Amber's Thoughts

The life story of Louis Zamperini is more remarkable than anything a fiction writer could have invented. No one would believe this if it were fiction, but it’s meticulously researched.  I read not only the story, but the acknowledgements and the notes. The author was  thorough. There’s incredible art in turning all those diaries, scrapbooks, interviews and newspaper articles into a book that’s as much of a page turner as any thriller. The stories of the POW camps in the Pacific are heart-breaking and appalling. One of the pictures still haunts me. The fact that anyone at all survived those places is amazing, and so is the prisoners’ capacity for humor, kindness and a rebellious determination to live despite such extraordinarily cruel conditions. Louie believed that miracles happened to him. His story is not just of survival, but of healing. Hillenbrand tells that story without neglecting the context—the many others for whom no miracles came. (I’m curious to take a look at the young adult version, with additional pictures and a Q and A with Louie answering questions young readers sent the author.)