"Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand

Four Stars

Unbroken is the true story of Louie Zamperini. A young juvenile delinquent who became a US Olympic runner, competed in the 1936 games in Germany where he met Hitler, trained to be the first to run a 4-minute mile, enlisted after Pearl Harbor, and became a War Hero.

While flying a rescue mission, Zamperini’s own plane crashed, leaving him adrift in the middle of the shark infested Pacific Ocean with his friend and pilot, Russell “Phil” Phillips. They must now find a way to survive with no food, no water, no real hope of rescue, and only the ever-aggressive sharks to escort them as they drift deeper and deeper into enemy waters. But the true fear is if they do manage to find land, who and what fate will be waiting there for them.

This guy really did have an unbelievably amazing life. Seriously, he is the reason they invented the saying “You can’t make this stuff up.” Being introduced to Hitler, surviving a plane crash, jumping sharks, 40-foot waves, and so much more that I don’t want to give away. And, probably one of the most amazing points for me, he’s still alive today!

I was able to put the book down, I didn’t have to tear myself away, but it definitely kept me reading and I finished quickly. Louie’s ability to not only survive, but maintain his humanity and sense of self, while faced with the darkest side of the human soul is truly awe-inspiring.

Hillenbrand has done an absolutely thorough job of compiling every detail of Louie’s story, including pictures and facts along the way, and presents it in such a way that you don’t even notice her. You are alone with Louie every step of his story, which I think is the sign of a very skilled researcher and author. However, there is one comment towards the end, not related to Louie but to Russell Phillips, that made me think “Well Laura, didn’t you just do the same thing?” (you’ll probably know it when you get there, but if not I’ll be happy to discuss with you if you’d like) and sort of made me not like her in an oddly confusing way. Maybe I need to work that odd issue out a little more.

This is an amazing read. It is a scary representation of the darkness people are capable of and an inspiring story of survival at the same time. I really enjoyed reading something about the Pacific side of WWII, instead of the German and European side. I recommend this not only because of Louie’s amazing story but also as a very educational piece on the experiences of soldiers in the Pacific Ocean during World War II.

"Jane Bites Back" by Michael Thomas Ford

Three Stars

Jane Austen is not dead, but in fact a vampire. She has spent the last 200 years watching her popularity rise and her books fly off the shelf, without ever receiving a royalty check. She cringes as people rush to her small bookstore in upstate New York to buy the latest unauthorized sequel, spin-off, retelling, or companion novel to her books, and shudders to hear both readers and authors misinterpret her characters and their motives.  And to make the sting even worse, the novel she wrote just before she ‘died’ has been rejected by publishers 116 times.

She lives alone with her cat in order to keep anyone from getting too close and finding out what and who she really is. But things become complicated when Jane is suddenly pulled back into the spotlight and must find a way to enjoy it without letting her true past be discovered.

I read this book on a recommendation and it was actually quite fun. Jane is easy to relate to and her frustrations with her life and the book world are believable and understandable. There are a lot of literary references thrown in, which at first were fun but the joke wore thin pretty quickly. Jane finds herself in some rather funny situations and there are a couple of plot twists that made me laugh (even though I’m not sure that they were supposed to be all that funny).

This book was headed for four stars until the end, where it set itself up to be a series. The idea is cute, and the irony of it being a Jane Austen spin-off about Jane Austen mad about all of the spin-offs works for one book, but not as a series. Once the set up was introduced I sort of soured on the whole thing, mainly because the irony is lost once it becomes a series.

So go ahead and read this book if you would like a good laugh and to hang out with a rather believable Jane. It was fun, I just can’t enjoy it the same without the irony of what it was as a stand-alone novel.