Unbroken
It’s been about a month since I’ve finished Unbroken, a biography of Louis Zamperini. In the time since then, anytime I’ve met a friend and the question “What have you been up to?” comes up, I inevitably bring up this book and beg them to read it.
I remember the first time I heard of Unbroken. I’ve was getting serious about running and getting more into endurance sports, binging Ironman videos online (the Triathlon, though I also watch Tony Stark’s scenes whenever they’re recommended to me on YouTube).
Running, to me, feels 90% mental and 10% physical. It’s in the head. Some days, a 10k feels like a breeze, other days, I throw in the towel 2km into a 10km run. The repetition, the constant pounding on the pavement, it takes willpower to grind through.
As usual, whenever I get invested in something or take up something new, I turn to inspiration. Inspiration in the form of books, of videos. People who have done crazy things, endured immense things, to get to where they are — that always drives me. When it hurts, I tell myself that it’s nothing compared to what they have endured.
So, I started searching for books on running. I’ve read quite a few, and after finishing the latest one, went onto Reddit (where I turn to 90% of the time), and searched for “books about running”.
Many of the titles recommended (Born To Run, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Eat and Run), I’ve read. So I was looking for something different.
I like biographies, they’re just much more relatable, and honestly, there are many real-life superheroes. I had just read How Bad Do You Want It by Matt Fitzgerald and was looking for something like that, where people are pushed to the absolute limit.
That’s when I saw a Reddit thread where someone mentioned Unbroken. The title called out to me, and I was intrigued. It revolves around running at first — but evolves into something so much more than that.
Unbroken follows the story of Louis Zamperini, an American Olympic distance runner, whose career is cut short by WW2 and served as a bombardier in the war. (spoilers below)
An immigrant who spoke to English when his family first moved to California, Zamperini was bullied and often in trouble as a rebellious child. His father taught him to box, and soon enough, Zamperini turned into the bully.
After a tumultuous childhood and being known as a local troublemaker, Zamperini’s older brother Pete got his younger brother into running as an outlet and a place where he could keep an eye on him.
Zamperini channeled his energy into running and found out that all those troublemaker years spent running from police and bigger kids had its upsides — he was extremely talented, especially at longer distances. To this day, he remains the youngest American 5k Olympic qualifier at the age of 19, and set the national mile record in college, with an incredible time of 4min 8seconds.
Despite his talent, his Olympic dreams would never come to fruition, finishing 8th in the 1936 Olympics in Germany, where Adolf Hitler shook his hand and said “Ah, you’re the boy with the fast finish”.
Before Zamperini would have another shot at an Olympic medal, worldwide chaos erupted, plunging the world into WW2.
Zamperini enlisted into the Air Force, commissioning as a 2nd Lieutenant, where he served as a bombardier with a very close-knit and successful crew. But, as with every WW2 story, disaster soon struck.
During a mission, the plane he was serving on, Green Hornet, a B-24 that was notoriously un-air-worthy, crashes into the ocean, killing 8 out of the 11 crew.
The 3 survivors included Mac, a new army recruit, Phil, the pilot and one of Zamperini’s closest friends, and Zamperini himself. They found themselves on a raft that was extremely poorly kitted, with no water and very little food — consisting of some chocolate.
The 3 men agreed to share the food, and decided to carefully ration it. They hoped it would last them at least a week, and hopefully, by then, aid would have arrived. They knew nothing could be done except wait, and wanted to conserve their energy and fell asleep.
Zamperini and Phil awoke to find a very guilty-looking Mac, barely speaking a word, and absolutely no food left.
They were left in absolutely dire condition, without any food, water, and the hope of getting rescued getting slimmer and slimmer each day, as they drifted among vast nothingness, hounded by sharks and was once strafed by a Japanese bomber.
Yet Zamperini and Phil managed to keep their spirits high, swapping stories, learning songs. They prayed for rain, and managed to catch some albatrosses for food, and cleverly used some pieces as bait to fish.
After 33 days at sea, Mac, who had been growing quieter and quieter, slowly losing hope, died. The thought of cannabalism didn’t cross their minds — they couldn’t even stomach the first albatross that Zamperini caught — and Mac’s body was pushed overboard.
Incredibly, the 2 survivors lasted for another 2 weeks, finally reaching land on the 47th day. (47 days!!! can you imagine??)
Unfortunately for them, the island was occupied by the Japanese.
I’m going to stop spoiling the book now, as I’m doing Laura Hildenbrand (the author) a huge disservice as there is 0 chance I’ll be able to recreate the emotions, the connection, the absolute amazement that she was able to evoke in me by trying to explain how good this book is.
The book is kinda split into 4 big arcs:
- The backstory, the upbringing and the track career
- Air force journey, where he spends over a month at sea
- Experiences as a POW
- PTSD and recovery after the war
Zamperini experiences more in 1 arc than most people will in their lives. His story is absolutely incredible, and Laura manages to weave it in such a masterful way that I was hooked, unable to put it down, reading late into the night.
The struggles that Zamperini went through is absolutely astounding, and you can’t help but wonder “How the hell does someone survive this?” and time and time again Zamperini just does it. His indomitable will in the face of extreme adversity, his faith in the darkest of times — it left me completely breathless and gripped me as few books ever had.
Unbroken can be dark. The unspeakable horrors described in the book at times destroys your faith in humanity. At times the only thing that kept me going was the fact that this book existed — so it must mean that Zamperini managed to make it out alive.
Yet seeing him overcome and struggle through incredible hardships, it makes you marvel at the tenacity and strength that we’re capable of.