Unbroken: Book Review

I just finished reading Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. The story of former Olympic runner, Louie Zamperini, who flew in a bomber crew during WW11 in the pacific theatre. His plane crashed at sea and he and the other survivor, the pilot, were captured by Japan and served as Prisoners of War. I was able to read this book quickly, mostly reading while we were in the Poconos by the lake. My Mom gave me this book a few years back, and my sister-in-law saw the movie, if not for those two facts, I would not have picked this book for myself, nor do I recommend it. I will not see the movie.
The majority of the story, pages 183-337, is about Louie's time in Japanese prison of War camp. The first 183 pages give the story of his childhood, some information about WW11 bombers and his missions before the final crash. Then he gets captured by the Japanese and the next 15 chapters are filled with detailed accounts of beatings, starvation, sickness, depravity in Prisoner of War camps. They are torture to read. I'm not sure if Hillenbrand is fascinated by torture, or wanted to give full justice to the atrocities inflicted on Louie and other POW's at the Japanese hands, or if she wanted this part of the book to make the reader really understand what these men went through. As Jason suggested, perhaps her thought was, "you are tortured reading about this, imagine living through it?". As much as I respect my husband for always giving me a new perspective, I would not re-read, or recommend this reading for anyone. I found it way too much. I did read it, however. Then when we returned from the Poconos, I decided I wasn't going to read any more of the book... but the title, and the catch words on the front cover, "Survival, Resilience and Redemption" drew me back in.
At this point in the story I only had two chapters to finish. I had already read 33 pages of his life back in the United States, post war, which were spent reliving and reacting to his time in POW camp. Finally, after reading about how he almost killed his wife during a nightmare one night, I decided I was through. The very next chapter, however, after I picked the story up again told about how Louie gave his heart to Jesus at a Billy Graham crusade. All of his pain and suffering washed away instantly and he was able to forgive even his greatest tormenter. To this part of the story Hillenbrand gives 2 chapters and an epilogue! That's it!
I am so glad I read those two chapters, and epilogue they left me wanting more details about the end of Louie Zamperini's life. I feel that that's the story! That's the part of the story where Louie Zamperini is truly unbroken. The only way any of us can find purpose, hope, joy and abundant life is through Jesus Christ, no matter what we've been through in our past. That's the story that needs to be shared in detail! I am so disappointed that I read 250 pages of detailed brutality, and all I get about the hope of the gospel that has the power to change men's lives, is 2 short chapters and an epilogue. To Hillenbrand's credit, she did include this -huge- part of his story, though I feel that compared to the detail in rest of the book this part of the story was glossed over.
That's my review. I feel that Hillenbrand missed the story, she missed the point, in my opinion, and that makes me sad. Louie Zamperini is a hero!! Not only because of his resilience in the face of human oppression, but also because he chose to live for something greater than himself, and in that, and that alone is there peace.