Titled Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, this book tells the tale of Louie Zamperini and his extraordinary life experiences before, during, and after World War II. From his mischievous days of youth to his exciting Olympic ambitions, his early life was a whirlwind of activity and marked him as an exceptional individual. But the heart of the story picks up when Louie's plane, a B-24 bomber dubbed the "Green Hornet," goes down in the Pacific Ocean, leaving three survivors clinging to two life rafts. Their story was so exciting (especially the bits about sharks swimming circles around their raft and even jumping up into the raft in attempts to pull the men into the water) that I read bits of it aloud to my boys.
Sean was riveted and kept saying, "keep reading." We read of the time Louie caught a bird and in attempting to eat it, became covered in lice. He had to dip his head into the ocean to drown the lice while his raft-mates beat back the attacking sharks. Sean marveled when the men caught a shark and ate the liver. The men shrank down to 67 and 80 pounds during thier forty-seven days stranded at sea. Louie bargained with God, that if He would save him, Louie would serve Him the rest of his days.
Yet the harrowing adventures while lost at sea paled compared to conditions of life after he washed ashore in enemy territory. I had to stop reading aloud because the details became far too graphic (although I did share with them the fact that the disease beriberi often swelled a man's testicles to the size of bread loaves - boys relish those details). The author wove the stories of other POWs into Louie's tale. After the enemy captured William Harris, he escaped and swam eight and a half hours across Manila Bay while a storm raged and fish bit him. He made a run for China, surviving on ants and the help of sympathetic Filipinos, until some civilians turned him in to the Japanese. Harris had a photographic memory. Louie would sneak into the guard house and steal a map, rush it to Harris, who would look it over for a few seconds and then draw up the map as Louie rushed it back to the guard house undetected. Harris earned a horrific beating for this.
The worst of the stories centered on a particular guard, nicknamed "the Bird." Mutsuhiro Watanabe, "the Bird," became Louie's worst nightmare. Although he was monstrous to all the POWs, he focused his wrath on Louie. This man made Louie's life a living hell and Louie was filled with hatred and rage toward the man. He continued to suffer nightmares featuring "the Bird" even when freed at the end of the war. At one point, he woke from a nightmare to find that instead of strangling "the Bird," he was instead strangling his own wife. Louie ran to alcohol to avoid facing the demons that plagued him from his war-time experiences.
Just as I was beginning to despair over the story, feeling the weight of all the devastating details and worrying that perhaps there would be no redemption, only a sad tale of a life destroyed by horrific war conditions, Hillenbrand tells how Louie's wife dragged him to a Billy Graham crusade. Referring to actual transcripts of Graham's sermon, it was as if the preacher's words were directed at Louie. He remembered his bargain with God, responded, and broke away from the hold of alcoholism and resentment. He even took a trip back to Japan to face and forgive his old guards. It changed his life and he channeled the tragic story of his life into work reforming troubled youths. He eventually penned a letter to "the Bird," expressing forgiveness and good will.
Although the book was a gruesome read, it was a fascinating, well-told story. The pages fell away in this riveting, remarkable book. Instead of experiencing frustration with yet another World War II book selection, I decided this was my favorite book selection of the past three war-centered books.
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Update: My Unbroken movie review: 12/27/14 - Went with Trevor to see Unbroken yesterday. Thankfully, the violence wasn't too intense for his ten year old eyes and he enjoyed the movie (perhaps more than I did). I felt disappointed with it. It failed to capture the most important aspects of Louie Zamperini's life and story. Yes, it told of the horrific circumstances the man endured, but it didn't focus on the redemption or the forgiveness the book highlights. It left these key elements (the bits about Louie's decline from PTSD and his eventual turn to God and journey to forgiveness for his enemies) to mere sentences displayed on the screen in the final moments of the film.
My writing friend, Julie Kloster, articulated my dissatisfaction well when she wrote on Facebook: Teachers remind students to "find the main idea" of stories. Angelina, dear, you missed the main idea of UNBROKEN. What makes this story great isn't the endurance of war torture, but the supernatural ability to forgive those who torture us by "loving our enemies" with the love that we first receive from Christ. What our hearts long for is not just strength, but healing. Where are the scenes of Zamperini's post traumatic stress? Where are the scenes where Zamperini was finally....broken....and recognized his need of God? Where are the face to face encounters of forgiveness with the Japanese soldiers that tortured Zamperini? All of these scenes would have added up to make the beautiful torch run not just touching, but mind blowing. A bit less torture and a lot more redemption would have catapulted this film from inspirational to a classic, life-changing piece of art."
I recommend reading the book before seeing the movie. I'm not saying the movie isn't worth watching, but without reading the full account and getting a clear picture of the heart of the story, you are settling for the shell when you could experience a fully-fleshed out story of redemption.
It reminds me of an image I shared on Facebook this past year highlighting the differences between a movie and a book.
2 comments:
Love this book, no matter how hard it is to read. It's such a worthwhile read - an amazing man and story!
Sheila - Your review was one of the ones inspiring me to read the book. I always trust your judgment when it comes to suggesting a good read!
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