Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

You  might get tired of hearing this, but I LOVED this book, all 398 pages of the story, 8 pages of Acknowledgements and 50 pages of notes; I do not recall reading a book through  including the notes in recent times or ever other than James Michener's later  books, in fact Laura Hillenbrand, the author reminds me of Michener in style and depth of research.  "Unbroken"  on the best sellers lists currently is the story of Louie Zamperini,  noted runner in the Berlin Olympic games and in 1943 an Army Air Corps  Lieutenant, bombardier on the Green Hornet, a B-24, which is shot down in the Pacific.  Louie, Allen Philips, the pilot and Mac, the tail gunner survive the crash and float on a raft for 46 days before being captured by the Japanese and taken prisoner in May 1943.  Actually Mac does not make it  and is buried at sea by the two men.  I have read much about World War II because of my father but little of my readings have been about the war in the Pacific.  When I first heard this book was in  process I knew I would have to read it because Laura has written only one other book, "Seabiscuit" which I absolutely enjoyed and have kept in my library and I enjoyed her detail and writing and research.  I have likely heard about Louie Zamperini but not paid attention but as I learned that it was a B-24, same plane as my father's I knew I'd b reading this book.

Louie Zamperini

Louie is still alive today at 94 in southern California.    How he or any of the men captured by the Japanese as POW's survived and endured is beyond belief.  As Zeke Jennings wrote in his review of this book,  "Think back to the worst experience of your life. Chances are, it pales in comparison to what Louis Zamperini went through..."  To state that they were tortured is an inadequate understatement and to know that some could and did survive is a testament to human endurance and something greater than all of us.

This book has a great deal of detail and drawings of the B-24's the complexity of those early days of navigation and the problems with that bomber, the best that the US had at the time.  Pages 59-60 describe the early B-24's and the personal qualities needed in men who flew them and by page 61 the research specifies the deadly accidents attributable to that plane in the early days of navigation.  I had learned about the accidents in training and of course lived with that legacy but reading it again gave me chills.  By page 82 the affect of human errors and miscalculations is discussed along with the faulty fuel systems and the fact that the  24's were notorious for fuel leaks; I can relate to that.   On Page 84,  I learned that 52,173 Army Air Corps men were killed in combat in World War II and in the Pacific those flight crews had less than a  50/50 chance of survival.   I learned that by design the B-24's could not ditch  but sank immediately due to their open fuselages.  There were rarely funerals held for the  B-24 crews, rarely  bodies were found and during the Pacific  missions  1/4 of a barracks could be lost at once.  "The men were just gone and that was the end of it."   

But this book is about Louie, his boyhood in Torrance, California, his Olympic triumphs,  his education at USC, his enlistment in World War II, and his captivity, endurance and release and tormented existence following the war where he turns to alcohol and then his  big life release as he is saved at a Billy Graham crusade in southern CA.  It's hard to describe Louie, a man with a sense of humor and determination that sustains him through movements from bad to worse in the Japanese camps, beatings,  isolation,  starvation, and unceasing nightmares.  The Bird, a Japanese soldier, so named by the POWs is Louie's primary menace in the camps and becomes his civilian nightmare.  The Japanese knew of his Olympic fame and enjoyed all the more subduing him.   When  Louie was released and being rehabilitated and ready to be sent  home from Okinawa he is so enjoying meeting up with former colleagues that he asks to stay just a bit longer to  see more of them. He is partying too and enjoying life again, though still battling dysentery and other physcial problems.  Everyone had believed him long dead  because the Japanese never reported that he was held captive and the Red Cross  never verified men in the camps; any man missing was declared dead after 13 months.   Louie got a big kick out of surprising them and watching their faces and hearing their words when they saw him in person!

