About this book
Laura Hillenbrand tells the life of Louis Zamperini, a troubled young man who became a track star and ran at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. During the Second World War he served as a bombardier in the Pacific, and after his plane went down at sea he survived a long ordeal on a life raft before being captured and held in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps.
Hillenbrand reconstructs these events in close detail, following Zamperini from his childhood in California through training, combat, captivity and the long, difficult return to ordinary life after the war. The final part of the book deals with trauma and recovery, and with the turning point that changed the direction of his later years.
The book stands out for its storytelling and its focus on endurance. It never glamorises suffering, and Hillenbrand writes about cruelty and its aftermath with care. Her account is both a war story and a study of human resilience. For another ground-level view of the war, try Band of Brothers.
Who it’s for
Ideal for readers who love survival stories and biography; very readable, though the scenes of captivity and mistreatment can be difficult.
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