Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Oh! This book!! So many feels! The gun cracked, the men rushed forward, and the race was on. Lash bounded to the lead, with Bright in close pursuit. Louie dropped back, and the field settled in for the grind. The beginning of the book was quite dramatic. I loved Louie from the start. He wasn’t perfect but sadly he was hurting people. Once he realized this he knew he had to stop and change his ways, but how!? His brother Pete and his family was a great influence. Family is always an influence whether we see it so plainly or not. In the case of Louie they were a good, a very good influence. I also loved his mother, although it was Pete that really pushed him to find the greatness within. A photographer climved inside the plane and snapped a picture. Taken in daylight in the dark of the plane’s interior, the image showed shafts of light streaming through the holes, a shower of stars against a black sky. With all of the drama at the beginning I was dreading reaching the point of his captivity but with such poignant writing I couldn’t help but race through the book. His military days were fantastic and I could feel myself living vicariously through his happy days. I wanted to meet the people he met, go on the trips he went on, and enjoy life as much as he did! At least until… Nobody’s going to live through this. 22% into the book and it starts getting deep. Really deep. I started to feel myself being afraid for his life, wondering how he was going to survive. He kept many journals so there wasn’t a guarantee (unlike my hubby who knew about Louie Zamborini, I had not heard of him) that he was going to live. I wanted to avert my eyes, stop reading, anything to forgo re-living the traumatic events that led to his capture. And they are TRAUMATIC! But I could not help myself. The more dramatic the events the more I wanted to rush through the story and learn his fate. On a side note… never, EVER ask yourself After a plane crash, Louie replied, what more bad luck could they have? More about the actual writing, although the story was tremendously heavy and amazing and nearly unbelievable, the writing was exceptional. I do not think I could have gotten through this much horror without such exquisite writing. It was lyrical in parts and very deep in others and even had a slight spirituality in certain areas. The fight for this place had ripped the jungle off of the island. In short: This is an epic battle with not only outside sources, there are many, but also with his own spirit. This will leave you stunned but it is major food for thought. This is definitely a must read and I cannot wait to see the upcoming movie!

The book is always better than the movie, right? It seems that way to me, even with movies as good as the Lord of the Rings series. The movies were amazing, but the books were still better. It seems inevitable that Unbroken will appear on the silver screen before long (and, if the rumors are to be believed, it will star Nicholas Cage). Before it does, make sure you read the book. Unbroken is, in a word, amazing--easily one of the best books I read in 2010. It's written by Laura Hillenbrand who also penned Seabiscuit. This new book has shot straight to #2 on the New York Times list of bestsellers just days after its release. Unbroken tells the tale of Louie Zamperini, a character who is so much larger than life that I can't believe I hadn't encountered him before. Zamperini grew up in California in the 1930's, a troublesome kid who was constantly stealing, constantly fighting, constantly getting into trouble. He was that kid, the kid who was known by the police, the kid who was every teacher's nightmare. He was also lightning fast, eventually becoming a member of the 1936 U.S. Olympic team where he ran the 5,000 meter race and even had the opportunity to meet Adolf Hitler. War came in 1941 and, like so many men his age, Zamperini joined up, enlisting in the United States Army Air Force. He was made bombardier in a B-24 bomber and posted to Hawaii. He took advantage of all the world had to offer, drinking and carousing with the best (or worst) of them. On May 27, 1943, while searching the ocean for a crashed plane, his own plane suffered mechanical failure and plunged into the ocean. Zamperini survived the crash along with two other members of the crew. They were adrift in the Pacific for 47 days, living off whatever rain fell from the sky and whatever food they could somehow pluck from the ocean. Though one of the men eventually succumbed to starvation, the two who remained were eventually "rescued" by the Japanese Navy, some 2,000 miles from where the plane had crashed. Zamperini's war was about to get far worse. While in captivity he was treated barbarically, a human guinea pig for new medications, a punching bag for sadistic guards, a slave laborer. In one camp he fell under the eye of Sergeant Matsuhiro Watanabe, one of Japan's most notorious war criminals and a true sadist who beat Zamperini near the point of death time and time again. That he survived the camp at all is not far short of a miracle. But he did survive, right to the end of the war. Though just a shadow of the man he was before, he returned to the United States. He was consumed by hate and anger, haunted by