ipl-logo

Book Report On Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand

1178 Words5 Pages

The book I read is Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Holy cow! What a book. It takes you through the story of the great olympic runner Louis Zamperini. We go with him to the Olympics, to Hawaii, to Japan, and then back to California, where he grew up as a kid. Louie joined the army and became an airforce bomber. As his crew went out to search for a missing plane one day, his plane crashed. And that is where the biggest part of his journey, and the meat of this book, begins with Louis and his flight mate, Phil, struggling to survive the harsh environments of being POW’s for the Japanese government. There are many of people introduced throughout the book as Louis encounters them. This story is hard to give a meaningful intent to because the author’s intent was to share Louis Zamperini’s survival story. Which, in my opinion, is pretty meaningful. There were a lot of horrors discussed in the book, that is unimaginable to think that so many people from all over the world, endured such terrible conditions. The author, Laura Hillenbrand, wanted to show some of the horrors that occurred during …show more content…

Or at least shows a small sliver of history. Not everyone that was a prisoner of the Japanese government had the same experience that Zamperini had. Frankly, I believe he had been shown a lot of mercy in those camps and by a higher power. Many though, did have similar experiences. They were beaten daily, if not multiple times a day. Knowing that prisoners of war survived such horrific conditions, like not getting the right amount of food but being forced to do some hard work, fathoms me! At one point in the book, Louis, who had been basically starved and beaten(daily), raced a man in a mile race. He says he let the man win. But then another man came to race him and Louis beat the second man! Then took a beating from one of the Japanese commanders. I am just in awe to think that Louis had the strength to survive all of that within a couple days of each

Show More
Related
1168 Words | 5 Pages

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand follows Louie Zamperini, a US prisoner of war survivor in World War II. Louie Zamperini was the son of Italian immigrants. He grew up in Torrance, California with a habit of testing the limits. Pete, Louie’s older brother, saw that Louie had a talent for running. As a result, he forced Louie to join the track-and-field team at school.

Read More
830 Words | 4 Pages

World War II was a very traumatizing time for the soldiers that fought in it. Unfortunately, the War was also a very traumatic experience for the Japanese Americans that were forced into internee camps. Key examples of those who have struggled through awful conditions are Miné Okubo and Louie Zamperini. Miné is a Japanese American artist who was forced to live in squalor conditions surrounded by armed guards. Louie is an American soldier and a previous Olympic athlete that was beaten daily and starved almost to death in prisoner of war camps.

Read More
671 Words | 3 Pages

Additionally, Hillenbrand uses Mac as a foil to Louie, showing how a military soldier could be under such tremendous pressure, however, Louie endured abundantly more and stayed positive. Hillenbrand wrote, “Since the men had floated across the international date line, the forty-sixth day was July 14” (174). Moreover, Hillenbrand acknowledged that Louie had the resilient attitude to survive for forty six days. Like sticky glue clinging to an object, Louie stayed the course and fought back, even in the cruelest

Read More
757 Words | 4 Pages

One point POWS would go through an insect infection where they would itch all night for many nights. In the book it states that many POWS died. The reason for this is that there was no medical care. POWS would have to just hope that they would be able to survive until the end. POWS needed medical care because many POWS would be seriously ill and have serious injuries that simply weren’t cured

Read More
542 Words | 3 Pages

The novel Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand stands as a biography that captures the real-life experiences of Louie Zamperini, a man who went from living as a troubled boy, to an impeccable runner, and then into a United States soldier. This novel defines the definition of survival. Not only has it sold millions of copies, but is read in many high schools across the world, and became a huge major motion picture. In the book, there is a character who is very close to Louie named Allen Russell Phillips, or better now as Phil. From the beginning of the story and until the end, Phil has changed dramatically.

Read More
707 Words | 3 Pages

“Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man 's soul in his body long past the point when the body should have surrendered it” (Hillenbrand 189). In the novel Unbroken, written by Laura Hillenbrand, Louis “Louie” Zamperini goes through several life-threatening experiences. After being a troublemaker as a child, and an Olympic athlete, Louie straps up his boots and becomes a bombardier for the Army Air Corps. After a traumatizing crash and a forty-six day survival at sea, Louie is taken captive by Japanese officials.

