Unbroken

Louis Zamperini was an Olympic-class runner from California when the USA entered World War II. He joined the air force and, in May 1943, was part of a B-24 crew on rescue mission when it crashed into the Pacific ocean. He and two survivors made it onto rubber rafts and proceeded to drift westward. They suffered from thirst, blistering heat and the constant presence of swarms of sharks. At one point they were even strafed- unsuccessfully - by a Japanese bomber.

After 47 days, the ordeal ended when they were rescued by a Japanese patrol boat. Only for a new one to begin as, from then until the end of the war, like thousands of other POWs, they endured regular vicious beatings, near starvation and other forms of maltreatment by their captors. Zamperini survived, and returned to the USA, only to fall victim to withering attacks of PTSD. Which he also survived.

This is a startling story. The chapters describing the days on the raft are absolutely gripping. But the book is just too long. It’s 400 pages and, at about the 250 page mark I began skimming. Not  because it’s badly written - Laura Hillenbrand is a terrific writer and her Seabiscuit is one of my favourite books – but because she seems to have included every single detail of what looks like months – possibly even years – of research. Not just into Louis Zamperini’s life, but the lives and experiences of his friends and fellow servicemen.

Seabiscuit wove the stories of three individuals – owner, trainer and jockey – into one compelling narrative centered on the horse of the title. Unbroken’s narrative fractures and dissipates as it simply tries to cover too much ground. The last thing I want to call it is dull, because that would be an insult to the experiences of the men it’s about. But in trying to describe so much and so many, it loses focus… and the reader’s attention.

Which is a shame.