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of nonfiction

Shelves: csaf-reading-list, 2012, fitness-sports, germany, japan, finland, hawaiiana, military, aviation, nonfiction, ocean-seashore, other-usa, van-noy-book-club, biography, favorites

This is such a compelling read. As an Air Force officer and navigator, I read the pages from Part II on with my heart in my throat. Even with all of the technological equipment and GPS satellites available to aircrew today, I understand the fear of being lost or in an emergency situation over large expanses of water. I am in awe of their navigational abilities, not to mention their flexibility in repairing, flying and keeping a shot-up airplane together long enough to get safely on the ground.

I...more

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Jan 31, 2012 Larry Bassett rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: war, history

This book has almost 99,000 GR ratings with an average of 4.48 stars! 60% five stars! That seems almost as amazing as the story itself. Could a book be that good? Let’s see. Step right up! See the amazing man fend off sharks in the Pacific Ocean, survive the cruelty of being a Japanese prisoner of war and live to tell the story!

The inside book jacket reads, “In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails.” I had...more

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Apr 16, 2011 Barbara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, asia, war

I quickly reserved this apparently intriguing book after listening to a beautifully detailed review presented on NPR. I am eager to learn more about this man, Louis Zamperini, who rose from a juvenile offender to an Olympic racer, to an Air Force pilot in WW II. His amazing story includes the harrowing stranding in the Pacific Ocean after his plane crashed, followed by imprisonment by the Japanese.

************************************************************************

Unbroken is a weighty boo...more

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May 29, 2011 Alison rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: interested in WW2; need to be inspired and encouraged

If you are wondering if you should read "Unbroken", just read it. Even if you don't end up liking it, you just need to read it. Everyone does.

Louis Zamperini was an Italian-American Olympic runner whose plane goes down in World War 2, and he and two other men drift on a raft for a long, long time. I don't want to tell you anything else, because I want you to experience it. This books packs a double punch--the story itself is as amazing as Laura Hillenbrand's genius story-telling.

Books like this...more

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Oct 07, 2011 Petra X rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography-true-story

Part of my reading of war books and memoirs, this one enlightened to me as to why the Japanese were so reviled by Americans. Fit partners for Hitler indeed.

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Jan 05, 2011 Zach A. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Unbroken
WWII Was More Than Meets the Eye

Imagine that you are an American soldier. You and two other of your fellow soldiers are lost in the South Pacific Ocean after a horrific plane crash. You have little water or food to keep you alive, and the scorching sun in relentless. Oh, and your raft that you are aimlessly floating about on is being circled by twenty foot sharks. You are adrift for forty-six days of hell on Earth. Finally, after nearly seven weeks, you spot land. Somehow, you defied al...more Unbroken
WWII Was More Than Meets the Eye

