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Mar 23, 2011

Kemper rated it:

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 More...

29 comments like (143 people liked it)

Sep 25, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

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. Y More...

1 comment like (26 people liked it)

May 31, 2011

Laura rated it:

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 endl More...

16 comments like (29 people liked it)

Dec 02, 2011

Annalisa rated it:

Hillenbrand has broken the unwritten code for Americans to ignore the wrongs of the Japanese during World War II (other than Pearl Harbor) in favor of focusing on the egregious acts of the Nazis. Up until now my education in World War II history has focused entirely 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 c More...

4 comments like (24 people liked it)

Apr 16, 2011

Barbara rated it:

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.

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12 comments like (12 people liked it)

May 29, 2011

Alison rated it:

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 stor More...

0 comments like (22 people liked it)

Oct 07, 2011

Petra X rated it:

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.

5 comments like (17 people liked it)

Jan 27, 2011

Zach rated it:

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 More...

6 comments like (16 people liked it)

Apr 06, 2011

Michelle rated it:

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 " More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Mar 23, 2011

Bells rated it:

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.

Hillenbran More...

2 comments like (28 people liked it)

Feb 16, 2012

Lana rated it:

This is an amazing story/biography that is masterfully told. It's a joy to read, educational, and very inspiring--to me it doesn't get much better than that. I will admit I'm a bit of a wimp and so far I have been avoiding many movies or much to do with war as far as eyewitness accounts, and this is the first book I'm reading on the subject based on the high recommendations. Well, this is a great book to start with and it might even change my previous avoidant attitude. I'm learning so much from More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 18, 2012

Eric_W rated it:

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 e More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 30, 2010

Jay rated it:

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 hav More...

2 comments like (19 people liked it)

Dec 11, 2011

BamaGal rated it:

I picked this book up on Pearl Harbor day. I rarely post my NF’s (in this case, an autobiography) as it is not of the same interests of most of my friends on GR. I just have to say that this story just blew me away. It’s the story of Louis Zamperini, from his early life thru his odyssey in WWII; and his experiences in a brutal Japanese POW camp. I’ve always been fascinated with WWII stories. My father-in-law was reticent to speak of his experiences in WWII, but both my dad and stepdad talked o More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 11, 2012

David rated it:

History's memory is fickle. Or, maybe I just don't know as much as I thought I did. I had never heard of Louis Zamperini, although he was apparently a household name in the years before and after World War II.

As with most stories of lives lived during WWII, Zamperini's story is both inspirational and devastating. Laura Hillenbrand, the author of Seabiscuit, brings Zamperini to life for a 21st century audience, recounting his troubled early years (which turn out to be siginificant to More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 08, 2011

Bookclubcheerleader rated it:

Summary: Louie Zamperini, Olympic track miler (Berlin 1936) and star USC runner, joins the Army Air Corps at the outbreak of WWII. After his plane plunges into the Pacific Ocean, he survives 47 days on a disintegrating raft, only to spend the rest of the war being starved and tortured in a series of Japanese POW camps.

Characters: Although Louie is the main character in this story, there are many other brave men and women who play a supporting role. Also, a couple of cameo appearance More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 18, 2011

Cecily rated it:

Oh. my. goodness. Mesmerizing. Three chapters in and I'm absolutely hooked. Actually, I was hooked by the end of the preface. I started listening to this during my work out today, and the first hour (of this 14-hour audio book!) just FLEW by. Getting to listen to this story will be my "reward" every day for going to the gym and lifting weights.

UPDATE:

Nope, couldn't wait until my next weight training day to listen to this book. Suffice it to say, NOTHING got don More...

1 comment like (10 people liked it)

Aug 30, 2011

C rated it:

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 c More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 07, 2011

Diana rated it:

Hillenbrand did a bang-up job on SEABISCUIT, and this novel is as compelling from its first page. Can't wait to continue reading it.

After the intro, it becomes less compelling...in fact, almost downright boring as she sets up the character. It's a top-level description and he's just not very interesting to me. Because it's by Hillenbrand, I continued reading; and about 25% thru, the story suddenly changes and becomes very gripping. I'm not halfway through the book, but unable to pu More...

