Reviews

• Hope the movie makes it to Japan

  Some of the details about war planes etc. were difficult to understand, but I understand that Louie was special and its a wonder how he lived through all his ordeals. I wanted to read the book as soon as I heard a movie was in the making, but am devasted to learn that it may not be shown in Japan. I am a Japanese brought up in the U.S and Canada. I've raised my 3 kids in Japan and as far as I can tell, history books don't touch much on POWs in Japan. Living in Japan, being Japanese, there is a lot of Japanese customs and ways I will never understand. It seems, the Japanese are not good at apologizing and don't like to be criticized. Obviously. I personally do not intend to ever go to the Yasukuni Shrine where many of the war criminals are buried. I work right by there and the cherry blossoms are apparently beautiful in the Spring. People go there casually, like it's just a park. I guess it can't be helped because the Japanese media tell stories quite differently than the Japan Times, the English paper in Japan. I did eventually get to see the controversial film, the Cove. It's in all the video rental shops, but hardly anyone has seen it, the general public doesn't know about it. So far, I haven't found anyone that eats dolphins either. The issue was front page news for quite a while in the Japan Times but no mention in Japanese media. I hope I don't have to wait that long to see Unbroken, too.

• Amazingly well-researched book on an amzing individual.

  Esppecially considering that the author, Laura Hillenbrand suffer fro chronic fatigue syndrome. The diesease onset was during her college years, and despite her illness, she wrote Seabiscuit and this book.

• Broken...Not Unbroken

  There are many excellent plot summaries offered in the reviews here of the well-researched, compelling, and engaging tale of Lieutenant Louis Zamperini's experiences on a life raft in the open sea and the horrors that would continue in Japanese POW camps during WWII, so I will just add one point. The title of the book and the movie is "Unbroken," but naming the book thus was a mistake since this creates an implicit image of someone or who endures unceasingly. This was not the case. Lieutenant Zamperini was completely broken--mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually--until five years after he returned to the United States and became whole through the decision to follow Jesus of Nazareth. The day that he did, the nightly dreams of horror that had plagued him stopped and his self-medication through binge drinking ended. As Ms. Hillenbrand wrote, "He was not the worthless, broken, forsaken man that the Bird (one of his captors) had striven to make of him. In a single, silent moment, his rage, his fear, his humiliation and helplessness, had fallen away. That morning...he was a new creation." Later, Lieutenant Zamperini wrote a letter to the Bird, Matsuhiro Watanabe, that he had forgiven the man of his morally reprehensible acts. This is the real story. A broken man who became truly unbroken in every way possible.

• i like it.

  i didn't know that there was a movie. my friend recommended me this book. thank you for sending me.

• 批判は不当。読んで各自で判断すべき

  「Unbroken」に関して、ここに投稿された意見の多くは、この本を中傷する目的で書かれており、利用者は本気にすべきではありません。この本は綿密な取材に基づいており、どのドキュメンタリー本にもつき物の間違いなどあっても、批判されるような内容ではありません。 批判の大半は検証になり得ない擬似的検証であったり、別の可能性を無視した性急な結論であったり、単なる勘違いや根拠のない想像であったりします。 たとえば、爆撃機が千メートル以下を飛ばないというのは思い込みに過ぎません。実際、低高度を飛ぶ日本の爆撃機が米軍機に撮影されています。捜索任務の場合、この半分の高度で飛ぶこともあったはずです。 捏造を訴える者が実は捏造をする者であることは多く、特に、太平洋戦争に関しては顕著です。この本に対する批判もその類です。読み手はかかる意見に左右されることなく、自分の目で内容を確かめるべきです。

• Great read

  Unputdownable. Best book recently

• 敵味方関係なく 人間のあり方を教えてくれる

  素晴らしい本でした。正確に調査して書かれており、信頼できる内容であると思いました。とはいうものの日本人にとってスラスラと読める内容ではありません。ですが、最後まで読むと、何人であるとか関係なく、一人間として尊敬できる人物に出会うことができたと、嬉しい気持ちになりました。できれば多くの日本人にも読んで体験してもらいたいと思います。 It was a great book, one that will stay with me forever. I felt it was very well researched and I totally trust that what is in the book are what actually happened. Being a Japanese, it was a bit difficult for me to take in, but when I finished reading, I was happy to have 'met' an extraordinary man that I could truly respect. I hope that many Japanese people would read this, putting aside the difference in nationality, and be inspired by this individual, just as I was.

