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

by Laura Hillenbrand

4.48 · rating details · 42,593 ratings · 10,154 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 extraor...more

Hardcover, 473 pages

Published November 16th 2010 by Random House Publishing Group (first published January 1st 2010)

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Feb 24, 2011

Kemper rated it

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

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 ...moreI 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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Mar 19, 2011

Jeanette rated it

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. Y...more

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May 08, 2011

Laura rated it

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

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

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Dec 02, 2011

Annalisa rated it

Recommended to Annalisa by: Traci Gosman

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

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Apr 16, 2011

Barbara rated it

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.

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

...more

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May 29, 2011

Alison rated it

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 stor...more

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Oct 07, 2011

Petra X rated it

Shelves: 2011, biography-true-story, x, 2011-5star-books, 2011-best-books

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

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...moreUnbroken
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

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

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Mar 23, 2011

Bells rated it

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.

Hillenbran...moreAll 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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Feb 16, 2012

Lana rated it

Shelves: favorite-inspiring-books, favorite-books, highly-recommend, world-war-ii, biography

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

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Feb 18, 2012

Eric_W rated it

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 e...moreIn 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

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...moreA 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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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

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Jan 28, 2012

David rated it

Shelves: american-history, biography-memoir

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

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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

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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

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Aug 15, 2011

C rated it

Shelves: favorite-non-fiction, i-recommend

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

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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

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Jan 26, 2011

Karla rated it

Shelves: non-fiction, 2011, wwii-era, california, hawaii, sports, american, japan, historical, friendship, religous, favorites

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

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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

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Jan 10, 2012

Ruth rated it

Recommends it for: Historians/ world war 11 interest grps

Recommended to Ruth by: Book Club

"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

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Aug 03, 2011

Lana rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I found this book hard to read because of the things the POW's had to endure, but hard to put down. Just as the subtitle says, it's a great story of the resilience of the human spirit and forgiveness and redemption -

Quotes from the book:
(telling of the 3 men in the raft on the Pacific Ocean): Though all three men faced the same hardship, their differing perceptions of it appeared to be shaping their fates. Louie and Phil's hope displaced their fear and inspired them to w...moreI found this book hard to read because of the things the POW's had to endure, but hard to put down. Just as the subtitle says, it's a great story of the resilience of the human spirit and forgiveness and redemption -

Quotes from the book:
(telling of the 3 men in the raft on the Pacific Ocean): Though all three men faced the same hardship, their differing perceptions of it appeared to be shaping their fates. Louie and Phil's hope displaced their fear and inspired them to work toward their survival, and each success renewed their physical and emotional vigor. Mac's resignation seemed to paralyze him, and the less he participated in their efforts to survive, the more he slipped. Though he did the least, as the days passed, it was he who faded the most. Louie and Phil's optimism, and Mac's hopelessness, were becoming self-fulfilling." p.148

"Sergeant Francis McNamara had begun his last journey with a panicked act, consuming the rafts' precious food stores, and in doing so, he had placed himself and his raftmates in the deepest jeopardy. But in the last days of his life, in the struggle against the deflating raft and the jumping sharks, he had given all he had left. It wasn't enough to save him--it may have hastened his death--but it may have made the difference between life and death for Phil and Louie. . . .In his dying days, Mac had redeemed himself." p. 165

After being in the midst of the Pacific Ocean on a raft for 30-some days, the men still found joy and gratitude. One day, they awoke to a perfect stillness and beauty, described in detail on p. 166, but here is Louie's conclusion: "Such beauty. . . was too perfect to have come about by mere chance. That day in the center of the Pacific was, to him, a gift crafted deliberately, compassionately, for him and Phil."

