I am jealous of everyone who lives in a country with a movie theater. I don’t really like movies but this is one I want to see in the theater. Alas. Unbroken will remain in book form only for me, at least for the foreseeable future. I’m mostly okay with that. Movies almost always ruin the book. But still. When you love a book as much as I love Unbroken, you want to see the movie.
In place of watching the movie, I’ve been reading interviews with and profiles of the author, Laura Hillenbrand. And I’m even more amazed by what she has managed to do with both Unbroken and with Seabiscuit.
Laura suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome and it is so serious she rarely leaves her house. She sometimes never leaves her room or her bed. She suffers debilitating dizzy spells and struggles to both read and type. She conducted much of her research for both these books via phone calls, emails, and people visiting her. For Unbroken, one man brought a World War II Norden bombsight and set it up in her kitchen so she could see how planes viewed their targets.
Unbroken is the story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic sprinter-turned World War II fighter. His plane goes down over the Pacific and he miraculously survives on a life raft only to come to shore on a Japanese-controlled island. He is interred as a POW and endures unimaginable suffering. One aspect I enjoyed the most about this book was that Hillenbrand doesn’t end the story when Zamperini is released. She follows him and his fellow POWs back to the United States and chronicles the devastating aftershocks of what they experienced. But she still doesn’t end the story there. She takes the reader to the depths of human misery and brokenness and then, through Zamperini, she shines light on hope and redemption.
Seabiscuit was a race horse, tearing up tracks and getting injured and winning hearts, in the 1930s. An underdog champion, ridden by an underdog jockey, owned by an underdog businessman, trained by an underdog coach. It is an epic story of America and captures our love for the underdog. But the book doesn’t capitalize on the American sense of individualism. The way these men and women work together to overcome impossible odds is by doing together, drawing on the strengths of the others and remaining faithful when weaker ties would have shattered. In the middle of the Depression, when people needed something to cheer for, these unlikely heroes emerge and steal the heart of a nation.
What I’m reading this week:
Mighty Be Our Powers by Leymah Gbowee. How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War. Christian and Muslim women came together in Liberia to end a brutal conflict.
Brain Child Magazine Am rereading an older teen issue, thinking about my own teens. One article talked about the status update on Facebook and when she first saw her daughter change it. Another is about the use of ADHD pills by non-ADHD diagnosed teens to use for studying enhancements. Excellent fiction pieces. Love it all.
Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver, second in the Delirium series (confession, I am super-skimming to keep up with my daughter). The premise is that love is a disease and so at age 18 everyone gets ‘cured.’ Except, big surprise, the main character falls in love pre-cure and must find a way to both love and live. *for parents: there are swear words
Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin. Ashamed to say it has taken me this long to read this book but I’m so glad I finally started. Seems like an especially fitting week and time in our nation’s history.
Other Hillenbrand fans out there? What did you think of the movie? What are you reading this week?
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I also enjoyed the book and made the effort to find a showing of the film in English. My thoughts? I could’ve rented it and been fine. Considering the end of the book and then the fact that Angelina Jolie would be directing the film, I just wasn’t sure how she was going to handle that element. My suspicions were right, she totally downplayed it. It was only the very faintest of threads in the film (I swear I only really caught it b/c I was looking for it from the start), and his personal turn-around was quickly noted via soft music, old photos and text right before the credits rolled. So basically the movie stopped when he got off the plane back on US soil.
Jolie did a great job of capturing the warped-ness of The Bird and POW life, but then I expected her to get that right. Louis’ personal unbreakability was a huge focus of this film; viewers see that he was a super tough guy and nobody was really able to get to him. I was worried Jolie would play up this element, and I was right. But since the forgiveness element was basically not there I felt Louis’ real story had the wind taken out of it’s sails. Sad, really.
I felt the moral of the film was more “don’t let others get to you, be tough at your core, but a nice guy, too”. Hold your own.
Also, family State-side and I concluded that it was also a pretty slow movie, which surprised us since those of who read the book whipped through it. I will say the scenes showing the plane and it’s operations were enlightening, but on in that I’d read the book and wondered how a couple of things worked.
So…meh. I’m actually annoyed my husband and I spent the money (and time/effort) we did to catch it in the theater. Yet I wasn’t prepared to wait to see it as a rental/online. Well, maybe it helps you not feel so bad about missing it on the big screen?
*For the record: We’re not really movie-goers, and since I’d read and loved the book/author’s personal history, I feel like I had my expectations up pretty high.
This is really good to hear, I mean sad and too bad, but at least I can know I’m not missing something spectacular. Yay for Americanah! I really did love it, want to read it again but so many other new books to read…
Oh, and I’m reading a German novel right now, but Americanah is next in my pile! I found it on super sale when I was in England last year and have been saving it until now. I see on your sidebar you liked it. =)
Loving ‘The Bookshelf’. Great to have recommendations to add to my own proverbial bookshelf. 🙂
Hurrah! And I’m loving talking books and hearing from others.
I’m reading Americanah on your recommendation and absolutely love it. I’m South African and know a few Nigerians ( we joke that in our country they are either drug lords or pastors ) and she’s very honest in her descriptions. I’ve read Chimamanda Adichie’s other books but didn’t know about this one. Thanks for recommending it. Will look out for Laura’s books now.
So glad you’re enjoying it. And that the descriptions seem so accurate. I started off with two of my favorite writers, still more great ones to come, but these two women are such incredible authors. So different but GOOD.
Loved Americanah, read it with the Red Couch Book club and enjoyed the discussion. Looking forward to another book by Adichie. I have been to Cameroon, and it is very like Nigeria so appreciated that connection.
On Unbroken, there is another book that is by Louis Zamperini called Don’t Give Up, Don’t Give In. It very good, pretty anecdotal. You may want to check it out. I somehow got bogged down in Unbroken, need to get back to it, since there is universal acclaim. Haven’t made it to the movie.
Has anyone read All the Light We Cannot See? I am loving the writing, but so confused by all the skipping around in time. Feel like a Time Traveler!