Imagine that you are an American soldier. You and two other of your fellow soldiers are lost in the South Pacific Ocean after a horrific plane crash. You have little water or food to keep you alive, and the scorching sun in relentless. Oh, and your raft that you are aimlessly floating about on is being circled by twenty foot sharks. You are adrift for forty-six days of hell on Earth. Finally, after nearly seven weeks, you spot land. Somehow, you defied all odds and survived. Louis Zamperini went through that terrible ordeal and much, much more during his time as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during WWII. His traumatic experiences are chronicled in the nonfiction book Unbroken, written by Laura Hillenbrand with information she collected by interviewing Louie Zamperini. In the early 1940s, the US was plunged into WWII and Zamperini was drafted into the Air Force as a bombardier and stationed in Hawaii. While on a patrol mission after being in Hawaii for a year, his plane went down and he, along with two others survived. Soon after Louie and his best friend Phil Allen hit land, they were captured by Japan and forced into grueling prisoner of war camps. This book, set during WWII in the South Pacific and Japanese prison camps follows Louie’s struggles through the POW camps. I believe that it is one of the best non fiction accounts of WWII ever written, because it puts you right in the POW camps with Louie, it has all the suspense and excitement of a novel, and finally because of the story is the ultimate tale of survival and hope.
This book is one of the best non-fiction books ever written about WWII because it puts you in the POW camps with Louie and his comrades. The details included in this story transport you to the horrific POW camps in Japan. When I was reading this book, I actually felt like I was in the camps with Louie and his fellow soldiers. I felt what they felt, saw what they saw and their agony became my agony. This passage shows you all the horrors the men had to deal with in the POW camps in vivid detail, “ As summer stretched on, conditions in Ofuna worsened. The air was clouded with flies, lice were hopping from scalp to scalp, and wiggling lines of fleas ran the length of the seams of the men’s shirts. […] The beatings by the guards seemed to get worse as the days grew hotter, almost everyday, men staggered back to their cells half conscious and bleeding from the head. The morale of the prisoners steadily declined, and each prisoner lived in fear of starvation” (223). This vivid description allowed me to understand the horrors of the POW camps for the first time. I was transported back to the POW camps and shown what it was like to live there.
I also believe Unbroken to be one of the best non-fiction books ever written about WWII because of its perfect and exciting accounts of battles, POW rebellions, and the nonstop suspense. This excerpt describing a battle, gives a small taste of the excitement that continues throughout the book. “And then, shattering. The sky became a fury of color, sound, and motion. Flak hissed up, trailing streamers of smoke over the planes. Metal flew everywhere, […] There was a tremendous bang! And a terrific shudder, the plane had been hit. At last, Louie had his aim, and the first bombs spun down and struck their targets” (94). This quote taken from the heat of an air battle over a Japanese base describes Louie’s plane flying through a battle, and being hit in the wing. However, they do not go down, and Louie begins to bomb the Japanese base below him. This is a great example of excitement and action that is on every page of the book. Also, during the battle they are hit in the other wing, and so, become very close to crashing. This provides an air of suspense that left me unable to stop reading.
Finally, this is an amazing WWII book because of the story of hope, survival, and the human will to live no matter what is thrown your way. Louie never gave up hope when he and two other comrades of his were afloat on a raft in the South Pacific Ocean. They knew the situation was dire, but they had hope and so they survived. When Louie was placed in a POW camp by the Japanese army after they were captured from an island, Louie knew how terrible these camps were, but he wanted to live. Not only that, he knew that he must live, because he had a family and friends that were counting on him to come back alive. I was really amazed at this story, and how incredible and inspiring it was. These recurring points in the book inspire you, amaze you, and make for an awe-inspiring book.
In conclusion, I believe that this is one of the best non-fiction accounts of WWII ever written, because it puts you right there in the POW camps with Louie, it has all the suspense and excitement of a novel, and finally because of the story itself, the ultimate tale of survival and hope. I thought this was an extremely good book. However, I really had no idea how to connect this to myself. I mean, I’ve never had to go through anything like what Louie went through. The only thing I could relate it to, was what I had read about the treatment of slaves. Like the POWs, slaves were taken against their will and treated like inferiors. They also were thrown into terrible conditions with little food and almost no hygiene, and finally their masters oppressed them both, they were beaten and were worked to the brink of death.
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Apr 06, 2011 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So far this book is amazing. I cannot even begin to imagine the grit, courage, and sheer determination that pulled Louie Zamperini and his friend Russell Phillips through 47 days on a raft and sheer h*ll in a Japanese POW camp. Halfway through and will revise my review when I'm finished.

I must be in serious need of personal courage and grit in my own life, because the next book I plan to read is "Between a Rock and a Hard Place," the story about Aron Ralston. The movie "127 Hours" is based on hi...more

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Mar 22, 2013 Meg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First let me start by saying that the title of this book is wrong. It is the brokenness that made this book amazing. It is the brokenness that makes this review so challenging to write; the brokenness that I found within its pages and that I am now feeling without them. (dramatic? Perhaps, but true.)

I have never in my life appreciated my grandfather, John Morris more... when I drove through the Po river valley I tried... but I didn't get it.. perhaps I still don't... the love between Cici and Ph...more

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Oct 08, 2012 Victoria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, nonfiction

The best way for me to explain my divided response about this book is to recognize that war brings out the worst in us ... and it brings out the best.

On one hand, I think the author did a good job writing an engaging, fast-paced story. The horrors of war are sprinkled with amazing stories of perseverance, bravery, and kindness.

On the other hand, I only read and finished this book because it was for my book club. I really, really don't enjoy reading about real war. The sections describing the P...more

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Apr 23, 2013 John rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Japanese were as crazy as the Germans. No, they did not have a holocaust, but they were crazy enough to have one. They considered being captured in war to be the ultimate dishonor (worse than death). They did medical experiments on prisoners. They physically and mentally tortured prisoners. They starved prisoner; the guards would take the red cross relief packages for themselves and they would sell the food and pocket the money.

