The good and the not so good

July 20, 2011

I’m just about 50 pages into The Pacific and I’m wondering if I should bail. It is touted as the companion to the series (which I watched the first episode of, and didn’t continue, but might consider taking it up again) and written by Hugh Ambrose, the son of Band of Brothers writer Stephen Ambrose.

The problem with the book, which focuses on several men fighting in the Pacific front of WWII, is that I’m reading it hot on the tail of Lauren Hillenbrand’s Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. And Hillenbrand is an absolute gem of a non-fiction writer. Seabiscuit was a stunning read, as is Unbroken. I’ve begun to realize that a mark of a good non-fiction book in my view, is when I turn to the husband and feed him interesting bits and bobs from the book. In the case of Unbroken, he even began asking me where the story was at, what had happened to the main character. For it is that kind of story. A bold, brave, and just wonderfully written book.

Louie Zamperini’s life story is an incredible one. The pranks he pulled as a kid, as an adult. The way he makes it to the Berlin Olympics. And of course his amazing record-breaking 47 days on board a life raft with his pal, surrounded by sharks, having to figure out how to get water and food (albatross anyone?), trying their desperate best to survive, only to be captured by the Japanese. Another big part of the story is Zamperini’s – and the other POWs’ – struggles in the Japanese POW camps. The word ‘incredible’ keeps going around and around in my head. Because this is a truly incredible story of heroism, of bravery, of determination, of such cruelty, such sadistic cruelty.

Besides the amazing-enough story, there is also Hillenbrand’s fantastic writing. She knows just when to throw in great quotes, and it is obvious that her research is thorough and extensive. Unbroken is probably one of the best non-fiction books I’ve read.

The same cannot be said for The Pacific, which is quite a struggle to read. It seems to plod along – and this is despite a rather interesting plot in itself. There is little use of dialogue and quotes, and when there are quotes, they add nothing to the rhythm of the book, which is rather monotonous. Like I said, plodding. I really don’t remember Band of Brothers (the book) to be that way.

Another non-fiction book I ‘returned’ (like these two books, this was an Overdrive library e-book) was Norah Vincent’s Self-made Man. Now this was a great idea. A woman disguise herself as a man, to see how differently she is treated, more or less. But the first chapter just wasn’t propelling me towards reading more (or even finishing the chapter). She/he joins a bowling league and pretty much notes down what the rest of the guys say during the game. It just wasn’t doing anything for me and I decided it was enough. Maybe the rest of the book was more interesting? Let me know if you read it and thought otherwise.

Anyway, reality has finally hit. My MIL has headed home to Singapore after nearly three months with us (my parents stayed with us for wee reader’s first three weeks – he was 8 days overdue). And I’m typing this while he’s down for his nap (Finally!). I foresee that posting will be even more sporadic now that it’s just me holding fort!

Have you read any great non-fiction recently? I’m always eager for recommendations!

Written by olduvai Posted in Books, E-books, Non-fiction, Reading, review Tagged with books, Laura Hillenbrand, reading