Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A lot of nonfiction books get so bogged down with detail that they have no narrative drive. Unbroken doesn’t have this problem. From the beginning, Hillenbrand’s writing sets the story in driven, organized motion, drawing the reader in emotionally and painting clear portraits of characters, events, and settings. You get to know Louis Zamperini, an Italian-American with unequivocal speed and a childhood marked by thievery. Hillenbrand traces Zamperini’s life from childhood to adulthood, track race to Olympic trials to military service in the Pacific, where his plane goes down and he’s faced with a new war aimed at survival. Along the way, Hillenbrand writes about the necessity of maintaining dignity in the face of suffering and abuse. Human resilience is one essential theme. There’s also the theme of forgiveness, which dominates Part V.
Unbroken is long, but not droning. Every word and passage is merited, there for a purpose and carrying detail and development essential to the (true) story line. It’s a feat of nonfiction story construction that testifies of the author’s incredible understanding of her subject. The story moves at varying paces, but never left me bored. Like all great writing, it’s not just interesting, it’s thought-provoking and spurs inward reflection.
Highly recommend.
Meredith Sell 