During WWII, the Japanese captured 130 thousand prisoners of wa...more

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Feb 04, 2013 booklady rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, adventure, biography, classic, education, family, favorites, history, non-fiction, psychology, prayer, travel, war, worth-reading-over-and-over

I personally couldn’t put Unbroken down from the moment I started it. After reading great reviews, I got it as a Christmas present for my husband in 2011. He promptly read it and kept telling me to do the same, but with so many other books I needed to read for work, I procrastinated. Finally last week-end I asked if he could recommend a really good read in a totally different genre than my usual fare. He handed me Unbroken.

For starters, the Preface is a cliffhanger. Three American servicemen ad...more

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Mar 23, 2011 Books Ring Mah Bell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, memo-auto-bio

All the cheesy, tired words people use to review books seem to apply to this book: remarkable, intense, striking, exceptional. I hate to use them, but all of them are relevant in regard to this work. I even could use that silly phrase, "I couldn't put it down." Literally, yes, I could put it down, but I didn't want to; it was difficult to walk away from. I looked forward to picking it up again and continuing on with the story of prisoner of war Louis Zamperini.

Hillenbrand is also the author of S...more All the cheesy, tired words people use to review books seem to apply to this book: remarkable, intense, striking, exceptional. I hate to use them, but all of them are relevant in regard to this work. I even could use that silly phrase, "I couldn't put it down." Literally, yes, I could put it down, but I didn't want to; it was difficult to walk away from. I looked forward to picking it up again and continuing on with the story of prisoner of war Louis Zamperini.

Hillenbrand is also the author of Seabiscuit, so I was a bit skeptical of her writing about a WWII POW. I had no doubts she could write well, as Seabiscuit is one of my favorite reads, ever. Yet, a feel-good story about a horse is a different animal than a story of the brutal realities of a prisoner of war. Could she write about the horrors of war without doing a disservice to the harsh truths of battle?

The answer is yes. She clearly spent a great deal of time researching his life, the lives of the people he fought with (and against), the battles he fought, the equipment they used. The book is intelligent and she writes with such depth. While some books on war are understandably painful to read, her talent as a writer makes this book a bit more palatable. I do not mean to imply that she demeans or degrades what he endures, she does not, but she seems to know exactly when the reader needs to back away from the horror. With great mastery she will take the reader from the horrors of POW camp to the heartache of the families at home.

While I was skeptical, I had to give the book a shot. For starters, I love the period of time she writes about. (I remain convinced I was born in the wrong time - should have been a child of the 40's/50's or a flapper in the roaring 20's.) Also, I love books on WWII. The clincher for me is that Louie was an Olympian, a runner. While my running days are long gone (and certainly never reached the heights Louie did) there's a bond of sorts there.

We meet Louis as a kid growing up in Torrance, California. He's a bit mischievous and well onto his way of becoming a teenaged hoodlum and then a good for nothing adult. He has an epiphany of sorts and gets on the straight and narrow. Guided by his brother, he begins running for his high school track team. While it's not easy at first, after some training, Louis discovers he has some speed. He continues his running career at USC, well on his way to that impossible, elsusive four minute mile and qualifies to run in the Olympics in Berlin. I found myself swept away, absolutely enthralled by the thrill of his races, his trip across the Atlantic, his meeting with Hitler.

Shortly after his return, the war reaches a fever pitch and Louie signs up to serve. He ends up in the United States Air Force as a bombardier. So many incredible stories of close calls of near crashes or of running out of fuel over the shark infested Pacific. During one battle, their B-24 is hit 594 times AND ALL BUT ONE of the crew survive. Eventually, Louie's luck runs out and during a rescue mission in an ill-equipped plane, they crash into the ocean. He survives with a few other men on rafts for 47 days. They fight hunger, thirst, aggressive sharks; they dodge bullets from Japanese pilots. Rescue comes in the form of the Japanese Navy. So begins a long stay in and out of POW camps. He somehow survives unspeakable tortures and after years in captivity, he is free.

