Anyone reading this book will come away with a new perspective, as well as heightened knowledge, and above all, an appreciation for what soldiers go through in a war, particularly WWII. Laura Hillenbrand provides a perspective of this war, with immense help from a bare-knuckle, honest accounting from Louie Zamperini and other prisoners of war. To finally close the cover of this book, was, for me, to believe I had witnessed the furthest extent of what the human body could endure and the horrid extreme of cruelty a human being could deliver.
This book, for me, began when the Green Hornet crashed in the Pacific and the three men struggled to survive. It is incomprehensible how the men repeatedly went for stretches of eight or more days without food and very little potable water. Tracking their will to survive and their determination against increasing obstacles became riveting. Hillenbrand’s description of the withering of their bodies, the sores all over them, and their swollen lips, painted a picture of decomposing flesh, rotting slowly before my eyes.
Their oversight of life-saving techniques, such as first overlooking the use of canvas sacks as rain-catchers, gave them the quality of being one of us, regular people, but with a little added survival training. Because this story is non-fiction, Hillenbrand was left with the characters she had and the detailed accounts they gave, which has meticulously chronicled page-by-page in her end of the book notes. So there were no McGyvers to save the day.
That they survived the ocean, beating back sharks that conspiratorially badgered them into death at sea, was incredible, and record-setting, but it also, for me, illustrated the stamina of the human will to live. Death would have mercifully ended the pain.
And after being captured and discarded into prison camps, Louie endured continual starvation, beatings, assaults on his dignity, and mental torture that made him wish he had died at sea. Then, when his body and mind could take no more, in the midst of perpetual, unrelenting torment from prison guards, a high ranking guard, The Bird, made Louie his personal punching bag (and that is euphemistically put). He beat him morning and night, at one point had other POWs punch him 220 times until he blacked out, withheld food for weeks, threatened to drown him, and actually even made him eat shit.
That this is a true story of an Olympic athlete, who could have made history on a track but didn’t because of his service in the military, is what initially made this a story to publish; however, Hillenbrand uses this starting block to launch into the unspeakable details of what war is really about.
Sure, with the exception of Louie, the character development could have been better. Most people, even Phil, seemed generic stand-ins to move the “Unbroken” plot along. This is, perhaps, why at times the first two parts lagged a bit. I would have preferred those 121 pages condensed to about 60, with less about every loaf of bread stolen and every plane mission flown.
But as the book progressed, the food thieving skill did help to add humor to an otherwise gravely serious tale; for example, when the POWs, in an almost Hogan’s Heroes-like style, stole food and newspapers, it made their captors look like fools.
Also, the contributions she received from Louie and others to write this book were essential, and without detailed letters, diaries, and government records, this important story could not be told. The haunting picture of Louie on page 336, for example, indeed, tells one thousand words.
Lastly, truth gave the author the denouement she needed in order to end this upon the unbroken theme she began: Louie’s transformation to Christianity was what brought him out of an abysmal dissension and into a life that built tremendous success out of an absolute hell. There is no other reason given for his reemergence and for those who would discount this, I guess, are challenged to do eight years of painstaking and tedious research to find another reason. I give this book eight stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment