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In Review: Unbroken – A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
By: Laura Hillenbrand
As Reviewed by: Macy Walsh
“If I knew I had to go through those experiences again,” Louis Zamperini once said of his years as an Army bombardier in World War II, “I’d kill myself.” After reading Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand’s powerful new book about this extraordinary man’s life, few are likely to doubt him. Hillenbrand, whose previous book was Seabiscuit: An American Legend, seems drawn to underdogs who struggle against adversity, and her subject here is no exception. It’s hard to say what’s more remarkable, the story or she who tells it. In the case of Unbroken, the two combine to paint an engaging portrait of heroism, endurance and the triumph of the human spirit.
A bad kid from a good working class family, Zamperini showed defiance as a child, consistently at odds with his father and the police. After seeing that some “bad kids” were ending up in institutions for the feeble-minded and criminally incorrigible, he decided to reform himself. Louis worked on his schooling and soon took up running, eventually qualifying for the 1936 Olympic team. While he didn’t win a gold medal, the star athlete came from way behind, making up 50 yards in one lap. This underdog moral victory turned him into a worldwide celebrity, and many believed he was on target to take the gold in the 1940 games. But life had other plans.
The world was at war and Louis decided to join the military. Despite a fear of flying, he ended up in the Army Air Corps as a bombardier. While on a mission to find a downed plane, his aircraft crashed in the Pacific Ocean, beginning one of the most horrific and amazing stories to come out of the war. Louis extricated himself and two companions from the wreckage onto a pair of pitifully equipped life rafts. Under harsh circumstances, the three men collected rainwater, shared lessons from school and recited old family recipes to keep themselves sane. As time passed, they finally learned how to catch and eat the sharks that constantly surrounded them and even survived a strafing from a Japanese plane that tore one of the rafts to shreds. Still, after 46 grueling days on the ocean (a survival record), the most horrific trial of all was yet to come.
Soon captured by the Japanese, Zamperini endured a long stay at a POW camp run by a sadistic soldier known to the other prisoners as the Bird. He dubbed Louis “prisoner number one” and singled him out for regular beatings. Many prisoners died from such systematic abuse, disease or starvation, but Zamperini endured despite cruel treatment and humiliation. Many of these scenes are difficult to read, especially when you consider that nearly 40 percent of POWs in Japan died while in captivity, not counting the thousands whose names were never recorded. It’s almost inconceivable that any human being could withstand the tortures these men were faced with. Despite the odds, Louis survived and returned to his family. How he came back from the brink of self-destruction and emerged as an unbroken man is just one part of his amazing tale.
Unbroken is a riveting read. Once you pick it up, be prepared for a long weekend living inside the mind of Louis Zamperini and his companions, not to mention many of his Japanese captors. Taken from extensive personal interviews, diaries, letters and archives, Hillenbrand’s attention to detail is superb. Her research was aided by the fact that Louis, now in his 90s, is a “superlative pack rat.” That sense of authenticity adds to the human drama of this compelling saga that helps us remember and respect the men and women who served so valiantly, and I’m sure they’re proud to have Louis Zamperini represent them. Laura Hillenbrand has hit another home run.