• 大戦当時はアメリカ空軍が存在しないのに空軍属の主人公が出てきた

  ・大戦当時はアメリカ空軍が存在しないのに空軍属の主人公が出てきた ・主人公が東京を空襲しに太平洋を飛行機で飛んでいた →既にサイパン島陥落後の話なので米軍の制海権で墜落したことになる （クェゼリン環礁←日本軍が全滅済みの海域） ・捕虜となった大船収容所だが、主人公が運動会に参加していながら「過酷だった。」 ・アマゾンのレビューで激賞している奴は歴史の教科書を読んでこなかったのか？（時系列がおかしい） ・登場する大森収容所では、実際には東条英機自らによる捕虜適正管理の抜き打ち検査があったが本書ではその描写はなし ・直江津収容所は飢餓状態でした。日本軍側が…（農家に頭を下げて食料を分けてもらった兵士アリ） 映画について ・ジョリー …韓国系の血が混ざってる件

• Au de la de l'histoire incroyable mais vraie du personnage, j'ai énormément appris sur la seconde guerre mondiale du côté pacifique. J'ai utilisé chaque minute de mon temps libre pour le lire.

• Absolutely loved this book. The start of the book, I found a bit boring which talked about his Olympic dreams and running. I was about to put the book down there but pushed through that part and read the rest of the book very quickly as it became very interesting. His story of survival, as a POW and his experience in the war was very interesting. Book also has pictures so you know who the people are, the story is great and at the end of the book you feel like he has triumphed! Highly recommended read.

• Lo compré a raíz de ver la película y me gustó muchísimo. Muy duro a veces.

• To start with: I honestly think that A PAPERBACK VERSION OF THIS BOOK WOULD HAVE BEEN A LOT MORE ENJOYABLE TO READ THAN THE KINDLE VERSION. There are a lot of photos and references all throughout the book. I kept wanting to flip back to previous chapters and remind myself of how Louie's war buddies look like , who's who and flip forward to see the footnotes (presented at the end of each chapter). But this is impossible with a kindle. The only good thing I found about reading a kindle version is that I can easily find definitions of many tech-y war / bomber plane terms which are foreign sounding to me. But I don't think this outweigh the disadvantages I lay out. This is a book so good that you'd want to lend it to all your mates because you believe reading the book will enrich their lifes. So get a paperback version! Now let me start with my review. Being British and UK based, I don't tend to check out the NY Times best sellers list so I never heard of this book, nor this Louie guy, until my sister mentioned it on her instagram post saying "If you're going to read just one book this summer, read this." At times, amazon reviewers ratings are so off they're not to be trusted (Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert was one of the worst book I've ever read and I was on a mission to let the whole world know that the book didn't deserve any star rating, never mind the 1600+ 5* rating it got on amazon.com and 250+ 5* rating on the UK website). In this case however, the 5* ratings on the UK and US amazon are well and truly justified. I would have given it 6* if amazon allowed such rating for exceptional circumstance. I won't summarise the book nor say much about how incredible the life story of Louis Zamperini was because you can read this in other reviews. What I would say is that his story will surely touch and inspire you beyond measure. Particularly on the first half of the book, you'll read so much cruelties and madness which will repulse you, but in the end, you'll gape in amazement at how much a human body and unbroken spirit can endure. I have to also commend writer Laura Hillenbrand for penning Louis's story so beautifully and matter-of-fact-ly. Her writing is so good that I could almost feel Louie's exhilaration when he broke his mile record, his family's sense of loss when the news of his disappearence was delivered, his thirst and desperation as he float on a lone raft in the middle of the vast pacific ocean, his hate towards his captor 'The Bird'. I'll end with my sister's recommendation: If you're going to read just one book in 2014, read this book!

• One of the most captivating books I have ever read! Even though there are situations that are beyond imagination – in the prisoner-of-war camps in Japan – for me it is a wonderful story about how people can act even in the most terrible situations. How starving prisoners shared even the little food and few possessions they had to save others from death, and the good that came of it. Even in the darkest places in the world, there can be light. That is what is special about human beings: they always have the freedom to do good, and that is how they become true heroes. With God's help, anything is possible – an experience that Louie Zamperini had.

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