Unshaken by Dan Woolley

Title: Unshaken: Rising from the Ruin’s of Haiti’s Hotel Montana
Author: Dan Woolley with Jennifer Schuchmann
Released: December 21, 2010
Publisher: Zondervan
Pages/format: 240 (Hardcover)
Source: From the publisher.

Quick Synopsis: In a harrowing story of survival, Dan Woolley recounts the nearly three days he spent trapped beneath the rubble of Haiti’s Hotel Montana following the 7.0 earthquake.

From the back cover:

Reporters around the world have told Dan Woolley’s story of being trapped for three days after Haiti’s devastating earthquake. They focused on how he used his iPhone to survive injuries to his head and leg. They showed pictures of the bloody journal where he wrote notes for his wife and sons. But the reporters missed the real story.

While trying to survive physically, Woolley realized he was dying spiritually. A Christian since childhood, Woolley had allowed his faith and marriage to weaken in the  busyness of life. His entrapment forced him to think about the only thing that mattered: Was he ready to die?

In Unshaken, Woolley tells the story of how he learned to trust in a real God, a good God, and a God who cares for a broken world. The book includes color photographs and the heartrending reflections of Woolley’s wife. Readers will learn new truths from Woolley’s themes of spiritual and marital renewal, his key insights into international relief, and his hard-won reminder to embrace every opportunity God gives.

Quick Review: Unshaken is an exciting and fast-paced narrative which is sure to be a hit with survival buffs, believers, and gadget geeks alike.

Long Review:

Unshaken is a fast-paced narrative divided into thirty-one short chapters which cover Woolley’s experience from the morning of the day the earthquake struck to his reunion with his wife in a Miami hospital three days later. The story is told primarily from Dan’s perspective, with a couple of chapters and sections towards the end of the book written by his wife, Christy. Interspersed throughout the narrative are chapters in which Woolley recounts the early years of his marriage which were shrouded in the darkness of Christy’s at-times suicidal depression.

Though I would expect a detailed report of three days spent in an elevator to become tedious (life-threatening injuries or not), I found myself being swept along in the current of the story at a breakneck speed. In fact it only took me two days to read the whole book, which is extremely fast for me, a slow-paced reader by preference. I think that the short chapters helped to keep the flow of the story moving quickly. As a fellow viewer of educational survival shows, I also appreciated Woolley’s reference to Bear Grylls, whose program Man vs. Wild inspired him to utilize survival methods he may not have otherwise known about.

My favorite chapters were those in which Woolley recounts Christy’s years of debilitating depression. I was impressed with her tenacity and ability to weather the long years of emotional and spiritual darkness. Whether intended or not, I think Christy’s story will serve to educate Christians on the severity of depression as a physical disease and promote a more compassionate response to it in the church community where too often legitimate chemical imbalances are misinterpreted as laziness or an excuse to escape responsibility.

I did not find the writing itself to be particularly eloquent, and there were a few places where it was repetitive. (The repetitiveness may have been corrected before the final printing. See the note at the bottom of this post.) There were no glaring errors that I noticed which broke the flow of the story. I think that the photo section in the middle of the book adds greatly to the narrative and gives the reader a better idea of what Woolley went through. The cover is attractively designed and the formatting of the book is likewise commendable.

Overall, I found Unshaken to be an encouraging, inspiring, and hair-raising tale that is definitely worth taking the time to read.

About Dan Woolley:

Dan Woolley is a web designer for Compassion International, and creator of the website MyKidsWeek.com. He has a BA in English from Azuza Pacific University, and has published in his University and church publications. His experience in Haiti has received much media attention, and he has appeared on the Today Show, NBC Nightly News, Inside Edition, and Larry King Live. He and his wife, Christy, have two sons, Josh and Nathan.

About Jennifer Schuchmann:

Jennifer Schuchmann is the author of numerous books, including First Things First by Kurt and Brenda Warner, and is the host of the television program Right Now with Jennifer Schuchmann. She holds an MBA from Emory University, and has an extensive public speaking background. She and her husband, David, have one son, Jordan.

Related Links:
Purchase a copy of Unshaken.
Purchase a signed copy of Unshaken.
Read the first three chapters of Unshaken.

Note: My review of the text is based on an uncorrected proof. The final hardcover book was consulted  so that I could comment on the formatting and photo section, and to verify quotes.