Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Every so often, a book would come along, recommended by friends or reviewers.  It's cover may look typical, unattractive, the author unknown..but somehow, after reading it, your perspective of life is changed forever.  I'm now talking about such a book, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, by Laura Hillenbrand.

The book is the biography of Louie Zamperini, who grew up in a small town California as a hard to control teen, who went on and became the best runner and represented the US in the Olympic Games of 1936.  His dream of competing in the 1940 Olympics was diminished when the war started and he enlisted in the Air Force to become a bomber.  During a search mission, his plane crashed and he was lost in sea for more than 40 days then he was saved and became a POW in Japan. There he suffered the unimaginable and unbearable and lived on to tell his story.

This is the first book I read by Hillenbrand, even though she has another best seller under her name, Seabiscuit: An American Legend.  She researched for 7 years before writing this book.  She narrating style is gripping and powerful, even with the large amount of background information, it was never dull or  exhausting.  Although it was hard to carry on reading the some chapters in the middle of the book, when all the torture, sadistic treatments, starving and abuse happened.  It was so much harder when the abused and suffering were given a face by the photographs scattered through out the whole book.  I was deeply affected by the book, by the worst thing a human could do, to the better human nature, even after unimaginable suffering.  I now have a much deeper gratitude for all service men and women, who gave their life and youth for our country, so selflessly.

My favorite book of the year...I'm glad I found you just before the year ended.