Unbroken: Part I

by Laura Hillenbrand
Laura Hillenbrand recounts the tumultuous and amazingly true story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who, after surviving 40 days adrift at sea, became a prisoner of war in Japan during World War II.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. avuncular
    resembling an uncle in kindness or indulgence
    Pete Zamperini was handsome, popular, impeccably groomed, polite to elders and avuncular to juniors, silky smooth with girls, and blessed with such sound judgment that even when he was a child, his parents consulted him on difficult decisions.
  2. galling
    causing irritation or annoyance
    Sylvia would recall her mother tearfully telling Louie how she wished he could be more like Pete. What made it more galling was that Pete’s reputation was part myth.
  3. obstreperous
    noisily and stubbornly defiant
    Though he could be a sweet boy, he was often short-tempered and obstreperous.
  4. surreptitious
    conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods
    Knowing that punishing Louie would only provoke his defiance, Louise took a surreptitious route toward reforming him.
  5. cull
    remove something that has been rejected
    Louie was never more than an inch from juvenile hall or jail, and as a serial troublemaker, a failing student, and a suspect Italian, he was just the sort of rogue that eugenicists wanted to cull.
  6. discrepancy
    a difference between conflicting facts or claims or opinions
    When basketball season began, there was an inexplicable discrepancy between the number of ten-cent tickets sold and the considerably larger number of kids in the bleachers.
  7. incipient
    only partly in existence; imperfectly formed
    Looking at Louie, whose getaway speed was his saving grace, Pete thought he saw the same incipient talent.
  8. constraint
    a limitation or restriction
    But to Louie, training felt like one more constraint.
  9. audacious
    disposed to venture or take risks
    Now he latched onto a wildly audacious goal: the 1936 Olympics, in Berlin.
  10. pundit
    an expert who publicly gives opinions via mass media
    Even conservative track pundits were beginning to think that Louie might be the one to shatter precedent, and after Louie won every race in his senior season, their confidence was strengthened.
  11. brash
    offensively bold
    Fearing that the suitcase made him look brash, Louie carried it out of view and covered the nickname with adhesive tape, then boarded his train.
  12. profusely
    in very large amounts or quantities; extremely
    Sweating profusely day and night, training in the sun, unable to sleep in stifling hotel rooms and YMCAs, lacking any appetite, virtually every athlete lost a huge amount of weight.
  13. culminate
    end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage
    Entering in a parade of nations and standing at attention, the athletes were treated to a thunderous show that culminated in the release of twenty thousand doves.
  14. anodyne
    not causing disapproval
    Among Louie’s friends, no one would remember what Sasaki studied at USC, but they all recalled his quiet, anodyne presence; saying almost nothing, he smiled without interruption.
  15. juggernaut
    a massive inexorable force
    On USC’s track team, Louie was a juggernaut. Focused on winning in Tokyo in 1940, he smashed record after record at multiple distances and routinely buried his competition by giant margins, once winning a race by one hundred yards.
Created on Mon May 12 17:41:44 EDT 2014 (updated Mon Jul 07 12:23:38 EDT 2025)

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