Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Sep 17, 2011 Dana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: moms-club-book-club

If this book were fiction I'd criticize it for being implausible--there's no way someone could survive all that. And I'd say it dragged on too long, that Zamperini was sent to one too many Japanese camps. But of course this story is true. I'm not a fan of books about war, and not a big reader of nonfiction, but Hillenbrand is an engaging storyteller. Zamperini grew up in my old neighborhood in Torrance, so there were fun local references. Parts of this book are hard to take, and I learned a lot ...more

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Dec 09, 2010 Joanna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, biography-memoir, audiobooks, rws-2010-winter, bookish-2011-winter, 2011-read

A truly excellent piece of nonfiction. The book switches from telling the primary story of Louie Zamperini and tracing the stories of other people close to him. The compelling personal story of a young Olympic runner turned bombadier turned POW is powerful and would be enough to carry a book. But Hillenbrand's deep research into the lives both during and after WWII of the characters as well as excellent use of outside information about the war in general made this both a page-turner and very inf ...more

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Jan 18, 2011 Graceann rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: history

There is really only one author whose books I buy the minute they are released: Laura Hillenbrand. After the beautiful revelation that was Seabiscuit, I knew that if "The History of the Potato," by Laura Hillenbrand, was announced on Publishers Weekly, I'd be first in line at my local independent bookshop in order to purchase it.

Luckily for us, Ms. Hillenbrand became fascinated with a far more interesting subject. When she first made contact with Louie Zamperini, he said "I'll be a much easier There is really only one author whose books I buy the minute they are released: Laura Hillenbrand. After the beautiful revelation that was Seabiscuit, I knew that if "The History of the Potato," by Laura Hillenbrand, was announced on Publishers Weekly, I'd be first in line at my local independent bookshop in order to purchase it.

Luckily for us, Ms. Hillenbrand became fascinated with a far more interesting subject. When she first made contact with Louie Zamperini, he said "I'll be a much easier subject for you; I can talk!" He was open, honest, and completely mesmerizing, giving Hillenbrand the framework upon which to hang her beautiful prose in order to show us a complex, yet ultimately uplifting man.

Young Louie Zamperini was poised to be a record-breaking Olympian. Certain to be the first man to break the four-minute mile in the late 30s, he traveled to Berlin for the 1936 Olympics and was actively training for the 1940 event in Tokyo when the world went crazy. Instead of collecting gold medals, he found himself on one of the notoriously balky B-24s over the Pacific Ocean, and then on a raft being harassed by sharks. "Rescue" came in the form of a Japanese prison camp that made him miss the raft.

Throughout the narrative, Hillenbrand weaves statistics regarding the war in general, and tells us about some of the men with whom Zamperini served. We also learn about the people who tried to help along the way (at considerable peril to themselves), and the guards who took pleasure in torturing those unfortunate enough to end up in their clutches.

The endurance in this story is a wonder to behold. Some of the scenes in the camps make for extremely difficult reading indeed, and things don't get much easier when Louie first returns to the States, to no real aftercare and a world that seems strange to him. Redemption is nothing short of a miracle, and I feel it's fair to say that Mr. Zamperini is grateful for that miracle every day.

Many years ago, I fell in love with the story of a horse because of how this previously-unknown-to-me writer told his story. Now I'm in love with a nonagenarian runner and WWII vet from Torrance, Calfornia for the same reason. Yet another reason to be thankful to Laura Hillenbrand. ...more

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May 12, 2011 Beth Given rated it it was amazing

After hearing this book acclaimed by my husband, four friends, and even my mother-in-law, I finally got around to reading Unbroken. And yes, I'm going to add to their accolades. Wow, this is a one FANTASTIC story!

Or should I say four fantastic stories? Each section was simply remarkable. Reading about Louis Zamperini's youth and Olympic track career was inspiring. Reading about survival on a raft in the Pacific had me riveted. Reading about life as a POW was so emotionally challenging and yet so After hearing this book acclaimed by my husband, four friends, and even my mother-in-law, I finally got around to reading Unbroken. And yes, I'm going to add to their accolades. Wow, this is a one FANTASTIC story!

Or should I say four fantastic stories? Each section was simply remarkable. Reading about Louis Zamperini's youth and Olympic track career was inspiring. Reading about survival on a raft in the Pacific had me riveted. Reading about life as a POW was so emotionally challenging and yet so educational, so poignant, that I kept turning those pages -- it was as though if I stopped the (real-life) characters would be stuck in that psychologically and physically brutal reality. And then reading about how Zamperini overcome the aftermath of that torture had me cheering for him at the end.

Maybe there are more than just the four stories, too, as I definitely enjoyed reading about some of the side characters: Stanley Pillsbury, Yukichi Kano, Bill Harris, Fred Garrett, and, of course, Alan Phillips (Phil) were all heroes with inspiring stories of their own. I gained such an added appreciation for the veterans and military of our country through their stories.

And the storytelling -- wow! Hillenbrand has crafted Zamperini's amazing life into something both academic and engrossing. What an extraordinary effort she has put into writing this! I'm completely impressed at the amount of research she has done and cited (there are a dense eight pages of acknowledgements, fifty-some pages of notes, and a thorough index, which I was particularly grateful for). And yet this scholarly work is far from boring; she is still being true to what makes this a great story. Obviously the story itself is amazing, but I thought her writing certainly added to the inherent drama.

So, is that enough praise for you to get yourself on that (rather long) hold list for this one? Do beware that there's quite a lot of brutality which might be hard to read, and a few swear words (really not many considering the book's length). In spite of that, though, I wholeheartedly recommend this one! I closed this book feeling so much more grateful for my country, my freedom, and my faith. ...more

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Dec 04, 2010 Larissa rated it it was amazing

Another great work of art from Laura Hillenbrand! This story is so well written and an amazing story of - as she puts it - Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. I would recommend it to anyone and just a miraculous story. Thsi artcile in Guideposts sums up the story and will make you want to read the whole thing! http://www.guideposts.org/hope-and-fa...
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Oct 30, 2010 Kris Springer rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sjcpl-book-group

Tremendous book about WW2, sports, and the power of never giving up, of standing up for yourself, and figuring out how to heal yourself after trauma. Loved it. Engaging descriptions, action, a great protagonist that you want to root for, plus writing that takes the reader back to the 1940s and WW2, giving the reader a greater understanding of just what the soldiers and POWs and families went through in these times.

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Jan 28, 2013 DJ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ebooks-i-own

I gave this book 5 stars because of the story.....not so much because of the writing. In my opinion, the writing was a little stilted in some parts of the book, glossing over some details--and then describing others in great detail.
I highly recommend reading this book, though, because the story--and the man--are incredible.

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Nov 18, 2010 Joan rated it really liked it

An amazing story, well-researched and written. Hillenbrand chooses her subjects with great care and obviously has great passion for them. The greatest generation indeed!

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