Unbroken

 

Today's review is of the 2014 movie, Unbroken. It's based on the 2010 book of the same name by Laura Hillenbrand.

Louis Zamperini is a troubled Italian-American youth. Things look up, though, when he discovers a talent for running- and he would ultimately compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. When America enters World War II, he joins the Army and becomes a bombadier. Their plane would crash on a search-and-rescue mission over the Pacific. He and a crew member would survive adrift at sea for 47 days before being captured by the Japanese and spending the remainder of the war in various prison camps, often mistreated especially by one prison guard known as "the Bird." Remember his brother's encouragement from youth- "you must take it to make it"- Louis pushes through and survives . . . unbroken. He would be freed after the war, return to America, and eventually dedicate his life to God, as he once promised to do.

The book was outstanding (I read it shortly after its release); the movie was okay. It remained true to the spirit (and much of the letter) of the book, but it didn't grab me emotionally like it should. I think it's hard to convey this type of story through film. How do you condense such unbelievable endurance- shown over years- into a 2-hour film? It's not easy.

The Rotten Tomatoes review that resonated the most with me:

Unbroken doesn't penetrate the surface of emotions, remaining a slightly detached, albeit respectful, representation of a potentially touching and inspiring true story. - Udita Jhunjhunwala

Read the book!

Rating: B-

Murder on the Orient Express

 

Murder on the Orient Express is the 2017 film adaptation of the 1934 Agatha Christie novel (which I read years ago and review here). 

Murder! Famous detective Hercule Poirot is on the train from Istanbul to London when a passenger gets killed in the Balkans. Trapped by a snowfall, all are stuck in the mountains with the murderer still on the train . . . Poirot uses his standard techniques to work out "whodunnit" . . . and all is not as it seems.

The book was excellent; I enjoyed this movie, too. A star-studded cast performed admirably in this adaptation. The cinematography and music were well done. It wasn't perfect- it didn't feel quite as suspenseful as the book- but it was good.

Rating: A-

Storm of Steel (Ernst Jünger)

 

German Lieutenant Ernst Jünger fought all of World War I on the front lines of the western front in northern France (near Cambrai). Storm of Steel is his famous account of the fighting, produced from the journal(s) he kept throughout the conflict. Trench warfare, gas attacks, the fog of war, resting in towns (most of which would be reduce to rubble), the shocking amount of destruction . . . it's all here.

This book is straightforward and matter-of-fact. There are few observations on war, reflections on the horrors, etc. Jünger simply tells what happened, and leaves the reader to contemplate it all. It sounded horrible. But we need to read things like this. We need to remember.

Rating: A

Pandemic Reads

Citizens of Tournai bury their plague dead, Pierart dou Tielt (c. 1353); image from here

I'm tired. Are you tired? Pandemic fatigue has hit me hard. It's been eight months of lockdowns of various degrees here in Germany, and the economy minister just announced we should expect at least 4-5 months more of the same. At least. Ugh.

For us, the difficulty is one of duration and not severity. Thankfully, we've all been healthy, maintained employment, and have everything we need. The disappointments (canceled visits, events, and vacations) are mostly minor, though I dearly miss (and desperately need) fellowship with friends, family, and church. But there's no end in site (despite recent vaccine breakthroughs)- we must adjust expectations. Turning that calendar to 2021 will not magically cure things. It will be months, and could be years, before we're back to 'normal.' 

In difficult times, I've found great benefit in reading about the hardships of others. I don't think it's schadenfreude, that German expression that so accurately captures our human tendency to rejoice in another's suffering. Rather, I believe (or, at least, I hope) that it is taking comfort in knowing that I'm not alone. We're not alone. Others throughout history (and today) have suffered far more, lost far more, endured far more, and overcome far more. And our sovereign God can and does use even these dreadful experiences for the good. With that in mind, below I present books that may be oddly encouraging to you during this pandemic. Presented in no particular order.

Plague

In one plague, read about another. The following works are about the Bubonic plague, which ravaged Europe (and the world) on and off for over 300 years.

A Distant  Mirror (Barbara Tuchman)

Barbara Tuchman is a master. Enjoy her prose as she walks you through the 14th century, including a short (but very well done) section on the 1350's Black Plague.

Journal of the Plague Year (Daniel Defoe)

A journal covering the 1666 plague in London, including insights into man's behavior in such times, and the secondary effects of plague on society. 

