Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

Laura Hillenbrand is the author of the wildly successful Seabiscuit. Some years ago, she was afflicted with a virus which left her with chronic fatigue syndrome. So, all of her research for Seabiscuit was done either doing interviews over the phone or computer research. While doing her research for Seabiscuit, she kept coming across the name of Louie Zamperini. She sees this quote: “the only person who could outrun Seabiscuit was Louis Zamperini”. Intrigued by this quote, she begins to find out who “Louie” is. And does she come across some story. 

It begins in Torrence, CA in the 1930’s. Louie is one mess of a boy. Today they’d probably diagnose him as ADD and put him on Ritalin. I digress. The boy is in constant trouble. He plays practical jokes, steals, runs away from home, is truant from school and is, basically, a juvenile delinquent. His older brother, who is the antithesis of Louie, decides that he is going to try and channel Louie’s energy and talks him into getting into sports. Since Louie needs to always run fast from his troubles, he tries out for track. And it turns his life around. Against all odds, as some would say, he tries out and makes the US Olympic team for the 1936 Olympics. He doesn’t live up to his expectations but he does meet Hitler. He is so looking forward to the 1940 Olympics in…Tokyo.  Read more...

This and That, Some You'll Care about Others, Ehhh

I just finished reading two very good books.  One by Laura Hillenbrand of Seabiscuit fame, entitled Unbroken and the other by Markus Zusak entitled The Book Thief.  The Book Thief was originally written for adolescents 13+ but any adult will find the book amazing.  Both deal with WWII, one in the Pacific theatre and the other with German citizens living in a small suburb of Munich.  In Unbroken, the protagonist is an Olympic runner, turned bombardier, turned Japanese prisoner, turned tortured soul, turned Christian.  In the second you have a 13 year old girl whose brother dies in her arms, to be given up to foster parents, to live through the saturation bombings of the allies and all that implies.  Plus, it's narrated by death.  I think I'll go watch A Fish Called Wanda.  Fettuccine, lasagna, risotto, marinara...