When people think of World War II (WWII), most are reminded of the horrors of the Nazis and the Holocaust. Although what the Germans had done under Hitler’s reign will go down far in history, there is another side of WWII that is less exposed to the crowd. Japan, an ally of Germany, was also responsible for many terrors and death tolls that had happened. Laura Hillenbrand tells us of this horrid experience of war prisoners through her novel, Unbroken.

   
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Released in 2010, Unbroken is a novel based on the true war story of Louise Zamperini, an Olympics champion runner. As Hillenbrand’s second and latest novel, Unbroken manages to capture every crucial moment and illustrates an improbable story that makes readers astonished by the accounts. As a matter of fact, due to her exceptional narration, Hillenbrand’s first novel Seabiscuit: an American Legend, which is about the great racehorse Seabiscuit, was also met with high praises with its release in 2001.

Born in Fairfax, Virginia, Hillenbrand had written numerous essays before her professional career as a writer set in. Her dissertations have appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, Equus Magazine, and American Heritage. Contrary to her full-on experience portrayal of stories, Hillenbrand herself is suffering through Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that is characterized by constant fatigue. In an interview with The Washington Post, Hillenbrand had mentioned that if she could not have a full throttle experience physically, she would have it intellectually. Likewise, her second novel Unbroken, provides the audience with an exhilarating experience.

Overshadowed by the stories of the Holocaust, the war camps for POWs in Japan are what can be described as an evil against humanity. The author describes vividly how physically and, especially, mentally, abused the soldiers were to the point that the readers are in an outrage by the terrible treatment by the Japanese. Zamperini was especially tortured by Watanabe, “the Bird,” who would continue to haunt Louie till his last drawing breath.


Especially, the author’s description of events are so overpowering that the audience feel as if they are witnessing the events first-hand. As Zamperini was drifting aimlessly on a raft in the sea for forty days, readers could clearly tell how it feels when your life is hanging by a thread. Hillenbrand’s portrayal of Zamperini’s war story is so surreal and cinematic that it leaves the readers jaw-dropped most of the time.


Unbroken reminds us of the blackest and the cruelest sides of humanity and sometimes leaves us outraged with indignation of the malice that can be caused by humans. It is a great novel twice over for its great story of the war and for the great way it is told. A non-fiction published in 2010 takes us a century back to the events that we can forgive but cannot forget.2


Louie Zamperini, whom the novel is based on, grew up as the most mischievous and roguish child in the neighborhood of Torrance, California. Zamperini had a knack of stealing things, and if it were not for his charming brother Pete, the Zamperini family would have been kicked out of the neighborhood without a blink of an eye. One day, Pete had discovered Louie’s talent of running and started training him, eventually leading to Louie’s winning of the Olympics in Germany, 1939. However, as WWII commenced, Louie was drafted into the American army.

As members of the Air Force, Louie and his crew had gone through numerous missions to take down their opponents over the Pacific Ocean. However, on one of their searchouts for their fellow soldiers, the crew had lost control over the plane and eventually was captured by the Japanese after drifting 40 days in the sea. Then began Louie’s life as a Prisoner of War (POW) that would torment him for the rest of his life.

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