the shadows of what he had gone through and, as with so many survivors of the Prisoner of War camps, he turned to alcohol to numb the pain. He got married but found himself turning on his wife, even physically at times, and he found himself deeper and deeper in the bottle. His life unraveled even further. Let me pause here. If you already know that you want to read this book, just stop now and buy yourself a copy. Quit now before you come to the real spoilers. Do take note of this caveat: This may not be a book to give to your kids. There is some profanity used in dialog and there is the ugly truth that one of the Japanese prison guards was a sexual sadist who seemed to find sexual pleasure in beating and demeaning his prisoners. The sexual component of that sadism is not discussed in detail, it is not really qualified, but it is mentioned. The profanity and the sadism are historical, so not entirely out of place. But I do want to make you aware of them. You can buy Unbroken at Amazon, in hardcover or on the Kindle. It will make a great gift for a lover of biography or a person who has an interest in history, and especially military history. Now, for those who haven't run out to buy the book already, let me tell just a bit more about Zamperini's life. Zamperini pretty much hit rock bottom right around the time that Billy Graham began a crusade in California. Zamperini's wife had decided to divorce him, having come to the end of her ability to put up with his drunkenness and his abuse. But a neighbor persuaded her to go to the crusade and on her first night there she got saved. Soon she and the friend persuaded Louie to come along as well. The first night he stormed out in anger. The second night he began to storm out in anger, but on his way out, turned back and responded to the altar call. He got saved too. And his life was utterly transformed. He eventually returned to Japan to preach the gospel, even sharing it with some of the men who had imprisoned and abused him. And here he is, decades after the war, still alive, suddenly coming into the limelight once again. And here, perched near the top of the New York Times list of bestsellers, is a book that tells a story of a marvelous transformation, of God's stunning saving grace extended to one of his children. It's almost too good to be true. What can I do but recommend this book? It is receiving near-universal acclaim and for good reason. It's an incredible story to begin with, and it only gets better as it goes along. The climax of the story is not when Zamperini is rescued or when he exacts revenge on his captors. The story hits its climax right where Zamperini is born again, where he lets go of the anger and instead finds himself overwhelmed with love, God's love, and wants nothing more but to share that love with those who hated him. It's a story that has waited a long time to be told; it's a story that just needs to be read.

When you think of WWI, what typically comes to mind? Hitler, right? The Nazis? Inglourious Basterds ? Gas chambers? Jews? Most of my WWII reading centered around the German arena. Amazing first-hand accounts and insights like Night and Man's Search for Meaning come from this stage along with other classics like The Diary of a Young Girl . These are just a few stories I've read about this time in history and I'd recommend them all. But how many books have you read on what happened in the Pacific theater of WWII (aka the "Pacific War")? Unless you've seen The Pacific ] (which I haven't) you probably don't know a lot. Besides the draw of learning about a whole new front of the war, Louie Zamperini's story is an incredible one. Amazon reviewers' (I always read Amazon reviews!) top critique was that the story seemed unbelievable. A boy with Olympic dreams of breaking the four minute mile is incredible enough for me--do you know how fast a 4 minute mile is? That's an average of ONE MINUTE around a high school track! That boggles my mind. For those of us thrilled with 11 minute miles, "Zamp" as he's called in the book would've easily lapped us. At least three times. How crazy is that? I would have been happy with just that story. It's crazy because his rising star coincided with Hitler's, and he actually met him at the Olympics in Berlin. There's a story about guns booming and pigeons flying that literally made me laugh uncontrollably out loud: the Germans wanted a big show, so they released a bunch of pigeons, and then did a gun fanfare. Every time the guns went off, the pigeons pooped with fear on the crowd. Why is that hilarious? I don't know. Who doesn't like a story about pigeons mass-pooping on people during the Olympics? Each phase of the story is a crazy one. The story spans from his running days to his days as a bomber to his days stranded on a life boat surrounded by sharks. His survival skills are (here's the word again) incredible, but reading about his days as a POW is even more insane. I don't want to give too much away here, but there's a little bit of everything, including his desperate cries to God in the life boat and his eventual conversion. This is hardly a religious book, but it doesn't pull its punches too much when it comes to spiritual matters, either. This book drew me in, and I had to fight developing my parents' early distaste for