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Biography & Autobiography. Politics. Nonfiction. HTML:The spectacularly dramatic memoir of a woman whose curiosity about the world led her from rural Canada to imperiled and dangerous countries on every continent, and then into fifteen months of harrowing captivity in Somalia�a story of courage, resilience, and extraordinary grace. The dramatic and redemptive memoir of a woman whose curiosity led her to the world's most beautiful and remote places, its most imperiled and perilous countries, and then into fifteen months of harrowing captivity�an exquisitely written story of courage, resilience, and grace As a child, Amanda Lindhout escaped a violent household by paging through issues of National Geographic and imagining herself in its exotic locales. At the age of nineteen, working as a cocktail waitress in Calgary, Alberta, she began saving her tips so she could travel the globe. Aspiring to understand the world and live a significant life, she backpacked through Latin America, Laos, Bangladesh, and India, and emboldened by each adventure, went on to Sudan, Syria, and Pakistan. In war-ridden Afghanistan and Iraq she carved out a fledgling career as a television reporter. And then, in August 2008, she traveled to Somalia�"the most dangerous place on earth." On her fourth day, she was abducted by a group of masked men along a dusty road. Held hostage for 460 days, Amanda converts to Islam as a survival tactic, receives "wife lessons" from one of her captors, and risks a daring escape. Moved between a series of abandoned houses in the desert, she survives on memory�every lush detail of the world she experienced in her life before captivity�and on strategy, fortitude, and hope. When she is most desperate, she visits a house in the sky, high above the woman kept in chains, in the dark, being tortured. Vivid and suspenseful, as artfully written as the finest novel, A House in the Sky is the searingly intimate story of an intrepid young woman and her search for compassion in the face of unimaginable adversity.… (more)
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Four days into her “work” in Somalia, Lindhout, and Brennan along with her, are kidnapped and held for ransom. She is brutalized in every way imaginable over the next fifteen months: starved, beaten, tortured, and raped. Having no possible way to raise the exorbitant ransom demand, her family is also terrorized –harangued and threatened almost daily by Lindhout’s Islam captors to fund their terrorist operations with Western affluence. Naturally, countless public resources are also spent by the Canadian government seeking to free her. Eventually, a deal is brokered, and both Lindhout and Brennan will live to tell their stories.
The novel was an interesting experience for me: first, it was admittedly a page turner; I just did not want to put it down. And undoubtedly, Lindhout’s determination to survive in the face of grave danger is astonishing. That said, the more I read, the less I able I was to excuse her absolute arrogant stupidity as youthful exuberance. Did she deserve what she was forced to endure in Somalia? Of course not! But I don’t think the consequences of her actions were terribly surprising. If it was a name for herself she was after, she certainly found it – at one hell of a price.
It was in Afghanistan and Iraq that she became a photojournalist which led her to ignore all warnings about the dangers of Somalia, her next stop. Only there three days when she and her friend Nigel Brennan were stopped by armed men on the side of the road and held for the 460 days as captives. What followed for her was a period of mental and physical torture including multiple incidents of rape, starvation and threats of marriage to one of the men holding her which would have guaranteed her vanishing from sight. Nigel was also abused but less severely apparently because he was a man.
The title refers to the imaginary house Amanda built in her mind to which she fled while she was being tortured. A powerful book which again demonstrates the evil man will do to another human to gain power of financial reward.
Amanda Lindhout is from Alberta, Canada. As a young child living in a turbulent household, she collected and cashed in bottles. And what did she spend her money on? Old National Geographic
At nineteen she has saved enough money from waitressing to make those dreams a reality. Her first trip abroad is to Venezuela.
"I had seen this place in the magazine, and now we were here, lost in it. It was a small truth affirmed. And it was all I needed to keep going."
Lindhout repeats the cycle, earning, then travelling. She visits most of Latin America, India, Burma, Ethiopia, Syria, Pakistan, Sudan and dozens more. Her joy in exploring and experiencing new places and people is tangible. But, each trip she takes is a little further off the beaten path. And finally, she's travelling to some of the most war torn countries in the world.
In Kabul, Afghanistan she begins a career as a fledgling freelance /journalist/photojournalist - with no formal training, associations or contacts. With some success under her belt, she heads next to Baghdad, Iraq to work as a reporter for Iran's Press TV. Moving on from there she decides to head to Mogadishu, Somalia in 2008 - bigger stories might help her career take off faster. She wonders if an old flame, Nigel Brennan, an Aussie photographer wants to join her. He does.......and four days after their arrival in Somalia, they are kidnapped by insurgents from an Islamic fundamentalist group. And, they are held.... for 460 days.
