Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Unbroken Summary of Part 1
This non-fiction book tells the true story of Louis Zamperini. In parts 1 and 2, we learn that Louie was an Italian boy who grew up in California and caused a lot of trouble at a young age. Many times, Louie got away with his antics because of how quick he was. As he got older and joined the track team, he began breaking records left and right, which eventually landed him a ticket to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Louie was such a great athlete that Hitler himself wanted to meet him. Not knowing what the Nazis stood for at the time, Louie stole aswastika flag from Berlin to remember his time in Germany.
Unbroken Summary of Parts 2 and 3
The story continues as World War II ensues and Louie Zamperini is called to war after the attack on Pearl Harbor . He is a soldier in the Air Force in 1942. After fighting in the war against Japan for a year, Louie's plane, called the "Green Hornet" crashed at sea in May of 1943. After the crash, only Louie and two other men from his plane survived. Louie, Mac, and Phil went through starvation, dehydration, sun poisoning, shark attacks, Japan shooting at their life rafts, and more while they were lost at sea. It was a miracle that the life raft remained buoyant for the 47 days they floated in the ocean. Unfortunately, by the time they got off of the raft, only Louie and Phil survived; Mac had passed a way many days earlier. On the 47th day, Mac and Phil became captured by the Japanese and went from being lost at sea to prisoners of war.
Unbroken Summary of Parts 4 and 5
Throughout part 4, Louie is sent to three different POW camps. In these camps, Louie and all of the other captives are relentlessly beaten, starved, humiliated, degraded, and treated as if they were less than human. One of the guards, which all of the captives nicknamed "The Bird", particularly beat on Louie. There were many times that Louie thought he was going to die because of the way he was treated in these camps. On August 15, 1945, 2 years after Louie was capture by the Japanese, World War II ended and the American's won the war. Louie, who was still a prisoner of war at the time, found out days later and was finally allowed to go home. In the years following the war, Louie was married and starting a family. Although he was back in America, Louie and many of the other POWs suffered from severe PTSD . Louie had constant nightmares about "The Bird" and became an alcoholic. His marriage was falling apart and his life was a mess, but Louie eventually came around when he decided he should forgive all of Japan and the guards that mistreated him. Louie's life changed drastically and he even went back to Japan to meet with his old captors and forgive them face to face. He never saw "The Bird" again, but this did not stop Louie from living a full and happy life.