Review: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

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

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Let me state up front that I believe that Laura Hillenbrand is an amazing writer. I truly believe that she could write about paint drying and find a way to make it interesting and compelling. She has an amazing gift and I will read anything and everything that she ever puts onto paper.

That said, let's get on to reviewing this book. WOW. That about sums it up. Just WOW. It's an incredible read ... interesting, captivating and informative. I can't believe that I'd never heard of Louis Zamperini. His story is simply amazing. From beginning to end, his story just captivated me. He was remarkable.

Due to some personal family stuff, I have an interest in WW2 and the impact the war had on those fighting in it and those at home waiting for their loved ones to arrive back home. I felt this book really brought WW2 alive and gave me a real feel for what it was like at that time.

I'm not going to go into any details around the story because I liked watching it unfold as I read the book rather than knowing what I was getting into ... just trust me, it's a great read!

I got a lot out of this story - personally, I found it to be life affirming and inspiring. The book truly shows the power of the human spirit. You really don't want to miss this book. It's one of the best books I've read so far this year! I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone and everyone!

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Review: The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier

The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The rating of this novel was really quite difficult for me because I felt that it was a very mixed bag. It was very readable and fairly interesting overall. But, it was uneven and there were times when I just wanted to put the book down and walk away. Not because it was bad but because it just wasn't good. I was sucked right in at the start but somewhere along the way, Kevin Brockmeier lost me. I just slowly began to care less and less and less. In the end, its hard to say it was a bad book because I don't think it was bad. I just don't think its great.

To his credit, Kevin Brockmeier is a fantastic writer! The actual writing is beautiful and wonderful to read. And the idea of having physical wounds illuminate is really interesting and unique. I liked what the novel seemed to be saying about pain and beauty - I thought that was an interesting exploration. Unfortunately, the overall flaws made the exploration less impactful as I think it could have been because I began to quickly disengage as it became less and less interesting to me.

This is hard to explain but it felt to me as if the novel began in one place but meandered around and around and around into new places and territories, making me wonder why we didn't just stay in the place we began because that place was interesting!

In the end, I just cannot recommend this novel. Someone else mentioned in their review that this book was unremarkable and frankly I have to agree. It just isn't worth the time and energy given the thousands of books out there waiting for me.

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