Unbroken

The question I want to ask you about Laura Hillenbrand’s recent book Unbroken is not “Have you read it?” but “Have you read it yet?” Outside of small children, I cannot imagine anyone who would not enjoy this book. I found myself up until about three in the morning on two different nights during the week that I read it. I had to learn how it came out.

The book is the true story of Louis Zamperini, Olympic athlete and at one time America’s best hope to break the four-minute mile. He’s the kind of guy who goes to Berlin to compete in the 1936 Olympics and hands his camera to Joseph Goebbels to snap a picture of Adolf Hitler for him. Goebbels complies! Louis enters the Army Air Corps at the beginning of World War II, and that’s about all I want to say about the story because you need to read it for yourself. Let me know when you have.

I’m fascinated by Laura Hillenbrand, by the way. She’s the author of two books, Unbroken and Seabiscuit. Both books are absolutely captivating and are also built on mountains of research. What fascinates me about Laura Hillenbrand is that she is homebound, battling Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, while putting out a wonderful book once every ten years. Unbroken describes Loius Zamperini, and when you have read his story you’ll feel fortunate your life has been so soft in comparison. But “unbroken” is also an apt word to describe Laura Hillenbrand, and I can’t think off the top of my head of another author whose work I would so universally recommend. Read, please!