Book Report On Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand

Unbroken

Unbroken is a biography written by Laura Hillenbrand. It is about an Italian American, Louis Zamperini. The book details Zamperini’s life, from childhood, to his time as an Olympic runner and then his experience as a lieutenant in the American Air Force's 372nd Bombardment squadron and the 307th bombardment group. Zamperini became a prisoner of war (POW) in Japan after his plane suffered engine failure and crashed in the Pacific Ocean.

While reading this book, there were plenty of times when I stopped and thought what would I have done in these situations, how would I act or react. To find yourself:
Crash-landing your plane into the sea and losing over half your crew; trapped in a dinghy in the pacific for 47 days with only rain

For some reason, he got lucky and woke up with the life jacket untangled. In his determination to survive and not drown, he managed to orientate himself that he knew how to make his way out of the aircraft and reach the surface. Luck in the form of rainfall gave them water for when they needed to survive, but him sucking water out of the raft and into the can meant they could capitalize on the rainfall and save water for dry days

The overall/ultimate luck was not being massacred by the guards at their camps which were ordered by the government. Luck would not have been enough to survive the torture and deprivation inflicted on Louie as a POW, largely at the hands of a psychopathic camp officer (Matsuhiro Watanabe, known to the prisoners as The Bird). The Bird took an obsessive dislike to Louie right from the start of his arrival at Omori camp, regularly beating him, threatening to kill him if a sick goat died while under Louie’s protection:

“As the weeks passed, the Bird didn’t relent in his attacks on Louie, the corporal sprang upon him randomly, pounding his face and head. Any resistance from Louie, even shielding his face, would inspire the Bird to more violence.”. (p. 251)

A scene near the end of Louie’s imprisonment shows just how strong his will to survive