Summary of Unbroken: by Laura Hillenbrand | Includes Analysis

By Instaread Summaries

Summary of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand | Includes Analysis

 

Inside this Instaread Summary:

-Overview of the entire book

-Introduction to the characters in the book

-Summary and analysis of all the chapters in the book

-A Reader's Perspective

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Instaread, Inc
• Release date: May 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781683782391

Book preview

Book Overview

The incredible odyssey of Louis Zamperini began when he was growing up in Torrance, California. Louis got into scrapes, but could always talk his way out of them. He was bullied in his early years, but learned to fight back. Louis' unsinkable spirit is the major theme that links all the ups and downs of his remarkable life.

Louis’ big brother, Pete, was as solid a citizen as Louis was a troublemaker. Pete was a runner and got Louis involved in the sport. Pete hoped Louis would find a positive outlet for his energy. Louis became a star runner and competed in Berlin for the 1936 U.S. Olympic team. He finished eighth, but impressed everyone, even Hitler, with a burst of speed in his final lap.

Like Pete, Louis went to USC on an athletic scholarship, but Louis quit school in 1940 when the Helsinki Olympics were cancelled after war broke out in Europe. Louis got a job as a welder at Lockheed Air Corporation, then joined the Army Air Corps. He failed to complete basic training in the Air Corps because he could not get over his fear of flying, but was drafted back in. He was trained as a bombardier.

Louis was assigned his first crew and plane, a B-24 nicknamed Super Man. He became best friends with Russell Allen ‘Phil’ Phillips, the pilot. The B-24 was not as reliable as the B-17 Flying Fortress, so training was dangerous. Louis flew successful raids on Wake Atoll and Nauru, but Super Man was shot up badly at Nauru and never flew again. Louis was assigned a rescue mission with Green Hornet, a plane with known airworthy problems. Green Hornet crashed in the ocean. Out of eleven men on board, only Phil, Louis, and a sergeant named Francis ‘Mac’ McNamara survived.

The three men floated for weeks on two tiny rafts. They had no radio. Mac ate all their chocolate bars on the first night. Their water ran out after four days. They were able to capture some rainwater and catch an occasional fish or bird, but it was not enough to stave off starvation. Sharks circled constantly and sometimes attacked. Twice U.S. planes flew over but never saw the rafts. A Japanese plane did, however, and sprayed machine-gun fire. Louis hid underwater. Phil and Mac only had the strength to play dead. Amazingly, no one was shot, but one raft was destroyed and the other was failing. They managed to patch it while beating off sharks with oars.  

Louis, always resilient, managed to keep his and Phil’s spirits up, but Mac was despondent. He died thirty-three days after the crash.

On the forty-sixth day, Phil and Louis spotted an island. It turned out to be one of the Marshall Islands, held by Japan. They tried to make land unseen but were captured