by Laura Hillenbrand
PRMS hardcover 406 pages plus notes
genre: biography
I have heard people rave about this book, but wasn't sure I'd really enjoy it that much. I did. I started listening to it as an audiobook, but had to return that to the public library. I checked out the print copy from my collection, but wasn't going to put it on the top of my reading pile. But I wanted to maintain the thread of the story I had been listening to, so I started reading a little bit before bed. Within a few days, I had finished the entire book. Amazing.
At the outset, I thought Louie Zamperini was a horrible miscreant. He was so naughty with stealing things, mouthing off, etc. Then as a runner, he had such incredible success! From his natural talent to his brother Pete's "training" him to push himself, what a great story. It's hard to think of what he could have become (as an athlete) if the war hadn't happened . . . but then, so many lives (millions of them!) were dramatically changed because of WWII. His experiences early in the war bugged me too - the cavalier way the men had toward safety boggles my mind. (Their behavior would NOT go over well in today's military, I think.)
His experiences as a Prisoner of War in Japan . . . sobering. I've never really known what that was like for our servicemen. It gives me a very different understanding of the Pacific Theatre and what our military was facing. It still doesn't make the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki "okay" in my mind, but I better understand the reasons.
Zamperini's personal story goes even beyond the incredible experiences through the end of the war. I am so glad that his wife convinced him to go! Praise God for getting his attention! What a cool and amazing book!
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