The Black Death (Philip Ziegler) 

From 1347-50, about one-third of Europeans were killed by the Black Death. Its origins, nature, and consequences (economic, social, religious, and other) are discussed here. 

Eyam: Plague Village (David Paul)

Another account of the 1660s plague, this time focusing on a tiny town in England's Peak district which made the bold decision of quarantining themselves (the entire village) to protect their neighbors.

Religion

Hardship of all kinds turns our hearts to religious matters. Why does God allow suffering? Evil? Pandemics? The following works investigate the nature of this broken existence.

The Problem of Pain (C.S. Lewis)

The great C.S. Lewis investigates a topic of much consternation among believers and non alike- why does a good God allow pain? He discusses the different kinds of pain, Heaven, Hell, and a variety of related topics here.

Not the Way It's Supposed to Be (Cornelius Plantinga)

The world is broken, and that's not God's fault- it's ours (sin entered the world through Adam & Eve).

Fallen: A Theology of Sin (Christopher Morgan, editor)

"The human phenomenon bears witness that something is wrong- with the world, with us, and with me." Similar to the previous entry, this book looks at man's fall and why it matters.

Extravagant Grace (Barbara Duguid)

The essence of Christianity: we cannot act on our own, we cannot earn anything good, we deserve condemnation, and nothing we do can change that. Thankfully, God changed the game for us. He acted without our consent or desire to draw us out of the abyss- and He did so without any action of any kind on our part. We are utterly dependent upon Him at all times. Even our faith in Him is a gift from Him. Learn more about this extravagant grace, our ultimate hope in a fallen world.

Hardship

Endurance (Alfred Lansing)

Trapped in the Antarctic ice in 1914, this is a harrowing tale of resilience and hope in the midst of all manners of perils. Astounding read.

Night (Elie Wiesel)

This is a raw and profoundly sad read about the author's experience in a concentration camp.

The Hiding Place (Corrie Ten Boom)

A Christian house dedicates themselves to hiding Jews from the Nazis in the Netherlands.

Unbroken (Laura Hillenbrand)

The incredible story of Louis Zamperini as he endures all manner of horror as a WWII POW.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (Dee Brown)

The heartbreaking story of the American West, told from Native American eyes.

War

Can anything on Earth be worse than war? Visit my page on top 10 war books and ponder the harrowing accounts that remind us just how dreadful we can be to each other- and how heroes will rise to the task.

The Wheel of Time, Halfway Through

The Eye of the World Cover Art, from here 

The Wheel of Time is a 14-book epic fantasy series that was on my list for a long time. A friend gifted me the first nine books, so I've been making my way through them over the past year, having just finished book seven this week. Here are these first seven volumes, with links to my reviews and ratings for each:

The Eye of the World- A

The Great Hunt- A

The Dragon Reborn- A

The Shadow Rising- A-

The Fires of Heaven- A-

Lord of Chaos- B+

A Crown of Swords- B+

My ratings indicate a mild but steady downward slope in quality. The first three were the best, and also the fastest-moving. The pacing has slowed and become uneven in the last four (I was warned this would happen). That said, I'm still enjoying the series, and even after 5,921 pages, I look forward to seeing how the remaining story will unfold (and I'm told the pace picks up again).

At a high level, here is the good and bad of the series.

Good:

• Compelling story
• Interesting characters with differing abilities or strengths
• Nice world/history development, with intriguing elements and the impression of depth I find so appealing
• Balanced power struggles and mysterious motives within and between the 'good guys' and 'bad guys'
• Multiple perspectives revealing the faults, doubts and internal struggles of the main characters (even some evil ones)
• No graphic depictions of sex, violence, and language
• Limited knowledge. The characters (good and bad) don't know about events outside their immediate situation, and act with the best knowledge they have. I like that- some novels have heroes whose intuition is suspicuously complete and correct. You don't have that here.

Bad:

• Uneven story/character development (in the last four books).
• The story can 'plod along' for hundreds of pages, then have rapid plot progression appear out of nowhere. 
• Over-reliance on certain focus and phrases. I've gotten used to it, but it's mildly annoying that Jordan always focuses on the same aspects of clothing, same descriptions of characters, same phrases to describe certain things, etc. 
• Sheer number of characters combined with inadequate appendices to keep track of them all
• The appendix in each book is appreciated but not updated- nobody I looked up was in there. The main characters have entries, but they're the least necessary.
• Difficulty in understanding "the One Power" and the limits of those who use it. This is similar to the problem I have with the Force in Star Wars. The power-wielding characters alternate between shockingly strong abilities and standard weaknesses. They can move mountains, then get easily surprised or overpowered. It seems inconsistent.

