The Author: Laura Hillenbrand

    Laura Hillenbrand was born in Fairfax, Virginia on May 15th 1967. She is the youngest of four children.  As a child Laura loved reading non-fiction books, her favorite being Come on Seabiscuit. Laura has written two books in her career, the first in 2001 called "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" and the second in 2010 titled "Unbroken: A World War ll Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption". Along with books Laura has written many magazine articles, one being an essay, "A Sudden Illness", that she wrote telling about an illness she has, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, that leaves you feeling mentally and physically exhausted. This illness forced her to leave Kenyon College before graduation. Now Laura lives in Washington, D.C. and rarely leaves her house because of this condition.

Summary

   Unbroken: A World War ll Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. I've heard people say this book is all about one man and his amazing run through life, but, in reality it's an amazing tale of a  journey through loss, hardships, and unbelievable experiences. From beginning to end this book keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Louie Zamperini training for the Olympics.

   Louie Zamperini is a troublesome kid, running a muck, stealing, telling wild stories, until one day his older brother, Pete, gets him to run track. Breaking record, after record, Louie has finally found his calling, prepared to break even more records he has his mind set on the Olympics. After training for months on end, the Olympics are cancelled and he joins the Air Corps. After countless missions, and one slight near death miss, Louie and his crew are forced to switch planes. (From Superman, to Green Hornet) On an attack from the enemy there engines begin to malfunction and down they go, crashing into the ocean. Three men survive, Louie being one. For 47 days they are forced to survive on minimal food and water, the occasional raw bird, or fish, and if they're lucky rain water. Louie and Phil are the only two left from the crash, found by the Japanese, now prisoners of war, they spend two years as slaves, moved to three different P.O.W. camps, separated, beaten almost daily, used as propaganda, disease ridden, and nearly dead they finally make it out. Louie, facing such horrendous situations, remained Unbroken. Forgiving every P.O.W guard, and anyone who had anything to do with the bad times, coming out the bigger man.

Passage

     " Louie's official death date was listed as May 28, 1944, a year and a day after his plane had vanished. The notice was just a piece of paper. "None of us believed it. None of us," Sylvia would say. "Never once. Not underneath, even." 
     Inside themselves, the Zamperinis still felt that persistent little echo of Louie, the sense that he was still in the world somewhere. Until that was gone, they would go on believing that he was alive.
    During family dinners, Pete and his father began drawing up plans to hunt for Louie. When the war was over, they'd rent a boat and sail from island to island until they found him. They'd go on for as long as it took." 

     Reading this passage I got the sense of how strong the Zamperinis family bond really is, Unbroken. To not have seen or heard from their

A family photo of the Zamperinis as Louie left for War.

 

Louie in over a year, but still know, without a doubt, that somewhere, some way, he was still alive, is just so comforting to me. Louie's family has no idea of what he's been through, nor how physically and mentally challenging staying alive has been for him, yet they still continue to have faith in his ability, and will, to do so. But then, for his brother, Pete, and his father to plan such a risky voyage just to find him, is so inspiring, that they have such lasting certainty that Louie is, and will stay, alive.

    

Title

The cover of the book Unbroken.

The title, Unbroken: A World War 2 Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, to me, when I first started reading the book was signifying the amount of effort Louis Zamperini put towards everything he did growing up. As I read on it started to signify the mind set of not just Louis Zamperini, but all of the American Soldiers in World War 2, Unbroken. I think the author, Laura Hillenbrand, wanted to convey just how Unbroken Louis Zamperini's attitude, and persistence was going through everything he encountered. To me that is exactly what was portrayed.