Survival, Resilience and Redemption
A Book Review of ‘Unbroken’ By Laura Hillenbrand
I had just read Endurance, which told the story of Shackleton’s incredible voyage in its attempt to cross the Antarctic continent in 1914. I was looking for something similar, and this was recommended to me. Endurance was already mind-blowing, but this… was something else.
It tells the life story of Louis Zamperini, and I really enjoyed that it starts narrating his journey very earlier when he was just a child, long before the war started which is what the story is focused on. It allowed to understand Louis’ background and personality better and appreciate his journey with greater depth. It describes his religious youth and then his running career, culminating in earning a place in the US Olympic team at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games.
World-War 2 begins shortly after, and Louis enlists in the US Army Air Force, becoming a bombardier. He eventually crashes due to mechanical problems, killing 8 men out of the team of 11. They end up drifting in the ocean for 46 days. One man died, and the other two almost did from extreme starvation and dehydration.
They are eventually captured by the Japanese. Their capture is the main story, and to avoid spoilers, I will not explore it. Let’s just say that the Japanese, with their culture of extreme honor, were not very empathetic towards prisoners of war (being capture was considered shameful), and some of the guards were literally psychopaths. Louis and other prisoners went through unthinkable suffering during this time, some of which are really hard to read.
The war eventually ends, and Louis and the others are rescued. However, the suffering did not end. Louis had severe post-traumatic stress disorder, and he could not go back to normal living. He eventually spirals into alcoholism, and he seems a lost cause, doomed for self-destruction. Yet, miraculously, he manages to recover and leads a meaningful and happy life with his wife. It was the most cathartic thing I have ever read. Writing his story in such a summary, however, is almost a sin. And it’s really hard to grasp how incredibly his story truly was.
It was without a doubt one of the best books I have ever read, and I think it’s a story that almost anyone would enjoy and find tremendously inspirational and interesting to read. Not only through Louis perspective, but also the horrors of the camp guards, the guards that went against the tide and tried to help the prisoners, and much more. I also really enjoyed learning about the war, which is an unavoidable but positive side effect of reading his story, since you’re plunged into that period.
I can’t say enough good things about this book. As the title beautifully captures, it is a story about survival, resilience, and redemption. A story that will be ingrained in your mind and won’t be forgotten very easily, for the manifestation of both the highest and the lowest human capacity for kindness, resentment, and fortitude.
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