Fittingly Louie passed away in The City of Angels - unbroken forever.
Louis Zamperini bio & newsfeed:
Fittingly Louie passed away in The City of Angels - unbroken forever.
Louis Zamperini bio & newsfeed:
an absolute must read for everyone. People quickly forget how brutal the Japanese were during WW2
If the world had more people like Louis Zamperini we'd all be better off. Furthermore, we'd all realize just how incredibly soft we all are compared to the WWII generation.
An amazing life story. I think no matter what motivates you, there is something in his story that is compelling.
A kid from the other side of the tracks.
Discovers running and makes an Olympic team.
Goes to Germany and manages to steal Hitlers flag.
Joins the service. Might have been the first sub 4 miler if he hadn't.
Gets shot down and has an amazing survival story.
Is tortured brutally by captors.
Returns a hero, drifts into alcoholism.
Converts and changes his outlook.
Goes out of his way to forgive his captors.
Becomes a old man that everyone seems to love.
I don't know how a life can be any greater than that.
I just wish he could have lived to see the movie come out and win the Oscar.
This should be quote of the day:
"And now after the book was finished all of my college buddies are dead, all of my war buddies are dead. It's sad to realize that you've lost all your friends," he said. "But I think I made up for it. I made a new friend -- Angelina Jolie. And the gal really loves me, she hugs me and kisses me, so I can't complain."
Bobfffbbb wrote:
This should be quote of the day:
"And now after the book was finished all of my college buddies are dead, all of my war buddies are dead. It's sad to realize that you've lost all your friends," he said. "But I think I made up for it. I made a new friend -- Angelina Jolie. And the gal really loves me, she hugs me and kisses me, so I can't complain."
+1
I read his wikipedia page. He didn't speak English when he 1st moved to L.A. So much for hating on economic refugees forced to emigrate to America to survive.
Inland Empire CA wrote:
I read his wikipedia page. He didn't speak English when he 1st moved to L.A. So much for hating on economic refugees forced to emigrate to America to survive.
Thank you.
An amazing story, but, sadly, a pretty mediocre book.
800 dude wrote:
An amazing story, but, sadly, a pretty mediocre book.
I ordered it today. Why do you say it's mediocre?
One of the most amazing men that ever lived.
What a bummer that he died before the movie came out.
My main issue with it is that she seems to accept everything Zamperini told her without any skepticism or critical reservation at all, and a lot of the story is so unbelievable as to sound absurd. You know that sense you get when a young kid starts telling you a story that's obviously full of exaggeration? That's the experience you get reading this book. There's no pushback or questioning at all. It's basically his own story, as he presented it to her (and he had a long career as a motivational speaker), fleshed out with research from other sources. You get very little sense of who he was as a person. It reads more like hagiography than biography.
There are also some rather obnoxious literary tropes, like the notion that the reason a mother can't accept that her son is dead is because she loves him so much. It's touching in a novel, but if you met someone like that in real life, you'd pity them, thinking they were weak or delusional.
Part of the problem with the narrative is unavoidable. POW stories simply don't make for great reading. She has to go out of her way to construct a narrative arc to the captivity, with little missions that people are trying to achieve, little contests of will, eventually building toward an ultimate showdown. It's what you have to do if you're going to make a Hollywood script out of a story like this, but responsible history book writers don't usually resort to such tricks.
She also doesn't seem to know what to do with his born again Christianity at the end. She's too invested in his perspective to avoid showing a lot of enthusiasm for conversion, but she also clearly doesn't want to make the book into a Christian testimonial.
All that said, it was still reasonably enjoyable and a very quick read.
Not necessarily disagreeing, but I read that the author actually never met him until after the book was published.
I think it's hilarious how Wejo/Rojo think it's one of the best books they have ever read so they are deleting comments that say the book is terrible.
Guys, you're not known for your capacity to know what great writing is.
Captain Oblivious wrote:
I think it's hilarious how Wejo/Rojo think it's one of the best books they have ever read so they are deleting comments that say the book is terrible.
Guys, you're not known for your capacity to know what great writing is.
Oldest and First wrote:
training to be a world class miler is tough when your cramped into a B24 bomber, shot down and adrift at sea in the Pacific for two months, or a severely-tortured POW of the Japanese for a year in WWII.
That must have been tough, bombing those darned Japanese, who later put him in a prison for doing so.
and then there was the horse book. I'm sure she embellished that a lot as well.
800 dude wrote:
My main issue with it is that she seems to accept everything Zamperini told her without any skepticism or critical reservation at all, and a lot of the story is so unbelievable as to sound absurd. You know that sense you get when a young kid starts telling you a story that's obviously full of exaggeration? That's the experience you get reading this book. There's no pushback or questioning at all. It's basically his own story, as he presented it to her (and he had a long career as a motivational speaker), fleshed out with research from other sources. You get very little sense of who he was as a person. It reads more like hagiography than biography.
There are also some rather obnoxious literary tropes, like the notion that the reason a mother can't accept that her son is dead is because she loves him so much. It's touching in a novel, but if you met someone like that in real life, you'd pity them, thinking they were weak or delusional.
Part of the problem with the narrative is unavoidable. POW stories simply don't make for great reading. She has to go out of her way to construct a narrative arc to the captivity, with little missions that people are trying to achieve, little contests of will, eventually building toward an ultimate showdown. It's what you have to do if you're going to make a Hollywood script out of a story like this, but responsible history book writers don't usually resort to such tricks.
She also doesn't seem to know what to do with his born again Christianity at the end. She's too invested in his perspective to avoid showing a lot of enthusiasm for conversion, but she also clearly doesn't want to make the book into a Christian testimonial.
All that said, it was still reasonably enjoyable and a very quick read.
And which branch of the US military did you serve in? Dates?
Great book.
Im running as Louis Zamperini tomorrow in july 4th race and hope to make him proud
VA Westwood 90024 wrote:
And which branch of the US military did you serve in? Dates?
Does only the US military count in your small world?
Is there a rule against attaching a helium balloon to yourself while running a road race?
Am I living in the twilight zone? The Boston Marathon weather was terrible!
How rare is it to run a sub 5 minute mile AND bench press 225?
Move over Mark Coogan, Rojo and John Kellogg share their 3 favorite mile workouts
Mark Coogan says that if you could only do 3 workouts as a 1500m runner you should do these
Red Bull (who sponsors Mondo) calls Mondo the pole vaulting Usain Bolt. Is that a fair comparison?