Excellent read. Not surprising that it spent 4 years on the New York Times Bestseller list. Though its fairly long, I got through it in a few days. Didn’t want to put it down. The author, Laura Hillebrand, does a great job making this read like a fictional story (and most of the accounts and experiences make you think it would be). She’s the author of another New York Times Bestselling book, Seabiscuit, so she’s pretty good at writing compelling stories from true accounts.
The book is a non fiction life story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who was drafted into World War II. Before ever hitting his peak as an athlete, he shattered many records and was clearly on his way to Gold Medals, world records, and numerous other milestones when he was called to duty and forced away from the world of track and field. He goes to war, somehow survives a plane crash in the middle of the ocean, somehow survives being on a tiny raft for over 40 days, and then has to experience a prisoner of war camp in Japan for several years. Its an insane story and got me quite choked up a few times. It was also great because I started the book on the same weekend that I was doing a 2 day water only fast. Every time I felt sorry for myself I just kept reading. It made my fast feel like nothing. I may read a story about human survival every time I fast from now on.
Great read. Definitely worth it.
https://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-World-Survival-Resilience-Redemption/dp/0812974492