An Unbroken Spirit

Posted On June 15, 2022

“That night, before he tried to sleep, Louie prayed. He had prayed only once before in his life, in childhood, when his mother was sick and he had been filled with a rushing fear that he would lose her.

That night on the raft, in words composed in his head, never passing his lips, he pleaded for help.”

-Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand

If you’ve been keeping in touch, you know I recently read The Book Thief and loved it. That book got me on a WWII story kick. The past couple weeks I’ve been chipping away at Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, and boy. What a book.

I don’t read much nonfiction, because usually it doesn’t hold my attention or feels like schoolwork. But Unbroken was different.

It was gripping. A poignant, true story of the strength of the human spirit. It’s the kind of book you think about long after you’ve finished, wondering what exactly made it so good.

I think part of it is that it really happened. That gives it more weight, in a way. Knowing that all of it really happened, and less than a hundred years ago, too… it’s striking.

It’s the story of a man named Louie Zamperini. He was a troublemaker as a boy. Then he was a runner. Then an Olympian. And then, he was a pilot in WWII. But when his plane went down in the Pacific, he floated in a small lifeboat with two other men for 47 days, facing starvation, thirst, and sharks.

Only he and one other man from his crew survived.

At one point in the story, Louie was on the brink of death, needing water desperately. And in his dazed stupor, he silently prayed. He pleaded to God for help.

“They bowed their heads together as Louie prayed. If God would quench their thirst, he vowed, he’d dedicate his life to him.

The next day, by divine intervention or the fickle humors of the tropics, the sky broke open and rain poured down. Twice more the water ran out, twice more they prayed, and twice more the rain came.”

-Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand

Isn’t that amazing? At several points in the story, Louie defied all odds and survived, and I suspected God’s hand at work in his story.

But it was only the beginning – he was ‘rescued’ from the sea only to become a POW in Japan. He faced unimaginable horrors there, things that most people couldn’t even understand.

But still, somehow, he lived.

After years, he eventually was saved and returned home. But he was so spiritually scarred that his life was a dark hole. He escaped into drinking and dreamed of revenge on his captors. Until one day, his wife persuaded him to attend a Billy Graham meeting.

At that meeting, his life was changed. He remembered his promise to dedicate his life to God and how he’d broken the promise sorely.

This book nearly had me in tears – God encountered me through it and reminded me of just how real the Gospel is and how impactful it is in our lives.

“Resting in the shade and the stillness, Louie felt profound peace. When he thought of his history, what resonated with him now was not all that he had suffered but the divine love that he believed had intervened to save him. […] In a single, silent moment, his rage, his fear, his humiliation and helplessness, had fallen away. That morning, he believed, he was a new creation.

Softly, he wept.”

-Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken

This was, even more so than The Book Thief, a beautifully ugly book. A hard read, but worth it.

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To keep this review fair, this book is not for younger readers. There is language, mentions and descriptions of war, POW camps, abuse, and other mature topics. I’d say at least age 14+, higher for more sensitive readers.

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Have you read this book? If so, what did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Image credits: wallpapercave