​

    This extraordinary, moving and exhilarating novel named, Unbroken was crafted by the author Laura Hillenbrand. Ms. Hillenbrand dedicated 10, long years of her life constructing this story of a young man named Louie, a former Olympian sprinter, going through alarming encounters throughout his time at war. She sculpted his life and experiences vividly, making sure to explain to people everything he went through, and most of these were events most couldn’t even imagine. Laura let his legacy live on through this book. This woman was able to let everyone imagine his pain, what was going on in his mind, and how he survived throughout this novel, all his hardships brought to life. Many wonder why she was so connected to his story, and why Laura dedicated such a huge chunk of her life to telling his story. Well, everyone goes through terrifying experiences in their life, some more than others. Hillenbrand was one of these people, suffering through something more than what we know about, she found Louie as someone to relate to. Although, they may have been in totally different situations through their experiences, there was something similar about their pain that she could see. Something that probably reminded her that she was not alone. Unbroken; a word to explain someone who has gone through so much pain and torture, but didn’t let this destroy them. Louie, endured the worst of the worst, eventually able to move on, in some way from all this and continue on with his life. Louie Zamperini is in fact, an unbroken man.

    Louie Zamperini in his youth, was a young mischievous boy, always causing trouble. This was until his brother Pete wanted him to make something of his life. At a young age, Pete motivated Louie into running, finding that he could do something with this skill rather than running from the cops. Louie found something exceptional to do with his talent. Exceeding on through the years, he was breaking records and eventually found himself on the path to the summer olympics. After this chapter passed in his life, Zamperini joined the Army Air Force. Through many successful things in his life, no one would have thought that this next event would play out in his life. A day flying in the Green Hornet, Louie and his crew crashed into the ocean. This is when it started it all, all the worst things Louie experienced in his life would lead from this day on. From there on, drifting for 47, torturous days along with Phil who had survived the crash and being lost at sea, they eventually got captured by the Japanese. The guards who held him and one in particular ‘The Bird’ beat him mercilessly, starved him and took away everything, dehumanizing him. He fought through everything, eventually having been returned to America soon after the war. His fight was not over, for years he suffered from alcoholism and was slowly falling into something worse than what people knew Louie of. Louie was turning into a man his wife couldn’t and wouldn’t recognize. God saved him, belief saved him. He got his life together and dedicated parts of his life to faith. The war did not break him, he was a free man, a free soul and he was going to be okay.

    The bird was a man who put Louie through excruciating mental and physical pain during his days in Japan as a POW. Louie somehow wanted to forgive his captures, after everything they put him through, Louie chose forgiveness as his path to growing as a new man and moving on. This was a way for Louie to release his soul from everything that happened to him. Eventually learning that the bird was alive, Louie wanted to see his capture for the first time since the war. The bird however didn’t agree with this idea and refused to meet with him. Maybe, the bird didn’t want to meet with him because of a few reasons. The bird didn’t want to confront things that he did in his past, he had a belief that he had done nothing wrong in the war, thinking of himself as a good man. If he had met with Louie I have an idea that everything that he had done during the war would come back to him and potentially break him. For the rest of his life he wants to believe he is a good man and won’t confront what he did. The bird wouldn’t meet with Louie due to the simple fact that he doesn’t want to face his past.

    Louie was in need for a release from his pain, and he found his release through forgiveness. At first he thought that in order to get his life back in order he would need to get revenge. He found that forgiveness let his soul release from this pain. He forgave those who gave him pain as a way to rise up, this showed them that he is more than just a man who got captured and lived through it, he is an extraordinary human being capable of good things. He chose this path, and it proved to everyone that he could get through everything that was going wrong in his life, he saved himself.

    Louie is in definition, unbroken. He is strong in ways that not everyone can be. At times maybe he was a little broken but he found solutions and ways to get through bad times, these were his glue. As a young man he always held hope and he kept that going through the rest of his life. He had faith in god and that there was a plan laid out for him. Louie learned forgiveness, something that not most people would be able to hold onto after what he went through. He is an unbroken man and Laura Hillenbrand did an excellent job of expressing who he was and everything he stood for. She understood him, and this helped  her relate and write his story. Louie Zamperini holds an incredible story.