While the war may have ended for the word, it continues to rage in Louie's psyche. Freed from his cell, his mind becomes his new tormentor, disturbing his thoughts and sleep with hellish flashbacks and dreams. He meets a woman, falls in love and gets married, yet the war haunts him and a cloud of misery hangs over his marriage. He resolves to return to Japan, find "The Bird," the tyrant who tortured him, and kill him. At this stage in the story, he's ugly and unlikable (though the reader understands why). Drinking too much, he becomes abusive. His wife talks him into going to see Billy Graham speak. He walks out one night. Another night he goes and is converted to Christian life. Normally, the cynic in me would moan and groan, or maybe put the book aside for fear of it getting preachy... but it is what it is. Louie finds peace and forgiveness. He no longer is haunted by bad dreams or the desire to find and kill his Japanese tormentor. Religion frees him from hate and he becomes a model husband, father and citizen.

The story of Louis Zamperini is, if I may use another overused phrase, "A MUST READ".

You won't regret it.(less)

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Jul 03, 2012 Erin rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed the beginning of the book somewhat, learning about the main character's struggles to become an Olympic runner. It quickly transitioned into an account of his experiences at war. I had a very difficult time connecting to/caring about any of the characters. (Perhaps the third-person narrative was too distant for me? I felt as though I was just reading a series of facts.) Also, I don't have much interest in war, combat, or airplanes; when I picked up 'Unbroken' I was depending on my love...more

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May 01, 2013 Lapo rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I started listening to the aubiobook, because I worshipped "Seabiscuit, an American Legend." Unfortunately this book is not on par with her previous work. As with many other epic stories that extend over a long part of a character's life, this book falls into the same trap of becoming more of a laundry lists of facts than a cohesive narrative. I will probably stop reading soon. Maybe, I will reread Seabiscuit.
Update: I still finished reading, out of respect for Hillebrand, but my opinion is unch...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Eric_W rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography-memoir

In a style reminiscent of Seabiscuit, especially thematically and which could also have been titled “Unbroken”, the author tells the story of Louie Zamperini, a prospective Olympic runner whose backstory is almost as interesting as his epic story of survival.

I love detail, and this book is filled with tidbits. For example, aircraft losses in the Pacific were primarily due to accident rather than enemy action. In fact, for every plane lost in combat, 6 were destroyed through pilot error, bad mai...more In a style reminiscent of Seabiscuit, especially thematically and which could also have been titled “Unbroken”, the author tells the story of Louie Zamperini, a prospective Olympic runner whose backstory is almost as interesting as his epic story of survival.

I love detail, and this book is filled with tidbits. For example, aircraft losses in the Pacific were primarily due to accident rather than enemy action. In fact, for every plane lost in combat, 6 were destroyed through pilot error, bad maintenance, weather, just about everything. 440 planes disappeared just transiting from California to Hawaii. 70% of those reported as killed-in-action, were non-combat deaths. One pilot radioed another telling him to watch out for the mountain. “Yes, I see it, he replied,” and then flew right into it. Runways were very short and bomb and fuel loads heavy. One crew, standing above the bomb bay doors on a beam watched as the pavement turned to coral and then saw pieces of palm fronds stuck through the doors as the plane just made it over the trees at the end of the runway. (Why they were not cut down remains a mystery to me.) One time when an engine inexplicably shut down, it was discovered the co-pilot was resting his feet on that engine’s ignition switch. Navigation was very difficult as planes with little extra fuel had to pinpoint small islands with no lights at night and perhaps only yards wide, in the midst of a very large sea with no distinguishing features. "In World War II, 35,933 AAF planes were lost in combat and accidents. The surprise of the attrition rate is that only a fraction of the ill-fated planes were lost in combat. In 1943 in the Pacific Ocean Areas theater in which Phil’s crew served, for every plane lost in combat, some six planes were lost in accidents. Over time, combat took a greater toll, but combat losses never overtook noncombat losses." Extraordinary.

Nevertheless, the intricate detail of Zamparini’s horrible experience at the hands of the Japanese became mind-numbing and excessively long. I listened to this book and for once wished I had the printed version so I could skim over some of the horrifying detail. I remain somewhat skeptical of the thoughts and interior monologues attributed to many men now dead. I also wonder just how much Hillebrand borrowed from Zamperini’s autobiography published in 2004, (One Amazon reviewer who has read both books even hints that Hillebrand copied much of Zamperini’s book.)