the Japanese. I knew about the horrors of the war, and how the Japanese treated the Koreans, and the book in no way highlighted any of the details between these two nations, but what it had was enough. I was horrified and devastated and had empathy for the nationalistic distaste (what an understatement!) Koreans developed after the war. It was indeed a horrible time and brought out the worst in people. Is it a spoiler alert if you know what happens at the end? It's like watching Valkyrie ]and wondering if Tom Cruise will succeed in killing Hitler. Obviously the conspiracy fails... right? Right?! Well, Zamperini survives, and there is an insight into life after the war for many people who fought in WWII, although much of the PTSD seemed to be blunted. This story isn't about the ending, but about the journey. I am amazed, as someone who is not much of a fighter, to read about someone who clung to life with a tenacity that I doubt I have. I'm definitely not the one eating all the chocolate, though. (Read the book to find out what I mean by that.) Hehe. Sidenote: I purchased and read this book on the Kindle. It was recommended to me by my brother-in-law, who heard it on audiobook (after considering it for a while, I decided that audiobooks count as "reading" if you consider Braille "reading." Blind people wouldn't say "I felt that book," would they? All this to say, the audiobook version of this comes recommended as well.) Another friend had it on her "top tier" of reading, so that pushed me over the edge. Totally glad I did it. The book is about 4 pages shy of 500, but it was a quick read and I didn't feel like I lost much on the Kindle (pictures showed up just fine.)

In the narrative, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, the harrowing story of Louie Zamperini's life as a Prisoner of War in World War II is flawlessly conveyed, bringing readers mixed emotions, as they witness the ups and downs of one man's extraordinary life. Louie Zamperini grew up in Torrance, California where he was introduced to running by his older brother, Pete. Louie's inspiring natural talent compelled him forward, until he had become one of the best runners in the world. With the Olympics well within his grasp, Zamperini decided to sign up as a member of the air force to avoid being drafted into a less desirable position. Louie's Olympic dreams were put on hold as he traveled California, training to serve his country. Being that, the equipment Louie was dealing with, wasn't of stellar quality. Indeed each time Louie's plane took off, a foreshadowing of the inevitable danger leapt onto the page. On May 27, 1943, Louie's life was spared as his plane crashed into the ocean, but the blessing quickly became a curse as Louie spent the next forty-seven days trapped on a life boat with no food and minimal water. When Louie finally escaped hell on the life boat, it is not for the better. Louie spent over two years being shipped around different Japanese war camps, each growing more terrible. Hillenbrand relates Louie's hardships and makes the readers' heart ache for the trials Louis endured, throughout his time as a prisoner of war in Japan. Particularly Hillenbrand expertly describes Louie's discovery of God. Evolving from a man with little knowledge of Christian faith, Louie experiences angelic visitations after vowing to serve the Lord forever, if he could only be saved. "On the fortieth day, Louie was lying beside Phil under the canopy when he abruptly sat up. He could hear singing. He kept listening; it sounded like a choir. He nudged Phil and asked him if he heard anything. Phil said no. Louie slid the canopy off and squinted into the daylight. The ocean was a featureless flatness. He looked up. "Above him, floating in a bright cloud, he saw human figures silhouetted against the sky. He counted twenty-one of them. They were singing the sweetest song he had ever heard." Hillenbrand's eloquent writing style supplies the readers with not only the action filled moments of terror, but tranquil and sensational moments can be found sprinkled throughout. After reading this book, I acquired a new respect for the hardship that one person can go through and still survive. With each page, Unbroken became harder to put down, and once I had finished, my respect for Louie, and everything he survived, was overwhelming. I highly recommend this riveting tome to anyone and everyone. Although it began at a generally slow pace, the setting is perfectly set to make each of Louie's tragedies that much more painful. Laura Hillenbrand does a fabulous job taking Louie's story and conveying it in such a way that everyone who reads it will find some pleasure or point of interest. While I was skeptical about whether or not I would enjoy a war book, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this account brought in so many other topics I felt a particular passion for. Louie's mindset of never giving up is inspiring to all, and his determination and passion for running is relatable to any athlete. His incredible discovery of Jesus Christ and the experiences he had are thrilling to all those of faith and challenging, yet magical, to those who are not. Unbroken is a fabulous novel conveying the tragic and fantastic story of Louie Zamperini's unbelievable survival.

