Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The major issue I have with this book is the way the author jumped from story to anecdote to story, then came back to the main point, then disappeared into another story, before coming back to the main point, which is the life of Louie Zamperini. Louie sounds as though he was a great man imbued with natural leadership instincts. Unfortunately, the author's unabashed, biased, praise of him wears down the story. Everyone else in the story takes a backseat to the glowing figure of Louie. It's the only consistency in the entire book, the idea that Louie had an aura about him, a halo even if you will. From a historical perspective, the author didn't spend much time on historical fact, but rather came to her own conclusions. "It appears..." "It seems..." "Probably...." were all sentences that should never be used when stating fact. The author had her own ideas as to why things happened. For instance, the chapter, "The Stinking 6," six Japanese bombers fly over Funafuti and drop their sticks of bombs. Japan did not possess a heavy bomber, so these planes were more than likely the medium 'Betty' bomber. It did not have a high capacity payload. But the story makes it sound as if these six planes dropped tons and tons of bombs over the entire island, making the place just a giant bomber crater. 6 Japanese bombers would not have this capacity. And it's something of an irony that the author brings up at the end of the book that Phil, aka Russell Allen Phillips, struggled with the attention Louie received and he was just the 'trivial footnote.' Yet, in the story, the author practically gives Phil the title of trivial footnote as almost every mention of Phil is overshadowed by what Louie did with him or for him. A perfect example is the whole ordeal in the raft. The author makes it seem that Phil would have died had Louie not been there to save him and keep him going. At no time was there ever any mention of Phil helping Louie. Yet, three men (and later just the two) cannot be sustained in a stressful situation for days lost at sea, on the sustenance and willpower of one man no matter how great he is. It takes teamwork, and I believe that even with mention in the story, the author still gives Phil the offhand role of victim, while Louie gets the role of hero. The other problem I had with the story is the lack of flow. Two examples spring to mind. First, there is the instance leading up to Liberation. Louie is about to give up, he doesn't know how much more he can take. He can hardly stand. He can hardly work. He's exhausted. He's near death. He's got dysentary and beriberi. People are stealing food for him just to keep him alive. And then B-29's fly overhead and begin to drop food to the prisoners. Suddenly, no mention of Louie's poor health is noted. Instead, he's now at the forefront of directing and clearing dropzones for the B-29's to drop their carepackages. And then there is the story of the Japanese having Louie broadcast his POW status on the radio, which is picked up in the U.S. The War department is made aware of it. People are excited, allegedly. A track meet in New York in honor of Louis is changed from "Memorial" to "Invitational" because of his change in status. But then when Louie is brought back to U.S. Airbases upon release and subsequent return to the U.S., we are told of Colonels falling out of their chairs, and other stories of shock at the sight of Louie because they thought he was dead. But elsewhere in the story upon his discovery in the POW camp we are told this was headline news. If it was such the sensational news story, as it was claimed, how did people not know of his discovery? Also of note is the omission from the story of two equally, if not more famous characters of war that were in the same POW camps as Louie, Medal of Honor recipient Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, who gets a short mention in the story, and Medal of Honor recipient Richard O'Kane. The story references many times that Louie was kept off all Red Cross records of POW's, as if he was the only prisoner to be accorded such treatment. Boyington was kept off the record as well, and held in much higher esteem by his captives for being such a successful and flamboyant fighter pilot against them. Louie flew only one combat mission, according to the account, during the war. According to the story, this was highly publicized during the initial phase of the war. However, Boyington had 26 kills to his record and was famous for leading the equally famous Black Sheep Squadron. Louie was an Olympic runner. Boyington was a flamboyant war personality, famous both during and after the conflict. Obviously, this book was about Louie so the omission is forgivable, but the idea that Louie was held in much higher esteem by his captors and punished more than the other captives leaves me questioning the entire story. Based on the other 1 star reviews, I know that by giving this story 1 star leads to the possibility of nasty comments and open disagreement. But as a disclaimer, if you liked the book, you are entitled to your five star review. This isn't a five star review, because in my opinion it wasn't a five star book. It had too many issues with it that left me scratching my head or in a state of disbelief. Regardless of the book, Louie Zamperini has lived an amazing life and is a role model to everyone and his story should be shared... just not in such an embellished, off hand, scripted sort of way.