I just flew through this book, no pun intended! Read the whole thing in two days, most of it in one sitting. I couldn't believe it was only 1943 and a third of the way into the book when he crashed and became a POW. Two years until the end of the war! An eternity of torture, especially since he didn't know when the end was coming. Laura Hillenbrand is an amazing storyteller. How she can take millions of disparate facts and wrap them into a coherent and gripping story is beyond me. She had world history, small town lifestyle, personal anecdotes, and cultural anthropology looping around each other practically seamlessly.
As far as a survival story, you can't beat real life for emotional awe. As much as I got wrapped up in the Hunger Games, it's still fiction and your brain can sort of step away from the story and file it in a place that says, at least these people suffering through this aren't real. But with Unbroken, it was all real. I fully admit that I am a wimp, for myself as well as for others. I have practically no pain tolerance at all and suffering of others pulls at my heartstrings pretty hard. Meanwhile, I do have a pretty vengeful streak flying through my soul, and I was all for "an eye for an eye" type justice for the Bird.
So today's survival topic: what gets you through an ordeal like this?
For Phil, it was probably thoughts of his fiancee. For Louie, an inner sense of strength and rebellion? In Hunger Games, Katniss made a promise to Prim and in Catching Fire, it was all about keeping Peeta alive. Is it hope? stubbornness? anger? faith?
One aspect of both Unbroken & Hunger Games was that they didn't stop. The books took you through one horrific scenereo (sp?) after another. Phil survives the raft, then gets captured, then is taken from one camp to another--one deadly situation after another. Same with Hunger Games--one danger after another, make it through, then, wham! another one. I really liked the ending, although as soon as Pres. Coin (what a name!?) asked the Victors about a final Game, I knew what was going to happen. (I mean about the execution scene--wasn't sure about the ultimate resolution of Katniss' romantic issues.
ReplyDeleteI read Unbroken and agree that it is an amazing story -- and extemely well written. I'm anxious to see what Hillenbrand tackles next. Besides the personal story of Louie and his struggle to survive, I learned so much about the Pacific theater and, unfortunately, the cruelty of the Japanese. We seem to know so much more about the European campaign. I appreciate it that Hillenbrand showed Louie as a man with shortcomings, not as a superhuman survivor -- sort of like Seabiscuit.
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