Unbroken

I have to note that some of the items on the previously mentioned bucket list are things that we want to do while Tim has all of this vacation time (not only soaking up San Diego). One of the items was to read a book together. It's funny when I tell people that...they are confused. The reaction is usually "like out-loud together?" Yep, we wanted to read a book out-loud together, and we did. We read an fascinating book titled Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It was such an amazing story and a page turner that we read all 406 (very long, dense and action packed) pages in one week. One of us would feed the baby and the other would read, or one would make dinner while the other read. We would even take turns reading to each other while the other person showered. It was a pretty all consuming book.

So what is this book about? An American Olympic Athlete, Louie Zamperini, is drafted into the air force during WWII. His plane crashes into the Atlantic Ocean. I must note that the plane wasn't shot down, it crashed because there was some mechanical issues on the old plane they were flying (not uncommon for that time). The men were on a search mission to find other soldiers who's plane had gone down. Needless to say Louie and two other crewman survive the crash and lived in shark infested water on tiny life rafts with almost not provisions for over 40 days only to be captured by the Japanese and taken prisoners of war. Louie's experiences as a POW in those terrible camps made the life raft and the sharks look easy. While emotionally hard to swallow at time (when is anything during WWII easy to read?), the book is inspirational. Louie lives an absolute nightmare during his years as a POW and when the war is over and he is once again a "free man", he realizes that while he is free from the barbed-wire that kept him enclosed in Japan he is still being held captive emotionally by the men who abused him. This book is about forgiveness, redemption, and discovering what it really means to be free. It is a faith inspiring book and one that renewed my love for my country and for all of the men that have sacrificed so much to make it "the home of the free". This book is a must read!!!