I've already posted a "halfway through the book" review (here: http://bit.ly/jORdwl), but since I've finished the book here's my 100% full take on the book...it was REALLY GOOD! There were parts that I would have cut out so that the book read a little quicker, but overall it was really engaging and I've found myself babbling to other people about the things I've found out about from the story.
Quick summary: Louis Zamperini grew up a troubled kid and was in and out of trouble in his youth. His older brother got him into the sport of running. From there, Zamperini went on to be an Olympic athlete and came very close to reaching the elusive 4:00 mile (many speculate that he could have reached that mark if he didn't go off to war). With the looming war, Zamperini enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was stationed in Hawaii. One day he took off in his B-24, The Green Hornet, on a search mission and his plane crashed in the Pacific. He and 2 other men survived and floated for 44 days while sharks circled the rafts. They were eventually picked up by the Japanese and became POWs. From there our story takes us through Zamperini's horrific time spent in POW camp.
There were a lot of things that stuck with me from this story. One of the most amazing things was the time they spent out at sea. The 3 men ate birds, drank rainwater, and were constantly circled by sharks. Sharks circled their raft for 44 entire days!! At one point they could feel the sharks rubbing underneath their raft. And one time, a 20 ft great white shark started circling. I would have been shaking in my boots. There were a few other experiences with the sharks that blew my mind, but I don't want to give anything away.
The more important thing that I took away from this book was being an American POW among the Japanese. Whenever I think of WWII, I think of Hitler and the concentration camps, but surprisingly "while only 1 in 100 Americans captured in Europe died, nearly 1 in 3 perished in Japanese captivity." The amount of abuse that Zamperini underwent was really overwhelming. He (and other men) suffered from starvation, extreme abuse, medical experiments, slave labor and disease. Zamperini had a "special" experience with one guard they nicknamed "the Bird" (real name: Mutsuhiro Watanabe) and this guard had an affinity for abusing Zamperini. I was never really aware of this side of WWII (shame on me) and it is something that I've thought about a lot since I've finished the book. I try to avoid anything war related (current or past) because I honestly don't want to think about it...but this book put a face on it for me. It's given me a different perspective on something that I previously pleaded ignorance on.
My one beef with the book, which I've mentioned before, is how grandiose and cinematic this book seems. There are parts that are too detailed and feel irrelevant to the story and there are also parts that are so over the top that they feel exaggerated. Overall though, a really good book that I am glad that I read.
Tidbit: Laura Hillenbrand has chronic fatigue syndrome and is largely home-bound. The majority of her interviews with Zamperini (over 75!) were done by phone. I hope she had a headset because I can imagine her ears were burning after all those phone calls!!
Rank: A
Since I've read this book, I've had my eye out for other WWII stories and ran across this book which just came out and has gotten similar rave reviews...
Near the end of World War II, a plane carrying 24 members of the United States military, including nine Women’s Army Corps (WAC) members, crashed into the New Guinea jungle during a sightseeing excursion. 21 men and women were killed.
The three survivors--a beautiful WAC, a young lieutenant who lost his twin brother in the crash, and a severely injured sergeant--were stranded deep in a jungle valley notorious for its cannibalistic tribes. They had no food, little water, and no way to contact their military base. The story of their survival and the stunning efforts undertaken to save them are the crux of Lost in Shangri-La, Mitchell Zuckoff’s remarkable and inspiring narrative.
Faced with the potential brutality of the Dani tribe, known throughout the valley for its violence, the trio’s lives were dependent on an unprecedented rescue mission--a dedicated group of paratroopers jumped into the jungle to provide aid and medical care, consequently leaving the survivors and paratroopers alike trapped on the jungle floor. A perilous rescue by plane became their only possible route to freedom. A riveting story of deliverance under the most unlikely circumstances, Lost in Shangri-La deserves its place among the great survival stories of World War II.
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