First off, I did not think I would enjoy this book. I do not like war books, I do not like pain and suffering. That is about 99% of this book. I enjoy books such as The Mitford Series, Harry Potter, southern humorous books. I really like books that are well written and make you smile. So why did I read this one? I am going to work on a project where we record the histories of war veterans to be archived. We will interview them and record their accounts and experiences. We have a few World War II veterans living in our community, and I wanted to read up on my WWII history in order to know a little more about it than what I received in high school and college. The reviews on this book were very high, so I ordered it on my Kindle, and began reading, not expecting to enjoy it at all, and a little bit hesitant. First off, I was quite surprised that I read it and actually enjoyed reading it. I also learned much more about WWII than I would have ever learned from a text book. The author used the facts that she had, and documented where her facts came from. This information was not boring either. She worked it into the story so that you knew what was going on during the war in Japan, at the same time "x" was going on on the other side of the world. You also would think that a person would give up long before Louie did, but he kept holding on, just like I kept holding on reading this book...you wanted to see if he would get out of the hell he was in and into a better place. Each time, it just kept getting worse. But, this still was not "hard" to read, because little bits of hope would filter in and keep you going...just like it kept Louie going. Louie is a remarkable man. I am sure there are many other remarkable men. My uncle survived the Bataan Death March, so he too had the drive that Louie had to survive, but Louie had kept every bit of documentation of his life and experience, so the author was able to use his photos, letters, etc to create this account of his life. I started to give this a 4 star review...because I still do not like the subject matter, nor the abuse, the loss of so many lives...so the 4 star would be for the actual topic...the war with Japan. But that's not the books fault. The book is a 5 star book, so I went ahead and gave it a 5 star rating. If you would like to read a good book, but aren't the history/war/torture type of reader...please don't let the subject matter of this book stop you. It is not presented in a way that makes it hard to read. On the contrary, it kept me reading. I know my review is lame. But I struggled with how to review this book, and I decided not to worry about how I "described it" and to just write my thoughts. I didn't want to put details in, because it was the details that kept me turning the pages, so I will leave them to you to discover. It's a book you will be proud to say "I read that book" and it will give you an insight to our veterans and what they endured. It also helps me to understand how bitter my uncle was whenever he would encounter an Asian from 'any' country...it didn't matter that they weren't Japanese...he couldn't be near them. I never understood that, but after reading how they were treated, now I understand. I will probably purchase the hardcover edition of this book, so that I can have my kids read it and to have on my shelf for others to read, borrow, etc. I enjoy reading my Kindle, but some books deserve to be present on your shelf. This one does.