Final thoughts:

All things considered, this is a fun series. I read an installment every ten books or so, so my retention from one to the next isn't always the best, but the Internet can help fill in the blanks (like this refresher site). At my current pace, I'd finish in early 2022.

A Crown of Swords (Robert Jordan)

 

The Wheel of Time saga continues!  Soon after Lord of Chaos . . .

Fresh from escaping Aes Sedai clutches, Rand imprisons the offending sisters under the watchful eye of Aiel Wise Ones. With Min and Perrin, he returns to Cairhein to set some nobles straight and ponder his next moves against Sammael and his stronghold in Illian. Moves that may prove fatal . . .

Mat is with Elayne, Aviendha and Nynaeve in Ebou Dar, searching for the Bowl of Winds- a powerful object that will allow them to control the weather and bring relief to the blighted land. But sinister forces are on their tail- forces that might be too strong to overcome . . .

Morgase, Elayne's mother, is held captive by the Children of the Light. But a surprise attack from a familiar enemy will turn the tide- but in which direction?

Perrin and crew leave Rand to journey to who-knows-where, while Elaida broods in the White Tower as her plans seemingly come to naught. All while the Forsaken, Sammael, pulls strings in many camps to get his way . . .

--------------------

Much like the last volume, the first part of this was slow. Then it sped up a good deal. The uneven pacing in story and character development continue to irk me, but I got through this one much faster than last. Halfway through the 14-books series!

Rating: B+

Following the Leader

image from here

 

Five years ago, I blogged about my struggles as a leader. Was I a good leader? How did I know? My people were capable and easily able to perform their functions without my guidance. Our team's goals were clear . . . so what was my job, other than helping them with administrative matters and protecting them from distraction or dysfunction? As I said then, leadership is humbling, messy, lonely, and difficult to gauge effectiveness. I knew leaders were necessary, but I was trying to articulate how and why. The past few weeks have given me new insight.

In a nutshell, leaders are important because people follow them. The above image, taken from Disney's Peter Pan, is while they're singing 

Following the leader, the leader, the leader
We're following the leader

Wherever he may go

I've had that stuck in my head for the last week. We follow leaders- wherever they go. If the leader demonstrates character, people will emulate. If the leader demonstrates true concern for others, so will the followers. If the leader is fair and just, so go the people. But if the leader spouts nonsense, the followers will, too. If the leader (say) makes outrageous or unfounded claims, the people will parrot it. And if the leader goes off a cliff . . . many will go with him.

We've seen it many times in history- people follow the leader, for better or worse. It highlights the importance of a leader's character. Character matters tremendously. In the recent election, some (many?) were displeased with both major candidates, and thus focused on platforms while ignoring character. That can be disastrous. Character is important- because people emulate the character of their leaders. And character, in a way, is policy, as it shows what a leader truly believes through how they behave. Both behavior and belief matter. 

The Bible demonstrates this often. To the Christian, Jesus is our ultimate leader- the head of the body. In the Bible, it's clear that Christians are to be followers of, and not just believers in, Jesus. Even the demons believe in God, and so Christians are commanded to show their allegiance to the Lord through their conduct (see James 2:19-20). Consider the many times Jesus told people to follow Him (just a handful shown below):

Matthew 16:24: Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 

Matthew 19:21: Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

John 10:27: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

John 8:12: Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 12:26: If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

John 21:21-22: When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”

Following Jesus means obeying and emulating Him. Belief and behavior. In Romans, after Paul spends eleven chapters explaining what the Christian must believe, he turns to application- how they must behave as a result- and opens with this:

Romans 12:1: I appeal to you therefore, brothers,by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Why? Because Jesus, too, was a sacrifice (see 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 and Mark 10:45). And we are to follow Him, being holy as He is (1 Peter 1:15-16). And not only was he a sacrifice, but he is fully God and fully man, made like us in every respect so He knows our temptations (see Hebrews 2:17-18 and 4:14-15). The perfect leader- he life demonstrated perfect obedience, perfect love, and perfect identification with the difficulties His followers face. May the Christian always follow Him above all else.

