Diane's Reviews > Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption

Unbroken is an amazing survival story, but this book is also so grim that it took me five years to finish it.

I had loved Hillenbrand's previous work, Seabiscuit, and had bought a copy of Unbroken back in 2010 as soon as it was released. I started reading it, and admired the writing, but the more I learned about what Louis Zamperini suffered during World War II, the less I wanted to read the book. I mean, here was an Olympic athlete who served as a bombardier during the war. His plane crashed while on a rescue mission, and he was stranded in the Pacific Ocean for 47 days. Only two of his crew mates survived the crash, and they had to battle hunger and dehydration, and fight off sharks while in that tiny raft. SHARKS! And then he was picked up by the Japanese and became a prisoner of war. For two years, he was tortured and starved and abused and enslaved. This story is beyond depressing, you guys.

And so, the book gathered dust on my shelf, my original bookmark still in the pages. I decided to finally pick it up again after seeing the movie (which is also grim). Since I'm years late to this discussion, all I can say is that the writing and reporting are excellent, and this truly is an incredible story of resilience, survival and forgiveness. I especially liked that Hillenbrand didn't end the story when Zamperini was released from the POW camp; instead, she continued to follow what happened to the men, and even to the Japanese prison guards, some of whom were prosecuted as war criminals. Zamperini ended up living a long and full life, and his story is inspiring.

Highly recommended for fans of history and survival stories. Hillenbrand is a remarkable writer, and whenever her next book comes out, I'll immediately order that, too. I just hope it's a more joyful subject.

Favorite Quotes
"From earliest childhood, Louie had regarded every limitation placed on him as a challenge to his wits, his resourcefulness, and his determination to rebel. The result had been a mutinous youth. As maddening as his exploits had been for his parents and his town, Louie's success in carrying them off had given him the conviction that he could think his way around any boundary. Now, as he was cast into extremity, despair and death became the focus of his defiance. The same attributes that made him the boy terror of Torrence were keeping him alive in the greatest struggle of his life."

"Few societies treasured dignity, and feared humiliation, as did the Japanese, for whom a loss of honor could merit suicide. This is likely one of the reasons why Japanese soldiers in World War II debased their prisoners with such zeal, seeking to take from them that which was most painful and destructive to lose. On Kwajalein, Louie and Phil learned a dark truth known to the doomed in Hitler's death campus, 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. In places like Kwajalein, degradation could be as lethal as a bullet."