Book Review: A House in the Sky

I knew nothing about this book before I spotted it in a book store and the cover caught my eye. A House in the Sky is a memoir by Amanda Lindhout. In this memoir, Amanda recounts the 460 days she spent in captivity and the circumstances leading to her capture. She loved traveling the world, and would spend months saving money, and then months traveling. She found occasional work as an amateur photo journalist. During one of her trips, she was kidnapped by a group of religious extremists, along with Nigel Brennan.

This is not an easy book to read. As a woman kept in captivity by terrorists, she endures horrible torture and tragedy. Her story speaks of the resiliency of people in extreme situations, but it also makes one think about the circumstances that lead people to such violent action. Amanda's capture happens in Somalia, then considered the "most dangerous country on earth." Despite everything her captors put her through, in the end Amanda speaks of them with a certain amount of sympathy and understanding. Ultimately, this book is a harsh reminder of how varied life is around the world, and the degrees of suffering some people experience. It is brutal and graphic, but very educational. Nigel Brennan and his sister wrote their own account of his captivity in The Price of Life, which I haven't read.

Have you read A house in the Sky? I haven't had a chance to discuss it with anyone else yet, so I'd love to hear your thoughts.