A few years ago I was watching Discovery Channel’s Shark Week when a documentary came on about three men whose plane crashed into the ocean during World War II, and how they had to survive on a life raft for weeks—all the while being stalked by sharks, of course. I actually didn’t finish watching that documentary, since I prefer the more scientific documentaries to some of the Shark Week programs that are aimed more at Jaws-like drama, complete with reenactments filmed by shaking cameras and terse music.
I looked up the story online, mostly curious as to how much was true and how much dramatized. To my surprise, the story was even more dramatic than the documentary; the sharks were hardly the most perilous part!
First I read Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. I vaguely remembered seeing trailers for the movie adaptation directed by Angelina Jolie, but since biopics rarely interest me I hadn’t paid much attention. I still haven’t seen the movie, but I did read the book.
Unbroken follows the life of Louis Zamperini—juvenile delinquent-turned Olympic runner-turned Air Force bomber-turned shark bait-turned Japanese POW-turned alcoholic with PTSD-turned Christian evangelical. Whew. As if Zamperini’s life weren’t enough, Hillenbrand also follows the various “peripheral” characters in his life, writing chapters from the perspective of his family, friends, and fellow POWs among others. It’s obviously a well-researched account, including primary and secondary sources, delving into historical, psychological, and physiological information, and yet weaving it all together into an intense, fascinating narrative.
After I read Hillenbrand’s book I learned that Zamperini himself had written an autobiography: The Devil at My Heels. It covers most of the same “plot” as Unbroken, but the scope is focused more on Zamperini’s first-person perspective rather than referencing other sources. The Devil at My Heels also details a bit more about Zamperini’s childhood—he recounts thieving, running away from home, encounters with hobos, and other episodes of violence which alone could probably have merited their own book.
Perhaps most significant of the differences between these books is how they end. Hillenbrand does go into Zamperini’s post-war conversion and how his faith in Jesus gave him the strength to forgive his enemies, but his “redemption” almost seems like an epilogue. Zamperini’s own account traces his spiritual quest through all the other things in his life, as time and again he’s saved from death and left to wonder why he was spared. In his book, the story of his life changes from running away from to running toward something. His belief in Jesus and salvation from all his sins is not just another chapter—it’s the climax of all the other things that happened before, and the purpose that drives everything that happened after, including his deep desire to share his faith with the very people who tormented him in prison so that they, too, could be set free.
Recommended Reading Age: Adult. If time only allows for reading one of these books, I think I’d recommend the first-hand account of Devil at My Heels. However, both books have language, references to sex and drugs, plenty of gore, and sheer intensity, and thus require mature readers who are prepared to encounter these things, sometimes in graphic detail.
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