Read More
513 Words | 3 Pages

Louis Zamperini lived a life filled with strife. From a troublemaking boy to a prisoner of war, he faced many conflicts. His journey in World War Two is especially fraught with struggle and obstacles. Through sheer determination, Louis Zamperini survived a plane crash, a war camp, and the haunting memory of his time in war. After his plane crashed due to engine malfunction, Zamperini had to survive forty-seven days at sea with two other men.

Read More
1380 Words | 6 Pages

When asking anyone what the Holocaust is, there is a very standard answer as to what it was. It is infamously known as the mass killings and imprisonment of Jewish people throughout most of Western Europe. What people fail to acknowledge is that there is more to the Holocaust than this “standard answer.” There have been multiple accounts of what it was like to be in the Holocaust such as the famous books The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and Night by Elie Wiesel. The memoir A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy by Thomas Buergenthal serves the same purpose as any text about this atrocity has served: to inform the public about what truly went on in the concentration camps and beyond.

Read More
1624 Words | 7 Pages

(page 155). This describes how fighters in the war would risk their own health to protect other fighters and universally to protect their country. In addition on page 204, the text describes how Louis and his “crew” made a decisions to risk their lives when it was not their duty to do it. While in Japan, they risked their own lives to free people in the Prisoners of War camps because they all had this universal trust. The POW camps were run by “The Bird” which in LOuis and his crew 's eyes, he needed to be

Read More
970 Words | 4 Pages

Some would say being abused mentally, physically and objectified daily would eventually break a person, but not for Louie Zamperini and Miné Okubo. In the novel, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Louie's military plane crashes and then is taken in by the Japanese after afloat at sea for months. Louie is beaten, starved and mentally abused while trapped in three different Japanese POW camps. In the article, “The Life of Miné Okubo” by Expeditionary Learning, Miné, an American citizen was forced into a Japanese internment camp inside the U.S because she had Japanese heritage. Louie and Miné were treated as invisible through dehumanization and isolation while inside the camps.

Read More
771 Words | 4 Pages

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand sums up the experiences in one of these camps quite well. In the book, Louie Zamperini had to endure multiple different POW camps and had to live with little to no food, hard back breaking work to supply the Japanese with coal and tortured with physical and emotional damage with one of his captors in particular, The Bird. Concentration and POW camps in WWII are some of the worst experiences that any human would have to

Read More
1691 Words | 7 Pages

Morgan Cook Unbroken Book Review 1/16/18 Mrs. Campbell Honors Literature PD 1 “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand was published in 2010. From the first chapter i was hooked. Hillenbrand’s imagery and style caught my eye and pulled me into Louie’s story with no hesitation. I absolutely loved Hillenbrand’s structure in this book and it was much better than others i have read.

Read More
500 Words | 2 Pages

Then turn the pages a little more and you see small stories I guess written by readers whose lives have changed due to reading this book. That particular thing stood out and made me want to actually read and not look on the Internet for summaries of chapters. An assignment was given to me when the student such as myself had to take quotes from the book and reflect ones thoughts on it. Me personally had fun with that because I could relate to what she would say and it made it easier for me to clarify the text.

Read More
880 Words | 4 Pages

In Hillenbrand’s gruesome novel, Louis Zamperini faces the toughest of challenges, some that are purely indescribable and difficult to comprehend for the average human, but his ability to persevere and accomplish the unheard of demonstrates his character’s ability to tackle adversity head on. After a victorious landing on a Japanese island, the men are transferred to POW camps, where they assume they will face their deaths. Both men are taken special interest in, but Zamperini especially because of his Olympic past. Zamperini first meets the “Bird” at a new POW camp and realizes that a real life nightmare has entered his life. Zamperini, anxious and angry, is unsure of how to react, “Louie was on his own.

Read More
892 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel, the author changes the tone throughout the book to add emotion to the story. In the beginning, she uses a depressing tone while also including statistics and the death rates throughout World War II. Hillenbrand says that “...fewer than 30 percent of men whose planes went missing between July 1944 and February 1945 were rescued. Even when the plane’s location was known, only 46 percent of men were saved,” (Hillenbrand 91).

Read More

More about Book Report On Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand

Open Document