Book Report On Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand

The author Laura Hillenbrand is an American author that wrote two best selling books Seabiscuit- An American Legend and Unbroken, the novel that I am reporting on. This author had chronic fatigue syndrome that she battled which forced her to drop out of college and through this experience, she became a writer. While criticized by family and friends for this, she marched on as a writer.

Author Hillenbrand felt it ironic that she was writing about Louie and physical paragons while being incapacitated herself. She felt it was wonderful being there alongside Louie as he was breaking NCAA mile records.

Through dizziness and disorientation, she managed to write Unbroken which is about World War II bombardier Louis Zamperini, who was captured

There are five parts to the book Unbroken. The first section helps you identify with Louie Zamperini. We learn of his unique ability to run. His brother Pete teaches him to run and actually turns his life around with running. Louie was a troublemaker and his brother knew that if he did not find an outlet for his misbehavior, he would not amount to anything. He became a runner. In 1934 Louie broke the national high school mile record running it in four minutes and twenty one seconds. He was known as the Torrance Tornado. Louie continues to train in the New York heat while others bail out due to the heat. He makes the Olympic travel team and has to train aboard a large ship.

As Louie finishes his race in the Olympics, he was greeted by Hitler. The Olympics ending, Berlin begins to look very different than an Olympic Village. Anti- Semitic signs begin to pop up and the village turns in a military barracks. People are taking to concentration camps .

Louie Returns to California to train for the 1940

Instead of running he now was on a mission to kill the man who tortured him. We learn in this section that “The Bird’s” body was found on a mountain top. They claim it was him but he was very much still alive. Things do not get better for Louie as this section goes on. The author wrote a chapter called Twisted Ropes and it really was about how his life was so twisted. It tells the story of a night he woke up tormenting his pregnant wife. He was having dreams and flashbacks and thought she was “The Bird.” He fell away from God and did not allow his family to worship God. He blamed God for all that had happend. “He had become somone he didn’t recognize.” Louie and his wife had a hard time and struggled to keep things together. They fought all the time. They ran out of money and finally she left him taking their baby with her.

Theme of book centered around Redemption - When Louie turned to God it was a major turning point in his life and really the one that saved him. He became a Christian speaker after meeting Billy