Unbroken (The Young Adult Adaptation) by Laura Hillenbrand
(Listening Library, 2014)
Read by Edward Herrmann
This title is a nominee in the 2016 Audie Awards: Young Adult Category
From Goodreads:
“On a May afternoon in 1943, an American
military plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a
spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean
surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier,
who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of
the most extraordinary sagas of the Second World War.
The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. As a boy, he had been a
clever delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and stealing. As a teenager,
he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a supreme talent that
carried him to the Berlin Olympics. But when war came, the athlete became an
airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and
adrift into the unknown.
Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping
sharks, a sinking raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a
trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would respond to
desperation with ingenuity, suffering with hope and humor, brutality with
rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would hang on the fraying wire
of his will.
In this captivating young adult edition of her award-winning
#1 New
York Times bestseller, Laura Hillenbrand tells the story of a man’s
breathtaking odyssey and the courage, cunning, and fortitude he found to endure
and overcome.”
I’m such a fan of Hillenbrand’s books,
and have yet to recover from when I listened to the unedited version of Unbroken
five years ago. This Young Adult edition is less harrowing, abridging several
of the scenes while the crew drifted at sea, and glossing over some of the bare
horrors of Zamperini’s days as a POW. It’s still traumatic, of course, and
inspiring and amazing, though I strongly prefer the original.
Edward Herrmann surprised me by droning
a bit through this narration, reminding me unpleasantly of my high school
history teacher just trying to get through the assigned chapters. I love his
voice, it’s soothing and familiar, but this reading didn’t enchant me as I’d
expected.
Glutton for punishment, that's me. I don't know how else to explain all the melancholy books I've been consuming lately, but oh, they've been worth it. My brain is constantly chewing the cud from one or another of the titles from this week, and as much as I like relaxing with a quick mystery or romance title, I do have to have some mental protein to balance out those chips-and-chocolate books.
