From the author of SeaBiscuit comes this amazing story of resilience, survival, hope, redemption, and recovery.
Louis Zamperini was your average boy until he was a teenager. It was then that he learned to run. Setting new records was common for him as a young man. He went to the Berlin Olympics to represent the USA.
His greatest feat, however, was his endurance of an Air force plane crash in the Pacific during WWII, being a prisoner of war, and surviving the beatings, the starvation, and the mockery directed his way by the Japanese.
Though this book is long, it is very moving. Hillenbrand portrays the emotional highs and lows of Zamperini as he endured the various trials of being a prisoner of war. It is also interesting to see the strength of this man as he and others would intentionally mislead Japanese soldiers as they taught them English, and how they managed to get extra food from time to time. In the midst of it all, one can see that these great men maintained a sense of humor.
The reader will rejoice as he experiences the end of the war and the subsequent release of the POWs with Zamperini.
What was truly great is the fact that, though this is not intended to be a book for Christian audiences alone, the author faithfully presents the fact that Zamperini fell into the trap of trying to drown his sorrows in booze. Facing a failed marriage, his life fallen apart, with no hope, and seemingly no help, Zamperini heard from Billy Graham (In that great LA crusade that launched him into the limelight) that Jesus loved him, died and rose from the dead for him. Zamperini believed that and was redeemed from his self-destructing ways. Life for Zamperini was only beginning.
This is a great book. It is well written. It is moving, and it is so very true-to-life.
I highly recommend it.