Author: Laura Hillenbrand
Pages: 473
Genre: Biography
Grade: A+
Synopsis: Louis Zamperini is a rising track star in the 1930's living in Southern California. Louis narrowly makes the Olympic team to compete in Berlin in the 1936 Olympics. He doesn't win a medal, but his track times are dropping quickly and many expected Louis to be the first person to run a a sub 4-minute mile. Louis is training hard and looking forward to the 1940 Olympics when WWII breaks out and derails his plans. He enlists in the Army and trains with a crew on a B-24 bomber, fighting the Japanese over the Pacific.
My Review: This was a powerful book. I felt numerous emotions as you feel the elation, pain, hope and suffering of Zamperini and others. Throughout the war, Zamperini's life was miraculously spared numerous times. The most surprising emotion was anger and even a bit of hate for the Japanese and their cruelty to the American prisoners and their own people. A telling statistic is that 1% of POWs died while interred during the war in Europe, but more than 1/3 of all POWs died who were interred by the Japanese due to torture, slave labor, starvation, etc. This is the story of Louis Zamperini the hero.
From the Book: "(p. 10) Louie's mother, Louise, took a different tack. Louie was a copy of herself, right down to the vivid blue eyes. When pushed, she shoved; sold a bad cut of meat, she'd march down to the butcher, frying pan in hand. Loving mischief, she spread icing over a cardboard box and presented it as a birthday cake to a neighbor, who promptly got the knife stuck. When Pete told her he'd drink his castor oil if she gave him an empty candy box. "You only asked for the box, honey," she said with a smile. "That's all I got." And she understood Louie's restiveness. One Halloween, she dressed as a boy and raced around town trick-or-treating with Louie and Pete. A gang of kids, thinking she was one of the local toughs, tackled her and tried to steal her pants. Little Louise Zamperini, mother of four, was deep in the melee when the cops picked her up for brawling."
"(p. 32) The buses drove to the Olympic stadium. Entering in a parade of nations and standing at attention, the athletes were treated to a thunderous show that culminated in the release of twenty thousand doves. As the birds circled in panicked confusion, cannons began firing, prompting the birds to relieve themselves over the athletes. With each report, the birds let fly. Louie stayed at attention, shaking with laughter."
This last quote is a sub-note from the text in the book. While the unfortunate story in the book was forced to focus so much on the evilness of war, I found this note inspiring with the respect that the two opposing sides show to each other.
"(p.348) *As Halloran parachuted over Tokyo, the Zero that had shot him down sped toward him, and Halloran was certain that he was going to be strafed, as so many falling airmen were. But instead of firing, the pilot saluted him. After the war, Halloran and that pilot, Isamu Kashiide, became dear friends."
