Good morning!<\/p>\n
Huh?\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s noon!<\/p>\n
I know, but I just woke up.\u00c2\u00a0 You see I was up all night reading "Unbroken".<\/p>\n
"Unbroken"?<\/p>\n
I was clueless too.\u00c2\u00a0 Daniel Glass sent it to me.\u00c2\u00a0 I was just planning to scan a few pages in order to not feel guilty, to let him know I’d made an attempt, but then I got hooked and sucked down the rabbit hole.<\/p>\n
I’ve pretty much given up on nonfiction.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s unsatisfying.\u00c2\u00a0 You experience facts but not emotions.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, it’s much easier to write down a tale than make one up.\u00c2\u00a0 But so often the stories that rivet us are true.\u00c2\u00a0 Because truth is stranger than fiction.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, if "Unbroken" had been a novel it would have been easy to push aside, as the work of a fabulist, telling a tall tale that couldn’t possibly be true.\u00c2\u00a0 But the fact that Louie Zamperini really did compete in the ’36 Olympics and then floated on a raft in the Pacific for dozens of days after his plane crashed and was ultimately rescued and…makes you keep turning the pages.\u00c2\u00a0 Because life is confusing enough in this modern era where everybody’s connected and there’s no money, what was it like half a century ago, when both rich and poor enlisted in the armed forces, fighting to save democracy?<\/p>\n
The book starts off with Louie floating in the aforementioned raft.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s an excellent device.\u00c2\u00a0 You know where you’re going right up front, like deciding to take a long trip and MapQuesting your destination.\u00c2\u00a0 But you don’t really know what’s involved until you hit the road, experience the construction and the topography and the exquisite meals in podunk towns and the stops for physical fuel at places that sport brand names that have you questioning why they survive.<\/p>\n
Survival.\u00c2\u00a0 What does it take?\u00c2\u00a0 Today’s kids tend to know what it takes in a videogame, but how about in the big bad world?\u00c2\u00a0 You need skills, but you also need perseverance and belief.<\/p>\n
That’s what’s lacking in today’s instant gratification\/get rich quick world.\u00c2\u00a0 People have the mistaken belief they don’t have to pay their dues, that life is all about luck, rising to the occasion momentarily and getting a pass for the rest of your life.\u00c2\u00a0 But a spot on "Real World" delivers fame, but no riches.\u00c2\u00a0 And "American Idol" isn’t much better.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no career there for most people.\u00c2\u00a0 And Carrie Underwood was trying to make it for years before she won, and her two-dimensional songs mean she’s got a fraction of the audience of gawky Taylor Swift, who writes from the heart and can instantly sell out stadiums.<\/p>\n
Character.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what’s built when no one’s watching.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you cry when your mommy forgets to pick you up in a rainstorm or do you put one foot in front of the other knowing you’ll get soaked but you’ll make your way home?\u00c2\u00a0 Do you stop when you see an accident, offering help to those you do not know?\u00c2\u00a0 How about animals, can you save one in distress without being one of those people who thinks our furry friends are more important than human beings?<\/p>\n
Laura Hillenbrand is not a good writer.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s a good researcher, she knows how to assemble the pieces of Louie Zamperini’s story.\u00c2\u00a0 But she’s no Hemingway, no Mailer, if she spent more time writing instead of collecting data the words would flow in a more satisfying way.\u00c2\u00a0 But in this case, the story is so riveting that just laying it down gets people to pay attention.<\/p>\n
What really hooked me in this book was that Louie Zamperini grew up in Torrance, California, before the Beach Boys, when it was an outpost as opposed to the repository of America’s dreams.\u00c2\u00a0 That fascinates me, what it was like before everybody started paying attention.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only physical locations, but artistic careers.\u00c2\u00a0 Usually the best music is made on sheer will power, when no one else cares and there’s no money, little marketing, just the music itself.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s so different from today’s constructions.\u00c2\u00a0 I love the Adele album, but even there there was a committee, building something commercially friendly.\u00c2\u00a0 But how did Cat Stevens come up with "Tea For The Tillerman"?\u00c2\u00a0 Better yet, listen to "Trouble" off the previous album, "Mona Bone Jakon".\u00c2\u00a0 That one track is better than anything on the Adele compilation, because of its sheer honesty, its wistfulness.\u00c2\u00a0 You can see the individual right through the song.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve read about Adele’s troubles, but there’s still a scrim in the music, I don’t know who she really is.\u00c2\u00a0 But someone who writes "Trouble" or "Carolina In My Mind" or…\u00c2\u00a0 Listen to the first American Elton John album.\u00c2\u00a0 It sounds like it was cut in a church, listening to it is a religious experience.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, "Your Song" was a hit, but check out "Sixty Years On" or "The King Must Die".\u00c2\u00a0 The album didn’t seem to be made for us, but Elton, and that’s why we’re so interested.<\/p>\n
"Unbroken" is a peek into the life of Louie Zamperini.\u00c2\u00a0 Who didn’t win the gold medal, who spent eons in a Japanese war camp, but survived.\u00c2\u00a0 Not intact, alcoholism took over his life.\u00c2\u00a0 But he ultimately triumphed, over his captors in Japan and in his head.\u00c2\u00a0 And he didn’t go on to start a hedge fund, he dedicated his life to helping disadvantaged boys.<\/p>\n
Not that anyone forgot he was Louie Zamperini.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s real fame.\u00c2\u00a0 Vanilla Ice is a footnote.\u00c2\u00a0 Wilson Phillips is a joke in a movie.\u00c2\u00a0 But if you’ve done something real, people respect you, they don’t look down upon you.\u00c2\u00a0 We want to get close to heroes.<\/p>\n
If you’re into war stories, "Black Hawk Down" is a better book.<\/p>\n
I’ve never read "Seabiscuit", Laura Hillenbrand’s previous tome, haven’t seen the movie either.<\/p>\n
No, I’m not selling this on history, not triangulating, not trying to prove to you why you should pay attention, I’m telling you "Unbroken" stands alone.\u00c2\u00a0 Start it and you’ll finish it.<\/p>\n
A great book creates a private universe which you’re privileged to inhabit.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a special feeling far different from everyday life, despite being positively human itself.<\/p>\n
Pick up "Unbroken".\u00c2\u00a0 Go for the ride.<\/p>\n
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