Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

The answer to the question, "How much abuse can one man take?" is - a lot.

Louis Zamperini has lived one of the most amazing stories in US history. A juvenile delinquent of the thieving/house-breaking variety, he was lucky enough to have a brother who opened him up to a shot at redemption through sports, in Louis' case running, and in short time Louis became a contender at Hitler's Berlin Olympiad, and one of the fastest men ion earth. When WWII broke out he became a bombardier in the Army Air Force. Shot down over the Pacific, he and a buddy broke the record for survival at sea - and suffered greatly in the manner of starvation, dehydration, and near madness. Picked up by the Japanese, he was interred in a prison camp ruled by a sadist who took a particular interest in torturing him, and I won't tell you more except to say Louis Zamperini survived those and further horrors to become a man whose story should be known.

Laura Hillenbrand, the author of Seabiscuit, tells Louis' story without histrionics, but with a compelling style. She certainly knows how to write about running, and her eye for detail also takes us into the' worlds of war, prison camps, and returning vets without unnecessary shock but with an honesty that makes Unbroken an emotional thriller.

There have been some interesting questions raised about the reliability of Louis' memory in that the details are so shocking. I suspect there are embellishments here and there, but I'd be hard pressed to say just where. The entire story is very well documented, so I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt.

The one flaw, for me, was the abrupt ending of the main narrative and the jump to an epilogue. It seemed too abrupt - especially given the detail of the preceding chapters, but I was drawn quickly back into the flow..

I've always thought redemption the subject of the greatest art, and though this isn't great art redemption elevates it way beyond the reportage it could have been.

A helluva read.