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Friday, March 25, 2011

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Laura Hillenbrand)

After I emailed a work friend with a book recommendation and my reasoning behind it, he suggested that I should start a blog of book reviews. I thought this was not an inherently horrible idea.

I hope to keep my reviews short & informal, and you can follow up with your comments, questions, and complaints if you feel like like it, and then if I feel like it, I'll respond to you. If, after a while, no one seems to care, then I'll abort the mission. I'm not a fan of perpetual rejection.


Also, please let me know if you have any suggestions for improving the blog. (Hopefully your suggestion won't be "Please stop.") I'm clue-free on blog protocol because (a) I seldom read blogs, (b) I've never blogged to any audience of more than one before, and (c) I'm too lazy to research the elements of successful blogs.

One more thing: If you notice any typos or errors, please tell me. I'd like to fix them.

For the pilot episode, here's my email commentary
, verbatim, for the book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Laura Hillenbrand). I'd sent my friend the Amazon link, to which he responded, "Boy this sure did get great reader reviews too!" ... to which I responded:

In my experience/opinion, the reader reviews on Amazon can be very hit or miss. I've bought some books with great reader reviews & found them to be a snore. I've learned, as a general rule, to consider the source (i.e., whether the review writer has anything intelligent to say and if they even know how to structure a decent sentence themselves, the type of audience the book is likely to generate, etc.) and take the opinions with a grain of salt.

The short version of my review on Unbroken is this:

  • Effective (but not overly artistic) writing
  • Fantastic, sometimes barely believable, story
  • Inspires appreciation for the Rules of War
  • Illustrates the best and worst of human psychology, especially as it applies to war-time mentalities
I read a whole lot of books and don't recommend many of them. This one, I recommend.


6 comments:

  1. O Vanity, thy name is blogging. Welcome. I look forward to more, Lady.

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  2. I've embraced the idea that vanity is inseparable from humanity. Thanks for the welcome, Man.

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  3. I read that book as well and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm a little surprised that you did too, as it doesn't strike me as literature the fairer sex would enjoy - LOL.

    I guess if I had a criticism about your Pilot blog, it would be for you to give a little more detail as to what specifically you enjoyed about the book. Were there certain anecdotes that made an impression on you? I know I gained a new level of respect for WW2 vets (namely POWs)after reading it. I wasn't aware that so many of them suffered from PTSD after the war. I thought that was more of a Viet Nam war phenomenon. I've even become a bit less cynical of Billy Graham as a result of reading the impact he made on Louie Zamperini's life.

    Despite what anyone may say about blogs, I think they're extremely viable in today's society. Everyone's opinion is valid. It's up to US - your followers that deem whether they're worthwhile or not. Who knows, this could lead to your 15 minutes of fame! Best wishes for that! I look forward to reading future postings from you. :0)

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  4. Thanks for your suggestion, Herb! I plan to write another post tomorrow, and I'll include some more specifics. I do want to keep the entries short (in order to respect your time and my sloth), so don't expect an analytical dissertation. (-:

    One of several ways Unbroken made an impression on me:

    I gained understanding of the necessity - even benevolence - of bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Who knows how long the Japanese powers would have stubbornly protracted the war if we hadn't? They were destroying their own civilization probably more than they were hurting ours.

    I've always like Billy Graham because, even though he was unapologetic in his faith, he didn't seem to shun others who were obviously flawed. I'm thinking specifically of his relationships with several of our presidents. I've heard (with my very own earballs) some Christians dog him for associating kindly with them. Maybe I should add a Billy Graham biography to my wish list.

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  5. You've come a long way from your inaugural blog. Keep up the good work. You still have my attention after all these years. -Herb

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  6. Thanks, Herb! What a lovely compliment! I thrive on attention! (-;

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