Friday, February 27, 2015

Unbroken- Louis Zamperini's Story

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is an unbelievable true story about a famous Olympic runner, Louis(Louie) Zamperini, who became a bombardier in the Army Air Corps during World War II. As the war goes on Louis encounters many challenges that he has to overcome.


As a young kid Zamperini always got into trouble in his small town of Torrance, California. He would steal things from people's homes when they weren't looking, run from the police, play tricks on people, and get into a lot of fights. At one point his brother, Pete, told him that he had to use his energy for good not evil. Louie began to run. He ran track in high school and realized his talent for long distance running. When Louie was just 17 years old, he set the national high school mile record. He became known as "The Torrance Tornado". He went on and got a scholarship at USC for his outstanding running skills.

In 1936, Louie qualified for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. He was still just a teenager. Amazing, I know. I wish I was that talented. He didn't end up getting a medal but he came in 8th place and ran the fastest last lap in Olympic history. At just 19 years old! Wow he really was a fantastic athlete. When Louie went back to college after the 1936 Olympics, he kept setting records. The year he graduated from college he was ready to go back and compete in the 1940 Olympics. But World War II intervened and they were cancelled.

After the 1940 Olympics were cancelled, Louie enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Even though he hated planes and vowed to never have anything to do with planes, he ended up being a bombardier on the B-24 Liberator (Super Man). In 1943, Louie and his crew went up to search for a missing plane. When all of a sudden one of the engines failed and they ended up going down over the Pacific Ocean. Out of the 11 people on the plane only Louie and two others survived.

The men ended up being stranded on raft together for 47 days! That's crazy! I would've lost my mind out there with just the sea and the sky. Okay so maybe one guy did actually go crazy out there, but I totally see why. The three of them were stranded out there for 47 days on an ocean that covered over thousands of miles, sharks trying to eat them, they were dehydrated and starving. And I mean literally starving, like no food, not like when you say you're starving just because you haven't eaten in like 3 hours. They went days without food. They also were shot at by an enemy aircraft and ahead lay a challenge Louie never saw coming.

Finally Louie and Phil were rescued. The only issue was that they weren't exactly "rescued", more like captured, by the Japanese. Louie and Phil were separated and sent to POW camps, where they were beat and tortured. Louie was always singled out and punished and abused more harshly by the camp sergeant that everyone called the Bird. Louie was pushed to the limit, but still he fought on. After being held in captivity for more than 2 years, WWII finally ended and Louie returned to the United States.

After WWII, Louie was scarred from everything he went through during WWII. Who wouldn't be scarred by all that. Louie was a true hero and didn't give up hope despite everything he went through. Louie ended up founding a camp for troubled youth and forgave the Japanese that tormented and abused him. Louie went to a Tokyo prison in 1950 and gave forgiveness to some of them in person. He wanted to give forgiveness to the Bird in person, but the Bird refused to see him. Later in 1998, Louie carried the torch at the Nagano Winter Games in Japan. Louie was such a strong person to be able to put the past behind him and return to Japan not once but even twice and forgive his captors.

Louis Zamperini died at age 97, but he definitely lived a meaningful life. And Louis Zamperini really was a real American hero.


A Rebel Who Became A Champion... A Champion Who Became A Survivor... A Survivor Who Wouldn't Be Broken...

UNBROKEN.

Maybe One Day- Text-To-Self

Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor is about two best friends, Zoe and Olivia, who have been inseparable ever since they met. But when Olivia founds out that she has a life-threatening illness, both of their worlds get flipped upside down. Zoe has to be brave and positive for her friend Olivia. Zoe keeps moving by believing that Olivia will beat it and be just fine, and their lives will get back to normal. It is a kind of serious book but it also goes deep inside the lives of real teenage girl problems. And Melissa's description about teenage girl stuff is on point.


Maybe One Day relates to me because my mom had cancer and it's been super hard living with it everyday. But I knew I had to put on a brave face for my mom every step of the way even now and trust that she would beat it and be just fine. I'm still waiting for my life to get back to normal but at least I know that she is okay.


Everyone has something in their life that no one knows about. Everyone has their own struggles. Everyone has to work through it and be brave for those around them. Just like Zoe for Olivia and me for my mom.

This book is really great and the second you open this book you are committed to it and you won't be able to put it down till the very end.