8 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2011

Karla rated it:

From page one I knew this was going to be one of the most remarkable and engrossing reads I ever read, I was right! There should be a 10 star rate made for books that simply are above all others here on Goodreads. Impeccable writting as well as story that will make you believe in miracles and find bliss in forgiveness. A must read so refreshing and real you feel transported. Honestly I feel rewarded to have Louie share his wisdom and how he reached deeply inside himself and found his soul pure a More...

5 comments like (10 people liked it)

Nov 09, 2011

Ken rated it:

Littered among the many memoirs and biographies of well known historical figures, artists, business giants, and political figures, we find tails of lesser known people who's human experience transcends anything achieved by those of greater fame. The story of WWII bombardier, Louie Zamperini, is one of those stories. What he endured during the war would give the bible's Job pause. But his tale is much more than unimaginable human suffering. In spite of all his human faults Louie shows us t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 10, 2012

Ruth rated it:

"In 1919, when two-year-old Louie (Zamperini) was down with Pneumonia, he climbed out his bedroom window, descended one story, and went on a naked tear down the street with a policeman chasing him and a crowd watching in amazement...." Thus began the life of Louis Zamperini, the man who would be able to accomplish almost anything he wanted to do, although this often got him into trouble. His ego made him feel impervious to any challenge he set for himself. On Saturdays, while in hig More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 03, 2011

Lana rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 03, 2011

Eddie rated it:

Just like many people wish they could, I do too wish I could add a half star to my ratings. I will give this book a 4.5.

I started off with this book, glued to the pages and then by page 280 or so, I started to ask myself, Am I glued to this because it's kind of like the train wreck I can't peel my eyes away from? This book was laced with various accounts of the horrific, and unbeknown to me, tragedies and horrors that POWs endured from the Japanese during WWII. I did not have a probl More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 12, 2011

Ann rated it:

This was without a doubt the most gripping non-fiction title I've read. It's the true story of an Olympic hopeful and larger-than-life personality who ended up plucked from his mother's house in Torrance, California and dropped into WWII's Pacific campaign against the Japanese. Earlier this year, I watched the Spielberg / Hanks followup to Band of Brothers on HBO: The Pacific. It was fascinating but at times hard to watch. With stories about the world wars the hardest part for me is always the More...

5 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 12, 2011

Tung rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 23, 2011

Craig rated it:

I’ve seen recently that negative commentary or reviews about this book invoke a kind of backlash normally reserved for non-conformists who critique the Bible, The Diary of Ann Frank, The Last Lecture, or any Oprah 'Book of the Month'. Well, brace yourself because here comes another one.

This book really and truly sucks. It’s a poorly written, exaggerated, sensationalized version of a true story, an overhyped ‘pop history’ book more concerned with drumming home the message that the h More...

17 comments like (40 people liked it)

May 07, 2011

Pleegenes rated it:

This was an incredible story of victory in the midst of horrific circumstances. I listened to the audio version, 11 discs, I could not wait to get to the end to see what happened. I laughed, I cried, I got really mad and I rejoiced as I listened. Had I read it, I would have been tempted to skip through the pages as there are volumes of stories of his abuse while he was in Japan. This book is not entertaining, it is gutting-wrenching, shocking and disturbing, but it is a story that needs to be to More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 06, 2011

Melissa rated it:

Yes, this goes on the favorites list for certain!!! I adore Lauara Hillenbrand. I have never been a huge fan of non-fiction books. I love the way a fiction story flows and that never seems to be the case with a more "informational" non-fiction story. However, Hillenbrand has this way with telling a story that has none of the halting, factual, stilting read of a normal non-fiction. If ever there was an author who could write as if it were a novel but have it be truly non-fiction, she is More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 25, 2012

Bob rated it:

This story is so fantastical it seems at times like bad fiction. Its impact is in the continuous realization it is not. The story - the brutality of war and especially the POW experience - is repeated hundreds of times daily today as men and women come home from Iraq and Afghanistan, wars which make no sense compared to WWII. Despite the title, I do not see Louis as "unbroken". He is a survivor, and perhaps he did find some peace in the end. We won't know about many of the others f More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)