The horrors and atrocities the  prisoners endured are unimaginable.  That any of them survived is a miracle.  I learned that the POWs in the  Japanese camps were executed  when Allied forces approached, that the Japanese  preferred to kill the men rather than turn them back to their countries.  Pg. 314-315 cite "Japan held  some  132,000 POWs from America, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Holland and Australia.  Of those, nearly  36,000 died, more than one in four.  Americans fared particularly badly: of the 34,648 Americans held by Japan, 12,935--more than 37% died.  By comparison only 1% of Americans  held by Nazis and Italians died. Japan murdered thousands of POWs on death marches, and worked thousands of others to death in slavery..."  Back in civilian life, these men did not get the counseling and treatments pervasive and  given today; what is  known today as Post traumatic  stress was not recognized. That they made it through hell barely prepared them fro their freedom and return to life.   Pg. 349, "Their dignity had been obliterated, replaced with a pervasive sense of shame and worthlessness." But Louie survives and ultimately thrives, marries, has children and outlives his brother,  sisters and wife .  In his 70's he takes up skateboarding and the book includes a photo of him on a skateboard at 81!  He runs the torch in five Olympic games including  one in Japan where he runs it past the former POW camp site.  Louie founds a nonprofit Victory Boys Camp for lost boys whom he takes fishing, swimming, horseback riding, camping and skiing.  One ungovernable boy is such a problem that Louie had to be deputized by a sheriff to gain custody of the boy.

Pg. 384, "Well into his 10th decade of life between the occasional broken bone he could still be seen perched on skis merrily cannonballing down mountains.  He remained infectiously, incorrigibly cheerful..."  He believes that everything happened for a reason  and all things eventually  come to good.    When he contacted Laura to write his story he reasoned that if she could describe an old horse, she could surely tell his tale.  She does this so  eloquently and has chosen the photos and events as carefully as her words.  The Epilogue is very touching  with summaries of the lives of Allen Phillips  and Bill Harris, a marine POW who stays in the Marines and becomes a Lt. Colonel but who disappears in the Korean War in 1950.   

Recently there have been news stories featuring Louie which is timely with the release of this book.  I knew it was one I'd want to read and it is one I will keep and treasure.   I absolutely recommend it.  Resilience, survival, and faith.  As I am  putting this on  my blog as my first completed book read in 2011, I have just learned that Universal Pictures has acquired screen rights to Unbroken.   Wouldn't it be great to see Louie in the film? 

For more about the author, who is a favorite of mine, check out  Wikipedia at   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Hillenbrand

or this link http://www.cfids-cab.org/MESA/Hillenbrand.html 
and read of her struggle with chronic fatigue syndrome in    A Sudden Illness -- How My Life Changed as published in the New Yorker.  And this link about  her http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/au-hillenbrand-laura.asp

Favorite reads from the past

I am earnestly clearing some of my all time favorites from the book shelves which have become toooooo overloaded. September 5 is our library's book sale and I am donating so they can raise funds. These are books I have enjoyed so much that I was sure I had to keep them. But wrong! I never look back and reread them because there are so many books to look ahead to and more all the time. I realize I do not need to maintain such an extensive library as I have for myself. No one ever comes and borrows a book here like they used to in CA. Of course in CA during career days I was around more people. In CA I had an army of reading friends and colleagues who swapped, traded, lent, borrowed books. Not here. So this is another awakening from clearing out my aunt's home in PA, just move it along. I'm a life long book lover so this takes lots of talking to myself, to keep moving these along. Especially paperbacks. I loved reading all these book and unless I wrote something in them, or tagged pages, I will not be quoting from them. I am guilty of buying previously read books at sales and less I do that again, I will list these on my blog so I will know that I've already been there! Most of these I will not forget, but since I have done it before, I'm trying prevention.

"Seabiscuit" by Laura Hillenbrand. Read this before I would allow myself to see the movie. Great story about a great KY Derby winner in the old days of horse racing. This edition has excellent photos, references, anthology and a reader's guide in the back by the author. Our friend/neighbor/sometimes adopted daughter in CA is a jockey/trainer all around horse bum gal. But she doesn't read like her dad did and so sending this to her would not be worthwhile.

"Ahab's Wife, or the Star Gazer" by Sena Jeter Naslund I read this in February 2005 after I really retired. I thought I retired in October 2004 but agreed to return in January. That only convinced me if I had not meant it in October I really meant it now. But onto this book! I read a lot when I worked because I had a long commute into and out of Sacramento daily. While we commuters were quite social there were many times that I just cherished the time retreating into a good book. I found after I retired I was not having the same amount of time to read so had to make time daily, usually end of the day to get my words in! This book about the wife left behind on land while Captain Ahab, of Moby Dick fame is off whaling is one of my all time favorites. Her life story including going to sea disguised as a young boy weaves through Kentucky, Nantucket and beyond. In 117chapters, 666 pages and a layout of illustrations reminiscent of old sketches ,unique to this author, the tale takes many turns. Ahead of her time and yet part of it our story teller keeps going. Some chapters are like short letters, extracts of stories. There are wonderful quotes throughout this book. From it's opening lines"Captain Ahab was neither my first husband not my last....." you know you are in for a good story. NY Times proclaimed it one of the year's five best novels in 2000; the novel received many other accolades.

