Unbroken tells the life story of Louie Zamperini, who had a remarkable life. As a youth, he was quite the hell-raiser, but his brother got him involved in track, and he competed in the 1936 Olympics at age 19.

The majority of the book tells of Louie's service in the Army Air Corps during World War II, surviving when his plane went down in the Pacific, then surviving 47 days drifting on a life raft before being captured by the Japanese. He then experiences life as a POW, having to survive multiple prison camps for over two years. I was aware that the Japanese treated their prisoners very badly, but the descriptions of life in the Japanese POW camps was shocking. Their treatment of POWs was similar to Nazi concentration camps.

The book does not end with the end of the war. It follows Zamperini's life after he returns, his struggles with PTSD and alcoholism, and his Christian conversion. Hillenbrand also reports on the postwar lives of others whom Zamperini had known, including some of his Japanese captors.

Hillenbrand has done a tremendous amount of research for this book. She does a great job of recreating what the world was like at the time, in addition to telling us about Zamperini's life. She conducted many interviews and reviewed diaries, letters, unpublished memoirs, as well as official documents. It all adds up to a book rich with information, more than I had expected. ( )

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This was recommended to me and I wasn't sure at first. I don't always love war stories and biographies are typically hit or miss with me. But I REALLY enjoyed this! I listened to the audio book and this was just so captivating and such an unbelievable story. How this man lived through this, is just beyond me. I gave it 4.5 stars instead of 5 only because the part where he first goes to war, I started to lose interest because they were mentioning so many people and I was getting lost. But soon, it got into the part where he was at sea, and wow, I couldn't stop listening. Excellent book and really puts life into perspective. How someone can live that long with abuse, almost being eaten by sharks, starvation, sickness, and although had a dark period, come out with a positive attitude. Unbroken was the perfect name for this book! ( )

Riveting storytelling and inspiring. Very educational and thoroughly researched. Thank a veteran for their sacrifices. ( )

I cried at least seven times.

My grandfather was also in the Army Air Force. He was also a POW. He was in Germany however, not Japan. I found that a lot of what Louie experienced was similar to what I have heard my grandfather experience.

This book displays the strength of brave American men that mastered survival. ( )