But will you be able to put the thing down once you poke your nose into it? You will not.Ī light-fingered mischief-maker during his Depression-era boyhood (much of what he stole was food), Zamperini was drifting toward delinquency when his straight arrow of an older brother coaxed him into trying out for high-school track. It's simpler to write about an animal than a human being, it's true, and the deepest enigmas in Zamperini's story remain unplumbed by Hillenbrand. Hillenbrand's second book, seven years in the making, is "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption" and likely to be as big a hit as "Seabiscuit." The theme is identical - the triumph of an indomitable underdog in the face of titanic obstacles - but this time the protagonist is human: Louis Zamperini, an Olympian in his own right (he ran in the 1936 games in Berlin), war hero, POW camp survivor and inspirational speaker. If storytelling were an Olympic event, she'd medal for sure, assuming her rightful spot next to Stephen King and J.K. No other author of narrative nonfiction chooses her subjects with greater discrimination or renders them with more discipline and commitment. No one delivers a play-by-play better than Laura Hillenbrand, author of the bestselling "Seabiscuit," in which she conveyed the split-second thrills of horse racing to even the most unsporting of readers.
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