I am wondering if I can really part with this book, with illustrations. I have the pages of this book tagged with so many great lines; page 609, "don't you love reading? How is that so different from writing?"

Page 297, "Beware the treachery of words, Mrs. Sparrow. They mean one thing to one person and the opposite to another. They are like all conventional land born habits. Words seem to be well-woven baskets ready to hold your meaning, but they betray you with rotted corners and splintered stays."

Page 178, "People cross our paths casually, when trumpets should blare. So it was with my first sighting of the Pequod and the man who would become a husband"

Well I could not part with this book; it is back on the shelf where it will stay!


The following are all authored by Laurie King, introdced to me by a friend years back in CA. Laurie is a CA author who created a wonderful mystery series featuring Mary Russell, an apprentice to Sherlock Holmes who becomes his wife. I loved the Sherlock Holmes mysteries as a teenager so it was delightful to discover this fantasy. What if he had married, who would it be? Laurie King also wrote mysteries about Kate Martineli, a San Francisco police detective. I have passed along some of her books and for some reason kept these which are now going to the library sale. They are al delightful mysteries, no bad language and just good reading. Nothing too deep, but enjoyable.

"A Monstrous Regiment of Women" It's 1921 and Mary Russell, Sherlock Holmes apprentice, inherits a considerable amount. She however prowls nightly through London's darker streets in disguise.
"The Beekeeper's Apprentice" According to King Sherlock kept bees on the moor in his spare time. This book uses that theme to introduce Mary. I loved the line Sherlock speaks to Mary, "Guessing is a weakness brought on by indolence and should never be confused with intuition." Doesn't that sound like Sherlock?
"The Moor" Married to Sherlock, Mary abandons her Oxford studies to assist him in an investigation on Dartmoor. Where there have been sightings of a coach carrying a long dead noblewoman, more intriguing than the phantom hound of the Baskervilles.
"O Jerusalem" takes place near the end of 1918 when Sherlock flees England with Mary to British occupied Palestine with help from his brother, Mycroft. Murders seem unrelated to the increasing tensions among the Jews, Muslims, and Christians, but Sherlock is not so sure. Their investigation leads them through bazaars, hovels, monasteries, and into the ever present mortal danger of an adversary. I remember this one had me on the edge of my seat.
"A Letter of Mary" As I recall, this adventure begins when Mary opens a trunk that mysteriously is delivered to her. A letter within leads to many intriguing events.
"The Game" This may be the last Mary Russel mystery I read in April2006. New Years 1924, finds Mary relaxing with Sherlock when Mycroft visits with news that is intriguing. A package arrives from Kimball O'Hara of Rudyard Kipling's fame. O'Hara is then missing and Mary and Sherlock travel to India to search for him.
"With Child" is a Kate Martinelli mystery. Kate is engaged by a 12 year old Jules to search for a homeless boy, Dio.

"the 5 people you meet in heaven" by Mitch Albom. This title is just like that with small letters. I read this in November 2003 on our return trip to CA from MN. I do not understand how and why this book was so acclaimed. It was decent motor home reading but not something that I recommended. I don't know why it has remained on my shelf but it goes to the library now. One review said this is a a sad book narrated by a sad soul; and in this heaven God and his glory are not the center of attention. It's all about you. Perhaps those who need to feel it is all about them made this book popular. One good quote about love on Page 173 strikes me still today, "Lost love is still love, ... It takes a different form....You can't see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when those senses weaken, another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it....Life has to end, she said, Love doesn't."

"Belong to Me"by Marisa de los Santos. I read this in June 2008 and wrote then that it was a good summer chic read. I have lent it out to several people but it is time to remove it from my permanent shelf. Nice phrases abound in this novel about Cornelia Brown who leaves city life for a laid back suburb after marrying Teo. The suburb is not all that welcoming though to a newcomer. The characters (local desperate housewives) are interesting and there is a unique twist that I did not see coming.