For good reason, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand landed on many Best of the Year lists in 2010, including on Mark's. I'm not sure I would have picked this up otherwise; I like World War II books as much as the next guy (if the next guy in question also likes World War II books), but this is focused on one man. And it's 500 pages. I wasn't sure that I was ready to commit. I'm so glad that I did. After a few pages, I knew that I would love this book. Unbroken is the story of Louie Zamperini, a hooligan-turned-Olympic runner-turned-pilot-turned-prisoner of war-turned- unbroken and hopeful man. That's a pretty good one-sentence summary of the book, just in case the publisher is looking for a subtitle for the forthcoming paperback version. I liked Louie instantly; he was a troublemaker tough-guy, but found his escape from his California town by running. Introduced to the sport by his brother, Louie runs in high school, college, and then in the 1936 Berlin Olympics where he met Adolph Hitler. His life changed soon after as the story follows Louie into his new career as an AAC bombardier, until he crashes in the Pacific. Louie and two others survive at sea for over forty days without provisions (with a troubling scene about a lice infestation in his newly grown beard). If the story ended here, it would be a powerful journey. However, it does not. Much of the book is his horrid treatment in several prisoner of war camps in Japan. Just when I thought all the evil happened to Louie, there is a new chapter of horror. The title is perfect to describe Zamperini. This man personifies courage, resilience, and hope in ways I have never seen. There were times I gasped aloud to read his ordeals. The squalor and suffering only provide a backdrop to allow Louie's courage and character to shine brightly. I hesitate to say to much to avoid taking away the suspense as you read it, but allow me to say that Louie continues to sink lower into despondency and hopeless until God intervenes. In literature, it's called deux ex machina; in life, it is called redemption. This book also has much to say about the many Japanese atrocities in World War II, whether it is in prison camps, Pearl Harbor, or Nanking: "The Japanese military surrounded the city of Nanking, stranding more than half a million civilians and 90,000 Chinese soldiers. The soldiers surrendered and, assured of their safety, submitted to being bound. Japanese officers then issued a written order: ALL PRISONERS OF WAR ARE TO BE EXECUTED. What followed was a six-week frenzy of killing that defies articulation. Masses of POWs were beheaded, machine-gunned, bayoneted, and burned alive. The Japanese turned on civilians, engaging in killing contests, raping tens of thousands of people, mutilating and crucifying them, and provoking dogs to maul them. Japanese soldiers took pictures of themselves posing alongside hacked-up bodies, severed heads, and women strapped down for rape. The Japanese press ran tallies of the killing contests as if they were baseball scores, praising the heroism of the contestants. Historians estimate that the Japanese military murdered between 200,000 and 430,000 Chinese, including the 90,000 POWs, in what became known as the Rape of Nanking." This gives a more complete picture of the behavior and the attitudes of Japan, and why Hiroshima and Nagasaki were last resorts. Japan was on par of the atrocities committed by Hitler and Germany, and the two countries had more in common during treatment of people during the war than they differed. This concept certainly is not in our modern psyche. It is accepted (and often applauded) to denigrate Germany, but it is labeled as racist if we criticize Japan. In addition to the highlighting of a great man and as a history lesson, Unbroken is simply excellent prose. Hillenbrand has a poetic style of writing even the cruelest events. Examples: He felt as if he would faint, but it wasn't from the exertion. It was from the realization of what he was. One engine, for reasons known only to the plane, was thirstier than the others, so the gauges had to be watched constantly There was one perk to life in the barracks. The bathroom was plastered in girlie pinups, a Sistine Chapel of pornography. But it was good to feel oriented, to know that they were drifting toward land somewhere out there, on the far side of the earth's tilt. 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. 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. Whether or not you are a fan of war accounts, go read this book. Like me, you will be mesmerized with Louie Zamperini for good reason. He is a man who stands above other men, and his story demands to be told. The more like Zamperini we are, the better the world would be.

