Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, Format: Kindle Edition, File Size: 2140 KB, Print Length: 496 pages, Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1400064163, Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (November 16, 2010)
Source: Church Book Club Selection
Rating: 5 of 5 STARS
This book is being raved about all over the place. I'm sure there's a movie forthcoming, too. The author of Seabiscuit has definitely done it again! What an amazing story. And inspirational.
Bare bones: It's the story of Louis Zamperini, the Olympic runner who, during WWII, survives a plane crash in the Pacific, floats in a raft for some 47 days only to be captured by the Japanese and made a POW for over two years in unspeakably cruel conditions. But it's more than just a story of the resilience of "human mind, body, and spirit" as one reviewer said. It's the story of God's redemption of one man and how He went on to use him to further the Kingdom of God.
Here's the first of four videos on Zamperini that are worth watching. The book is even more worth the time, though.
Here's the first of four videos on Zamperini that are worth watching. The book is even more worth the time, though.
Kindle Update: This is the second non-fiction book I've read on the Kindle. I said I didn't really like reading the first book, mainly because I couldn't get to the notes. Unbroken, however, allowed me to click on reference and go straight to the note then right back to the text. It was *much* better. So, I'm not ready to rule out Kindle non-fiction yet after all.
Finally, here's a quick excerpt from Unbroken that really spoke to me. It's from a period when Louie and his friend are floating in the Pacific with not much hope that they would survive:
Louie and Phil had found the doldrums, the eerie pause of wind and water that lingers around the equator. They were, as Coleridge wrote, "as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean."
It was an experience of transcendence. Phil watched the sky, whispering that it looked like a pearl. The water looked so solid that it seemed they could walk across it. When a fish broke the surface far away, the sound carried to the men with absolute clarity. They watched as pristine ringlets of water circled outward around the place where the fish had passed, then faded to stillness.
For a while they spoke, sharing their wonder. Then they fell into reverent silence. Their suffering was suspended. They weren't hungry or thirsty. They were unaware of the approach of death.
As he watched this beautiful, still world, Louie played with a thought that had come to him before. He had thought it as he had watched hunting seabirds, marveling at their ability to adjust their dives to compensate for the refraction of light in water. He had thought it as he had considered the pleasing geometry of the sharks, their gradation of color, their slide through the sea....Such beauty, he thought, was too perfect to have come about by mere chance. That day in the center of the Pacific was, to him, a gift crafted deliberately, compassionately, for him and Phil.
I'll leave you with that, bloggy friends, and say I highly recommend this book.
Finally, here's a quick excerpt from Unbroken that really spoke to me. It's from a period when Louie and his friend are floating in the Pacific with not much hope that they would survive:
Louie and Phil had found the doldrums, the eerie pause of wind and water that lingers around the equator. They were, as Coleridge wrote, "as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean."
It was an experience of transcendence. Phil watched the sky, whispering that it looked like a pearl. The water looked so solid that it seemed they could walk across it. When a fish broke the surface far away, the sound carried to the men with absolute clarity. They watched as pristine ringlets of water circled outward around the place where the fish had passed, then faded to stillness.
For a while they spoke, sharing their wonder. Then they fell into reverent silence. Their suffering was suspended. They weren't hungry or thirsty. They were unaware of the approach of death.
As he watched this beautiful, still world, Louie played with a thought that had come to him before. He had thought it as he had watched hunting seabirds, marveling at their ability to adjust their dives to compensate for the refraction of light in water. He had thought it as he had considered the pleasing geometry of the sharks, their gradation of color, their slide through the sea....Such beauty, he thought, was too perfect to have come about by mere chance. That day in the center of the Pacific was, to him, a gift crafted deliberately, compassionately, for him and Phil.
I'll leave you with that, bloggy friends, and say I highly recommend this book.
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1 comment:
I hate to buy books that haven't stood the test of time, but I've not read one negative word about this one. Seems like a MUST read.
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