Unbroken Book Review

Hillenbrand, Laura. ​Unbroken​. New York: Random House Publishing Group. 2010. 528 Pages.

Laura Hillenbrand’s book ​Unbroken ​captures the breathtaking story of a World War II

American bomber named Louis Zamperini. The book starts with a younger Zamperini in 1929,

follows him throughout the 1930’s and continues until 2003. Zamperini grew from a rebellious

young boy into a talented Olympic runner, whose career was cut short upon the start of World

War II. Zamperini flew numerous missions over the Pacific as a bombardier, but one mission

goes awry and his plane is gunned down into the Pacific. Long weeks passed stranded on a raft

with a few of his fellow soldiers being rescued is very unlikely. After several shark attacks and a

long battle with starvation Zamperini gains hope when they see an aircraft fly over heard. It is

quickly shattered when the plane opens fire on the two survivors. Zamperini survives, and his

raft floats ashore to a Japanese controlled island. From there he is taken prisoner by the Japanese.

Zamperini suffers through numerous brutalities in a POW camp. Hillenbrand writes, “Japanese

policy held that camp commanders could not, under any circumstances, allow Allied forces to

recapture POWs. If Allied advances made this a possibility, POWs were to be executed”

(Hillenbrand 198). Zamperini stayed a prisoner for over two years, his life threatened every day.

Hillenbrand’s book is the depiction of Louie Zamperini outstanding strength and courage in a

hopeless time.

Hillenbrand wrote ​Unbroken​ for the “general” reader like your everyday student or reader

who enjoys history. In order to truly capture Zamperini’s story Hillenbrand had a lot of research

to do. She came across Zamperini’s story while researching for her other book ​Seabiscuit.​ Upon

finishing her book Hillenbrand spent the next years sitting down with Zamperini and researching

the time period to ensure detail and accuracy. She not only interviewed Zamperini, but his

family, other POWs, fellow Olympians, childhood friends, and even several Japanese officials.

As her work on Zamperini’s strong gained following more and more POWs and their families

reached out to her lending scrapbooks, prisoners’ diaries, including those of Russell Phillips, the

bombardier stranded on the raft with Louie, and Commander John Fitzgerald. Hillenbrand’s

wrote ​Unbroken​ to tell the story of the Pacific War during World War II, and tell it through one

courageous man. Unbroken was praised by numerous critics and newspapers, and was deemed

the number one New York Bestseller for over twenty weeks.

Unbroken is a truly astonishing and almost unbelievable account of true resilience and

strength. It was a good read, and I found I could not put it down. It is amazing how one man can