Unbroken

The first book I'm reading this year is Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. What a read!

I would have liked this book in any event. It's written clearly (pure heaven for a teacher of writing) and the story is jaw-droppingly good. But this book is more than just a good read. I feel like I'm learning about my dad.

Unbroken tells the story of a man's experience in a Japanese POW camp during World War II. My dad spent almost four years in a Japanese POW camp.

He never talked much about it, and I never gave it much thought. I figured everyone's dad had been a POW during the war, whether it was World War II or perhaps Korea. As a young girl, war was a fact of life, and not something I thought about much. I was far more focused on sparkly, pink nail polish, the possibility of breasts and boyfriends, and the dizzying social network that was junior high and high school.

My dad was the guy who went to the office everyday, occasionally bringing home little memo pads that said: "From the desk of Oscar Ray." He was the guy who read thick history books, laughed hysterically at I Love Lucy, and dozed off every Sunday during church. Ordinary dad things.

It never occurred to me that he'd had an extraordinary experience during World War II. But he did. Unbroken has made me understand what he went through, how horrifying it was, and what a survivor he was.

He's been gone now for many years, and I regret that I never talked to him about his experiences as a POW. I wish I'd interviewed him and written about those years. Toward the end of his life, he opened up more about the prison camp, and even went back to Wake Island for a reunion of survivors. I'm sure he would have liked to talk to me about it, perhaps to record his impressions for posterity.

Regrets don't change anything and they're not terribly helpful. But it's nice to have a glimmer of understanding about this experience that shaped my dad, and know why he's part of what's called the greatest generation.