UNBROKEN is Breathless! On Amazon.com some 1,700 plus people have written reviews of Hillenbrand's latest book. Yet I all but ignored the book and had little thought of adding it to my must read list. Certainly I recall having enjoyed Hillenbrand's "Seabiscuit" and found I was actually surprised that I could enjoy a book centered on the story of a race horse. But still despite some friends recommending her latest I just never got around to reading it. My error and my loss because this is an incredible story told by an incredible writer. Not much reason to go into the story and surprises of what is basically a biography of Louis Zamperini and his experiences in World War II. It covers his whole life and it is inconceivable to believe he survived the events depicted. The story certainly gives credence that life is stranger than fiction. And no doubt Zamperini's life was not as fast and entertaining as the page turner that Hillenbrand has created. (All be it much of the book is gruesome and violent.) Hillenbrand brings all this to life with suspense, and surprises (almost one after another) without embellishing. She is wonderful creating a journalistic narrative. (Even her footnotes are worth reading.)And there is more here than just the story of Zamperini as numerous other characters enrich the story. UNBROKEN reminded me a lot of Hampton Sides GHOST SOLDIERS which is also about the treatment by the Japanese of POW's and a mission to rescue the POW's. One thing I do think Sides did better in his book is to go into the cultural reasons and issues of why the POW's were mistreated. However Hillenbrand's story personalizes the situation much more dramatically than Sides is able to do. Both are remarkable in writing style and both authors are now among my favorite writers. As an example of Hillenbrand's ability to convey time and place in just one paragraph she opens the book with the Zamperini brothers looking up at the Graf Zeppelin... " After a slow glide around the Statue of Liberty, the Zeppelin banked north, then turned over the Atlantic. In time, land came below again: France, Switzerland, Germany. The ship passed over Nuremberg, where fringe politician Adolf Hitler, whose Nazi Party had been trounced in the 1928 elections, had just delivered a speech touting selective infanticide. Then it flew east to Frankfurt, where a Jewish woman named Edith Frank was caring for her newborn, a girl named Anne. Sailing northeast, the Zeppelin crossed over Russia. Siberian villagers, so isolated that they'd never even seen a train, fell to their knees at the site of it." This is an example of how the whole book is constructed. Layers of research used on behalf of this most incredible story and life. A must read for sure. I am only sorry I waited so long.

You don't have to look any further than the title to find the theme of this book. Unbroken: A World War II Book of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand is not a military history book in the scholarly sense anyway, but you will learn something about this war and its casualties. Rather, this is a book of the human soul - finding strength, commitment, compassion and ultimately, forgiveness. The star of this show is Louis Zamperini (or Louie, as he's known throughout the book). Everything else, the history of the war, etc., is the frame which Louie's story sits within. We learn something new, or find something we can relate to, and think about, on every page. Even those of us that weren't born yet during that time, or those of us that are not students of history, will relate. In Unbroken, we follow Louis from his childhood days as a thief, the love of his family that broke him of that habit for a love of track, to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, to the war, his POW experience and ultimately his time after the war. And through it all, we learn, we feel, we're grateful to be a reader in his journey. (I'm not going to revamp Louie's story here, that's the fun of reading the book). Hillenbrand tells Louie's story in an informal narrative form like I've never seen before. I haven't read Seabiscuit: An American Legend (Ballantine Reader's Circle) yet (her only other book), but the language and clarity of this book is nothing short of perfect for someone like me who is not a student of WWII or military history. There is no judgment on the part of the author, only the telling of Louie's story. The reader is left to fill in their own thoughts based on the facts Hillenbrand writes about those times in history. I appreciate that. I love that. There's no subjective filter to contend with, though we can guess how the author feels. While we're reading the story, Hillenbrand has instilled important details that we may not realize we've even digested until she pulls them out later to complete that part of the story. And boy does she write in detail. Every event that happens on every single page makes you pay attention and turn the pages without even realizing you've turned them. In short, this is an exciting read. It's a sometimes sad story, but it's always exhilarating. Lucky for us, and Hillenbrand, Zamperini was still alive (in his 90s) at the writing of the book and gave Hillebrand 75 interviews for it. His family, friends and colleagues (not to mention the military and press) also gave a lot of time to Hillenbrand as well. You'll love the photos she's collected from all of them and published within each chapter too. In all the non-fiction books I've read, on any subject, I've never read a book that has so much life in it. I've never read one, like this, that trusts me, the reader, enough to just tell the story. I've never read one that can tell the story of historical events through the eyes of a participant as well as this. Hillenbrand once said about Unbroken, "I never thought I'd find a subject as fascinating to me as Seabiscuit: An American Legend (Ballantine Reader's Circle) , but I did with Louis." It shows. Louie, along with his family, friends and colleagues will never be forgotten thanks to Laura Hillenbrand.

