On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.
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In her long-awaited new book, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man’s journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit.
I've been hearing about this book for ages from just about everyone. For some reason I've been putting it off (as I often do when it comes to things everyone else raves about) but since I'm really making an effort to work through my "to read" list, I finally put it on hold. My hold happened to become available during a month when I've been reading all kinds of books about the WWII era so I felt like I was in a better position to wrap my mind around the story.
I've read some really amazing books so far this year but this is a contender for one of the best. It's amazing what people can (and have) survived and also what some human beings are willing to do to others. Also, if I thought I was terrified of sharks before...
Anyway, Louis's story is one of courage, survival and redemption but also so much heartbreak. I feel like books like Unbroken are so important for helping people understand the true cost of war. It's not just uniforms and glory. There's a real human toll and it can be very steep. Even after he survived his ordeal on the raft and then years of abuse in Japanese camps, he went on fighting the war in his mind for years, slumping into depression and alcoholism before he finally found redemption and a measure of peace through God and forgiveness. A lovely ending to a rather terrifying tale.
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