Recently I read, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, by Laura Hillendbrand. Holy cow, what an amazing story! It is the true story of Louie Zamperini, a man who survived remarkable circumstances after his plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean during WWII. As if that wasn't horrific enough, he and another man were lost at sea for 47 days, then captured by the Japanese, passed around to several different POW camps, and when we finally won the war, he suffered alcoholism, awful dreams, depression, and many other after effects of the war.
Before the war, Louie was an Olympic runner. He competed in the 1936 Olympics in the 5000 meters and was aspiring to compete in the mile in the 1940 Olympics that were cancelled. So, into the war he went and became part of the crew on an airplane fighting in the Pacific. Thus the story goes from there. Each part of the story became more and more amazing to me. The whole time they were at sea I kept wondering how they were going to survive. Then they were captured and placed in horrible conditions in POW camps and I wondered how they were going to survive. Then, the war ended and Louie came home and suffered horrible mental breakdowns. I figured his story was going to end in a sad way after all that survival during the war. But I guess maybe I shouldn't reveal the end in case you want to read the book.
If you are not a history person, some of this book will probably be rather boring to you. There are some WWII details, but it mostly revolves around Louie's story. The title is really true. This is an amazing story of survival, resilience, and redemption and I would recommend it to anyone!
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