I expected Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, to be an exciting read, but I had no idea how it would plumb the depths of human depravity and the heights of redemption.
Hillenbrand wrote that she never thought she would be as captivated by her subject as she was when writing Seabiscuit, but that all changed when she met Louis Zamperini. I can understand why.
This book, and the life of "Zamp" can basically be divided up into four parts: life as an emerging superstar runner, life stranded on the sea after being shot down in WWII, life in a series of tortuous POW camps, and picking up the pieces of a life shot apart.
The first part of the book has the exhilirating feel of non-fictio sports book, tracking the rise of a team or individual to unparalleled heights. We meet a young, mischevious Zamp who is quickly descending into hooliganism before his brother channels his energy into running. Zamp excels to such an extent that he makes the Olympics, as a teenager, running a race distance that wasn't his preferred distance after only training for a few months. By all appearances, it looks like Zamp will be the first man ever to run "the perfect mile" (under 4 minutes).
That is before he gets sucked, along with the rest of the country, into WWII. He serves as highly-proficient bombardier, involved in a number of missions, before his plane goes down over the Pacific. What follows on the ocean is a case study in the importance of an optimistic framework vs. a pessimistic one. While Zamp and his best friend strove to survive in dire circumstances, another crew member resigned himself to an inevitable death. Their experiences on the ocean are harrowing.
After surviving a record-breaking ordeal on sea, one would think that the story would have reached a fitting conclusion. But the survivors weren't rescued, but taken prisoner by the Japanese. Thus began the long saga experience by allied POW's in Japan--one of unspeakable suffering, torture, and tragedy. Like the rest, Zamp is starved and routinely beaten into unconsciousness. Each day was a new feat in survival and hope against all foreseen odds. Along the way, Zamp has his leg broken.
Like most POWs, when Zamp returns to the States, he is markedly different. Certain triggers would produce flashbacks and freak outs. He developed a dangerous temper and rampant alcoholism. He married, but so demeaned his wife and made life dangerous for their baby that she was on the verge of divorcing him. On top of all else, as Zamp refocused himself on Olympic running and began nearing his previous feats, his bad ankle fell apart. One of the sports great lights would forever be dimmed. He would never run the perfect mile.
I have read so many books in the past year that follow a dark trajectory that I believed the same would occur here. Sure, there might be a few rays of hope, but they would be obscured by the pervasive fog of tragedy that besets man. I was expecting a divorce, a suicide attempt, life in a psychiatric ward, followed by a few waning days of relative peace doing some obscure job.
Instead, the trajectory Zamp's life, and the book, took was startling and dramatic. Like the movies of that era, the storyline dramatically turned mid-plot and life, beauty, and hope was retrieved from the jaws of death, decay, and despair. As this twist proved a delightful surprise to this jaded reader, I will not reveal it and allow others the same experience.
For years, the meteoric rise of Zamp was interrupted by this dismal doldrums of passing through the valley of the shadow of death. When the war ended, Zamp took the shadow with him and enfolded those he loved within its horrid wings. But death and depravity never need the final word over life.
