Some of you may have heard about this one. I was hearing great things about it, so I added it to my kindle this past week. I could barely put it down for the 3 days it took me to read it. I stayed up until 2:00 this morning / last night finishing it, and decided I had to blog about it right away. I give it 5 stars. In fact, this may have become my new all-time favorite book. I love stories of human triumph. This one is unsurpassed. In the same spirit as Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning (though in the form of an AMAZING story and less of an analysis), this book shows the depths of human endurance and the POWER of forgiveness and love. It's the story of an American Olympic distance runner, Louis Zamperini, who was easily on track to be the fastest miler in history up to that point, when the world descended into war. His journey and the horrors he and others experienced over the next several years is unbelievable. It's got just about everything: Running, the Olympics, Hitler (up close), air battles, a particularly beautiful "Joe vs. The Volcano" kind of moment, angels, Japanese POW camps, Billy Graham, skateboarding... I won't spoil anything for you here, in case some of you wanted to read it. But I have to say that my admiration for "the greatest generation" and my own determination to live in gratitude and forgiveness have increased.
The author (of Seabiscuit fame) is an incredible story-teller. Fair warning: the descriptions of violence and degradation in the POW camps is graphic, and really tough to read. But the redemption of a human soul is so beautiful and inspiring I was brought to happy tears. This guy is one of my new heroes.
Life is beautiful
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| Louie Zamperini, who took up skateboarding in his 70's, here at 81 |
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