The book also had a fictional quality I found off-putting. The scene in which Louie fights off the sharks by punching them in the nose just didn’t ring true, and the verbatim rendering of Billy Graham’s sermon and conduct in the “redemption” scene was completely unbelievable. By the time I reached that point, I wasn’t sure if I was listening to a commercial for tent revivals or what. Hillebrand also seemed to have an extraordinary knowledge of the “Bird’s” actions in Japan. Phil, Louie’s pilot is relegated to last place in the pantheon of Louie’s actions. Such myopia can be forgiven in an autobiography, not in what purports to be a thorough non-fictional account. I’d love to see the references and notes for some of that material, another problem with listening. Or maybe the halo over Louie’s head blinded me.

Zamperini was on just one combat mission, if I remember correctly. Pappy Boyington, a WW II ace, and Richard Kane, the submarine commander, both wrote memoirs and suffered grievously at the hands of the Japanese in POW camps. Both had much more reason to suffer at the hands of the Japanese who presumably knew of their exploits.

Not nearly as good as Seabiscuit. Three stars because I liked some of it.

Update: Zamperini's autobiography appeared in 1956. Following the discovery of his prison diaries, he rewrote it with the help of David Gensin in 2003 and it was then reissued in paper and Kindle in 2011 following the publication of Unbroken. Hillebrand says she talked with Zamperini more than 75 times, always by phone, since she doesn't travel and that she worked on the book for more than nine years, which implies his rewritten book came out during the time she was working on Unbroken.

Devil at My Heels: A Heroic Olympian's Astonishing Story of Survival as a Japanese POW in World War II

Devil at my Heels, The Story of Louis Zamperini (less)

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Dec 30, 2010 Jay Connor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A good friend, Lucy Murphy, recommended this book. And I'm so glad she did. Carol and I listened to it on our road trip from Chicago to Tallahassee a couple of days after Christmas.

While I thought I was pretty knowledgeable about World War II and, especially, since my story-telling father-in-law had served in the Pacific, I found it fascinating that I had such limited understanding of the cruelty and dehumanizing treatment the Japanese inflicted on their prisoners of war. Even having recently r...more A good friend, Lucy Murphy, recommended this book. And I'm so glad she did. Carol and I listened to it on our road trip from Chicago to Tallahassee a couple of days after Christmas.

While I thought I was pretty knowledgeable about World War II and, especially, since my story-telling father-in-law had served in the Pacific, I found it fascinating that I had such limited understanding of the cruelty and dehumanizing treatment the Japanese inflicted on their prisoners of war. Even having recently read Hampton Sides gripping "Ghost Soldiers" about the Battaan Death March, I imagine my mental transponder was too influenced at an early age by the prisoner-as-victor ethos of "Bridge over the River Kwai" to fully comprehend the evil of Japanese prison camp. Also, tribute must go to Laura Hillenbrand who so powerfully makes you take note. At one point the Japanese are said to justify some of the dehumanization because the captives were "enemy combatants" and not true prisoners of war and therefore were not subject to the protective restrictions of the Geneva Convention. Too chillingly close to our own nail-splitting in the War on Terror.

Much as in her supremely successful "Seabiscuit," Hillenbrand has a compelling protagonist at the center of her story. With a name straight out of the Marx Brothers, Louis Zamperini is as complex a character as any novelist could conjure. Louis is Job. After a delinquent youth, Zamperini turned himself into an Olympic runner -- "Who would have probably shattered the 4 minute mile well before Banister" -- only to suffer a series of spirit-crushing trials after being conscripted into the Army Air Corps and sent off as a bombardier to the war in the Pacific: from plane crash to an 1800 mile shark infested castaway odyssey to multiple internments with sadistic guards.

The subtitle - A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption - actually under serves the arc of this transcendent story. It fails to highlight the personal depths to which Louis fell while battling his trauma post-war before his epiphany of mind, body and spirit at a Billy Graham Revival.

A note to those who choose the audio book: Edward Herrmann is the superb narrator. (less)

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About Laura Hillenbrand

Laura Hillenbrand (born 1967) is the author of the acclaimed Seabiscuit: An American Legend, a non-fiction account of the career of the great racehorse Seabiscuit, for which she won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 2001. The book later became the basis of the 2003 movie Seabiscuit. Her essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Equus magazine, American Heritage, The Blood-Horse, Thoroughbr...more

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“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.” — 84 people liked it

“Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man's soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it.” — 72 people liked it

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