"The crash of the Green Hornet has left Louie and Phil in the most desperate physical extremity, without food, water, or shelter. But on Kwajalein, the guards sought to deprive them of something that had sustained them even as all else had been lost: dignity. This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the sour, lies at the heart of humanness; to be deprived of it is to be dehumanized, to be be cleaved from, and cast below, mankind. . . Louie and Phil learned a dark truth known to the doomed in Hitler's death camps, the slaves of the American South, and a hundred other generations of betrayed people. 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. The loss of it can carry a man off as surely as thirst, hunger, exposure, and asphyxiation, and with greater cruelty." pp 182-183

After describing one guard's kindness: "The prisoners understood almost nothing of what Kawamura said, but his goodwill needed no translation. Kawamura could do nothing to improve the physical conditions in which the captives lived, but his kindness was lifesaving." p.185

"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 they make their tormentors suffer. In seeking the Bird's death to free himself, Louie had chained himself, once again, to his tyrant. During the war, the Bird had been unwilling to let go of Louie; after the war, Louie was unable to let go of the Bird." p. 366

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Jun 03, 2011

Eddie rated it

Shelves: favorites

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

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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

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Mar 31, 2011

Tung rated it

Shelves: non-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In her best-selling debut Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand did the impossible and made me care about a horse and made me find horseracing exciting. So I was looking forward to her telling the story of Louie Zamperini, a former Olympic long-distance runner and World War II POW; Hillenbrand did not disappoint. Unbroken is a stunning and beautiful account of survival and redemption and the triumph of the human spirit in a story almost too good to believe. The protagonist is Zamperini, a NY-born Italia...moreIn her best-selling debut Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand did the impossible and made me care about a horse and made me find horseracing exciting. So I was looking forward to her telling the story of Louie Zamperini, a former Olympic long-distance runner and World War II POW; Hillenbrand did not disappoint. Unbroken is a stunning and beautiful account of survival and redemption and the triumph of the human spirit in a story almost too good to believe. The protagonist is Zamperini, a NY-born Italian raised in Torrance, CA who spent his childhood as a juvenile delinquent during the Great Depression. His older brother Pete introduced him to running, and Zamperini became a record-setting high-schooler with his eyes on Olympic Gold. In the first part of the book, Hillenbrand traces his rebellious youth through the 1936 Olympics. When World War II caused the cancellation of the 1940 Olympics, Zamperini set his sights on 1944 – until Pearl Harbor changed the rest of his life. Zamperini enlisted and entered the Air Force where he and his mates were assigned to manning a B-24 bomber. Hillenbrand describes some of Zamperini’s (and his crew’s) heroic efforts in bombing runs at Wake Island and Nauru, while at the same time documenting how incredibly dangerous flight missions were in the 1940’s (more because of how unsafe the B-24s were than because of enemy retaliation). In May 1943, Zamperini and his crew were sent on a rescue mission when equipment malfunctions lead to their B-24 crashing. Zamperini and two others survived the crash, only to find themselves floating at sea for weeks on end and having to survive thirst, hunger, and an ocean full of sharks. And just when you think Zamperini’s fate can’t get any worse, he survived weeks at sea on a raft only to be captured by Japanese soldiers. The next two years of his life are spent in various Japanese prison camps enduring an endless string of horrors and abuse that only the most supremely strong-in-spirit could survive. Without trying to spoil any more of the book than I already have, while the first 2/3 of the book are completely engrossing as you follow Zamperini’s journey through the horrors of war, it is the last third of the book that truly makes the book a work of art as Hillenbrand recounts the remaining years of Zamperini’s life and his mental and emotional and spiritual struggles processing life and death and suffering and anger and revenge and hope and faith. The moments of triumph and redemption throughout this book are so, so pure – as beautiful and redemptive as anything I’ve ever read. Hillenbrand’s prose walks the perfect line of good non-fiction writing – making the action sequences exciting, detailing the necessary backstories and historical contexts fully, and describing the mental and emotional struggles realistically. Some may take issue with the portrayal of the Japanese as the clear villains in this book, even as Hillenbrand tries to attach their actions to the natural atrocities that are inherent in war (though not successful an attachment in my eyes), and she does mention certain Japanese soldiers that were kind to the POWs. But aside from the very American perspective from which World War II is painted, the book is an amazing documentation of the transcendently beautiful aspects of the human soul. It is page-turning and moving, and a simply outstanding read. My highest recommendation, my top book of the year, my top non-fiction book ever, and one of my top twenty favorite books ever.(less)

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Feb 17, 2011

Craig rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: history, survival

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

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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

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Apr 06, 2011

Melissa rated it

Shelves: non-fiction, wwii, my-favorites

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

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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

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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.” — 24 people liked it

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