Here's the point: we follow leaders- we imitate their conduct. We are called to submit to authorities in this world, both governing authorities (see Romans 13) and church authorities (see Hebrews 13)- unless they contradict the commands of God ("We must obey God rather than men."- Acts 5:29b). We follow Jesus above all else, but we also follow earthly leaders. So as we submit to various earthly authorities, let us be mindful of whom we follow- for we will start to defend and imitate their qualities, for better or worse.

Azul

 

Today's review is of the 2017 release, Azul. For 2-4 players, it takes 30-45 minutes.

Overview

You are a tile-laying artist, charged by the Portuguese King to decorate the palace along the lines of the Moorish Alhambra. On your turn, you'll choose all tiles of the same style from either a factory [4 tiles in each to start] or the center [when tiles are picked from a factory, those not chosen go to the center]. You'll use these tiles to fill your board on the left-hand side rows; when all tiles from both factory and center are gone, you'll populate the right-hand side (where the rows require one of each type of tile) with one tile from your left-hand row (if that row is full), placing it in the appropriate square, then scoring points based on how many are adjacent. After all tiles have been placed, remaining tiles in formerly-full rows are emptied (partial rows carry over to the next round) and a new round begins. The game ends when one player has completely finished one row on the right-hand side. Final scoring is done, and highest tally wins!

Game in progress; image from here

Review

Simple to learn but difficult to master, this is a great game. I'd have to play it a few more times to better understand solid strategies (my 5-year-old was able to play and be competitive, by luck), but this one is a winner.

Rating: A

Ring of the Nibelung

 

Today's review is of the 2019 release, Ring of the Nibelung. For 2-5 players, it takes 20 minutes.

Overview

You are a great lord in the Norse legends (as portrayed by Richard Wagner's opera), trying to acquire wealth and- above all- the ring, which brings great power- but comes with a terrible curse. 

On your turn, you draw a card from the character deck (if able- your hand limit is two), play a character card to your great hall (if able- your character limit is six), activate a passive ability on your newly-played character (if they have one), then activate one active ability on one of your in-play characters. (Active abilities allow you to gain more treasure or characters, or make opponents lose them, among other things.) Then, if you have the ring- draw a treasure. If you don't have the ring, check to see if you have more influence than the player who does. If so, you get the ring, draw a treasure, and the losing player discards a character from their great hall and a treasure.

If you draw a Ragnarok card from the character deck, you  must discard a character from your great hall and a treasure, and your turn is over immediately. If it's the third Ragnarok card drawn, the game immediately ends and points (on characters and treasure) are tallied. Highest wins!

Some cards; image from here

Review

The penalties for losing the ring (discarding both a character and treasure) were so significant that this ended up feeling like a card game version of 'hot potato,' where the person who had the ring when the third ragnarok card was drawn was likely to win. It was okay, but not great. The abilities- enabling to steal other characters, discard them, gain treasure, etc.- were interesting, but the resulting back-and-forth felt like meaningful decisions were minimized. You knew you'd get characters and gold- and you knew you'd lose them. So you discarded your less valuable characters or your lesser treasures (when you had a choice) and hoped for the best. 

Rating: C+

Prince Caspian (C.S. Lewis)

Generations after The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe . . . Prince Caspian is a Telmarine and the rightful ruler of Narnia, but his evil Uncle Miraz has claimed the title for himself after murdering Caspian's father. Fleeing for his life, Caspian encounters the stuff of legends: talking animals, the ancient (and original) inhabitants of the land! They agree to help him go against his uncle, but it's clear more help is needed. Blowing a horn of legend, they hope to summon Kings Peter and Edmund, and Queens Susan and Lucy, to join the fight- and hope for Aslan, king of the world, to join them. But will they come? And will it be enough?

I first reviewed this in 2016 (here); I'm reviewing it again because the passage of four years (and reading it out loud to my kids) has given me a different take on the story. I still enjoyed it, but not quite as much as I did last time. It's good, not great. Some elements of wisdom, fun characters, etc., but not as profound or interesting as the first-published release in the series. Looking back on my thoughts on the entire series (here), I agreed then that it wasn't in the top half of the seven books (placing it fifth of seven); I wonder how I'll feel about the others now.

Rating: B