I loved it. It was so different from what I usually read. I couldn't put it down. I couldn't wait to go to bed so that I could continue reading Louis' story. The amazing strength and courage that all of the men had was unbelievable. The story was beautifully told in this book. The details, the emotions, the courage was so well expressed in this book. For all the men and women who served and who are still serving I salute you. I now understand why men that return from war are so apt to keep all of the experiences to themselves. But this book reveals how important it is to unload the horrors of war for a person to love themselves again. To the author, excellent work. Again, beautifully written.

I bought it for my husband and he loved it! We saw the movie after but, according to his opinion, it's not even 10% as good as the book!

To start with: I honestly think that A PAPERBACK VERSION OF THIS BOOK WOULD HAVE BEEN A LOT MORE ENJOYABLE TO READ THAN THE KINDLE VERSION. There are a lot of photos and references all throughout the book. I kept wanting to flip back to previous chapters and remind myself of how Louie's war buddies look like , who's who and flip forward to see the footnotes (presented at the end of each chapter). But this is impossible with a kindle. The only good thing I found about reading a kindle version is that I can easily find definitions of many tech-y war / bomber plane terms which are foreign sounding to me. But I don't think this outweigh the disadvantages I lay out. This is a book so good that you'd want to lend it to all your mates because you believe reading the book will enrich their lifes. So get a paperback version! Now let me start with my review. Being British and UK based, I don't tend to check out the NY Times best sellers list so I never heard of this book, nor this Louie guy, until my sister mentioned it on her instagram post saying "If you're going to read just one book this summer, read this." At times, amazon reviewers ratings are so off they're not to be trusted (Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert was one of the worst book I've ever read and I was on a mission to let the whole world know that the book didn't deserve any star rating, never mind the 1600+ 5* rating it got on amazon.com and 250+ 5* rating on the UK website). In this case however, the 5* ratings on the UK and US amazon are well and truly justified. I would have given it 6* if amazon allowed such rating for exceptional circumstance. I won't summarise the book nor say much about how incredible the life story of Louis Zamperini was because you can read this in other reviews. What I would say is that his story will surely touch and inspire you beyond measure. Particularly on the first half of the book, you'll read so much cruelties and madness which will repulse you, but in the end, you'll gape in amazement at how much a human body and unbroken spirit can endure. I have to also commend writer Laura Hillenbrand for penning Louis's story so beautifully and matter-of-fact-ly. Her writing is so good that I could almost feel Louie's exhilaration when he broke his mile record, his family's sense of loss when the news of his disappearence was delivered, his thirst and desperation as he float on a lone raft in the middle of the vast pacific ocean, his hate towards his captor 'The Bird'. I'll end with my sister's recommendation: If you're going to read just one book in 2014, read this book!

Merita di essere letto.una storia vera ed avvincente, che racconta la forza, il coraggio, la caduta ed infine la fede di un uomo straordinario.Bravissima la scrittrice che ci illustra in modo vivido anche un periodo di storia americana.

This book gave me a new insight into the lives of people who served in the war. Louis story is so incredible, so deeply touching and inspiring. It shows the power of the human spirit and what we are truly capable, even in our darkest hours. I cannot say how much I enjoyed reading this book enough. This story will stay with me forever, it's moved to the top of my favorite books list