Summary: “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenboard is a story that talks about Louie Zamperini’s life, how he changed from a naughty teenager, into an Olympics runner, then a solider who was captured to a Prisoner of War camp in World War II. Everywhere inside the book, we could see Louie’s determination. From pushing himself to the limits in training for running, surviving for almost 2 months stranded on sea, and enduring the torture from the harsh camps of Japan. Overall, the story uses great description that helps the reader experience what Louie felt, and much information about World War II. 

Reading Techniques 

In many parts of the story, I was confused by what the author was trying to tell us, therefore I used different ways to help me understand what happened. 

1. The Geographical Locations (around the Pacific Ocean and Japan) 

-(Part II) When Louie flew on the Superman with his crew and the Green Hornet, they often traveled around the Pacific Ocean, mentioning many islands which I did not know where they were. So, in order to help me better understand where they were going, I often checked the map on the first pages of the book so that I knew where they were. 

-Inside the book (Part III to IV) Louie was often transferred to different Prisoner of War camps, mostly inside Japan. I googled the Japanese map and also checked the map in the beginning of the book, so I knew where Louie was being transferred. 

2. War and POW camp research

-When Louie was inside the Prisoner of War camps inside Japan, there were many words the author used that described what life was like inside the camp. This included “benjo/latrine”, “beriberi”. I searched  these terms up (mostly on the computer dictionary), and figured out what it meant. 

-When I was reading about the B-24, I was confused whether the whole crew was on the plane or only Phil and Louie was. In order figure it out, I researched about typically how many people would be on the plane. It turned out that there would be 10 people, so I know that the whole group of people were on it. 

3. Louie’s racing videos 

-I watched Louie’s Torrance racing video on YouTube, where he finished with another competitor. This helped me know what Louie’s races were like, and what the races were like back then. 

4. Rereading

-There were also times where the story progresses really fast, where the story changes completely inside the same chapter. Then, I had to go back to the beginning of the part and read it slowly.  

Paragraph:

1. We could see the high death rate of people who participated in the war, where 75 million people died in total. This number alone says that brutality of war
2. The guards tortured, beat, and killed many prisoners inside Japan. They did not treat the prisonerse like people, and failed to provide enough water, food, and hygiene for the prisoners
3. From what Louie’s family showed after Louie disappearing, it isn’t hard to see the big impact of the deaths in war. Just think about how much families would be heartbroken from the great amount of deaths in WW2