Christopher Koerner

Mrs. Arnold

English 10

25 February 15

Unbroken

by: Laura Hillenbrand

For my independent reading book I picked Unbroken, a nonfiction account of pilot Louie Zamperini in WWII, to listen to. The story is one that not only reflects Louise's personal writing during the war, but also his early childhood in which he is transformed from a juvenile delinquent to an Olympian runner. His passion for running from the law and his brothers influence quickly turned him into an athletic runner, beating all of his high school's track records. He went on to become one of the runners in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin or at the time Nazi Germany. It was there he hope to accomplish breaking the four minute mile. Louie’s perspective of Germany was interesting and shined a light on the Nazi oppression that was obvious all around. He points out all of the jewish stores being covered up or hidden on tours of Berlin, as well as during a ceremony a German woman refusing to hiel to Hitler, but at the same time terrified to death of being caught by the Gestapo. After the Olympics, Louie returned to the states and immediately enlists in the army. He was put in the air force as a bombardier, and due to the necessity for pilots and crewmen he and his squadron were sent from training early. They arrived in Hawaii and were assigned to a bomber. They named the metal fortress Superman and began going out on recon and bombing missions. In one mission Louie and his crew went out to bomb a small group of Islands of the coast of Japan, It was on this mission that their group became separated and they had to take on 9 Japanese Zeros. They miraculously made it out downing every plane, but at the cost of two of their crew mates and over 500 bullets from the Zeros into Superman. Even with this amazing encounter it is still not the greatest of his war time. Shortly after being assigned to a new squadron and a new plane Louie is sent out on a rescue mission for a lost bomber. When they found nothing the crew began to return but realized their plane was out of fuel and wouldn't make it back.

I will leave it off at that in hopes that you will read it. In my opinion I enjoyed it greatly especially the way the story was told. Unbroken mixed personal writing from Louie as well as historical references from World War 2. The description was vivid yet quickly put, and I never felt like the story was dragging on. I enjoyed that the book didn't focus on one event but Louie’s entire life. It made me more attached to the main character and created a bond that kept me listening (audio book) for the next part of the story. I recommend this book if you can take a good survival/war story and I think anyone can and should read this great book!

Authors Website/Book Info: http://laurahillenbrandbooks.com/