Unbroken

Have you noticed the promos for the movie Unbroken which comes out this week? I have been focused on Louis Zamperini for the past few months. My husband and I heard him speak at Grace College a few years ago. He was there for the students, but community residents were also welcome. It is a wonderful tale of God’s grace and transforming forgiveness. I did not read the book nor will I see the movie because it would plant long-lasting impressions of the torture Zamperini underwent as a Japanese prisoner of war. I think my husband may see it with a friend or his brother-in-law.

Around September, Carol to whom I report as a volunteer managing the library called me into her office. The Grace Village library had a copy of the 1956 Devil at My Heels memoir written by Mr. Zamperini. It had been missing from the shelf for at least 2 years. I know this because a resident who wanted to read it reported to me that she had been looking for it for months. She finally bought a newer edition and donated it to the library. I would watch for the missing copy, checking the shelf every few weeks. This had gone on for at least 2 years. I had pretty much written it off as lost. We operate on an honor system so have no way of knowing who might have taken the book and tracking it down. It would not be the first book to disappear from the library.

The administrator knew the book was missing, too. To her surprise, the son of a resident came by her office with the book. He was moving his mother out of an assisted-living apartment and found the book under her sofa. The reason he personally delivered it to Carol was that the book had been signed by Louis Zamperini. He didn’t want it to get lost again because he felt it had value. After discussing the situation, Carol suggested that rather than return the book to the library which is unmonitored that we should sell it and use the money to buy more books for the library. I readily agreed since we had a replacement. As I found out later, the replacement though titled the same is a total rewrite, but at that time I did not know that.

I asked if Carol wanted me to find a bookseller or try to sell it on ebay. I had previous experience selling items on ebay. We decided to go that route. However, knowing that the movie Unbroken would be coming out in December, I suggested that we wait until the end of November when the promotionals would generate interest in Louis Zamperini.

The book was in pretty poor condition. Any value would be in the signature and possibly interest in the story as published in 1956 as this version of the book is fairly hard to find. Since it was a library copy, it had a spine label and ownership stamp. The previous owner had written his name in ink. Someone had made a crude repair of the slightly loose cover with cellophane tape strips down the spine though the cover was not detached.

My husband had doubts it would sell. I was hoping to get $100. An earlier auction of a much better condition book but unsigned had sold for $90. Praise God it sold. After expenses (shipping, insurance, ebay commission, Paypal commission) we should end up with about $122.

Today I was looking over a blog I peruse fairly often. It had a link to a story about Laura Hillenbrand, the author of Unbroken. When I read her Seabiscuit, I had learned of Hillenbrand’s chronic fatigue syndrome and how she had to work around her limitations to research and write her books. I felt some kinship to her as fibromyalgia also is poorly understood and often regarded as all in one’s head. I know how she must have felt while searching for medical answers and being unsupported by the medical profession and in her case by her family. This article states that she has an idea for another book. If her health permits, we may see something new from her in the future. She is not yet ready to disclose the topic.

The earlier articles I read about the upcoming movie, had said that director Angelina Jolie downplayed Zamperini’s conversion at a Billy Graham crusade. Devil at My Heels has a photo of Zamperini and Graham together. Louis certainly credited Billy’s part in his salvation.

Even if the movie does not display this part of the Zamperini story, it can’t ignore it completely. He went from a bitter alcoholic to a lover of God who reached out to his Japanese torturers with love and forgiveness. If you can tolerate torture descriptions, it would be a good book or movie of God’s transforming power.