"It was here, finally, that I started to believe this story would be one I'd never get to tell, that I would become an erasure, an eddy in a river pulled suddenly flat. I began to feel certain that, hidden inside Somalia, inside this unknowable and stricken place, we would never be found."
A House in the Sky is Amanda's recounting of those 460 days. She is beaten, starved, chained up, kept in the dark, raped and tortured. These are the facts.
“There are parts of my story that I may one day be able to recover and heal from, and, to whatever degree possible, forget about them and move on. But there are parts of my story that are so horrific that once they are shared, other people’s minds will keep them alive.”
How she survives is a story that had me tearing up, putting the book down and walking away from it so many times. It's a difficult read, but is such a testament to the human spirit and will.
Amanda names each of the houses they are held in - Bomb-Making House, Electric House, Tacky House and more. But it is the House in the Sky that had me freely sobbing - at the worst of times she builds a house in her mind, filled with the people she loves and the memories she treasures, the future she dreams of.
"I was safe and protected. It was where all the voices that normally tore through my head expressing fear and wishing for death went silent, until there was only one left speaking . It was a calmer, stronger voice, one that to me felt divine. It said, 'See? You are okay, Amanda. It's only your body that's suffering, and you are not your body. The rest of you is fine.' "
The journey to their release is gut-wrenching, incredibly powerful and impossible to put down. I stopped many times to look at the smiling author picture of Amanda on the back, wondering how in the world she survived. Survived and forgave. And as I turned the last page, I just sat. Sat and thought. This is a book that will stay with you, long after that last page. Read an excerpt of A House in the Sky.
Amanda Lindhout is the founder of the Global Enrichment Foundation - "a non -profit organization that supports development, aid and education initiatives in Somalia and Kenya
The memoir traces her
On her fourth day in Somalia, the pair get kidnapped and the rest of the book describes their efforts to stay alive. The memoir grows increasingly grim and difficult to read as Amanda pretends to convert to Islam, is moved from terrible houses to worse houses, and eventually falls prey to abuse, beating, rape, torture, and betrayal from her traveling companion.
Amanda survives through sheer grit and mental strength, and escaping in an imagina house in the sky. That she doesn't lose faith in humanity and even finds herself feeling compassion for her tormentors is truly remarkable.
This book will take your breath away. From an abusive household in Alberta, Canada as a child whose escape is found in old National Geographic books, Amanda has no idea how much she is learning about escaping into her mind
Amanda Lindhout's memoir is a masterpiece of how the mind can change itself whenever it needs to, how it compensates, over-rides, and deals with the worst kinds of trauma to keep lifeblood flowing. But not to get ahead of myself, first Amanda finds a way to earn enough money to finance a trip to South America. The first of many trips interspersed with coming home to work for more money. As a cocktail waitress, she has advanced through the ranks until she is in a place to earn high tips, enough to make a trip every year. This takes her to countries in South and Central America, Asia and Africa as what she considers a beginning to many more amazing places. The writing in this stage of the book is absolutely wonderful, bringing to mind all those National Geographics, while she backpacks her way through these countries, we feel we are seeing what she is seeing, experiencing what she is experiencing. She makes us feel what she is feeling, and it is consistently beautiful. Some countries like India and Pakistan she visits more than once, but then she begins to expand her horizons: Afghanistan, Iraq, Bangladesh, Ethiopia....
Between trips she turns again to cocktail waitressing, but her need to be somewhere exotic takes over every year, and each trip she gets deeper into dangerous territory. She travels fr a time with a freelance photographer, decides that next trip she wants to show the world to everyone. She becomes a freelance photojournalist, occasionally selling photos and stories to various papers and magazines. She has teamed up with Nigel, another freelance photographer, an Australian. When she decides to head into war zones, she asks him to join her and he semi-reluctantly does. Here the book shifts dramatically. It is 2008 and she has chosen to go into Somalia.
Once in Somalia, known as the 'most dangerous country in the world,' everything changes. Although at first she and Nigel are enjoying the relatively 'safe' city of Mogadishu, on the fourth day she, Nigel, and their drivers are abducted by extremist Muslims. Assuming that all North Americans are rich, their abductors set an impossibly high ransom, which their parents are unable to even come near to paying and their respective governments have no intention of paying. Thus begins their ordeal which will last for 463 days of captivity and isolation. Kept in one room at first, they pretend they want to convert to Islam as a way of staying alive. They are visited sometimes by their captors wanting to learn English, and to teach them the Koran.
As time goes by and their captors' demands are not met, they are moved from house to house, always in the dark. Nigel and Amanda escape from one of the houses and are recaptured. From that point on, the two are completely separated and are shackled; Amanda gets the brunt of punishment as a woman, which includes rape, beatings and torture but she is able to separate herself in her mind from what is happening, a product of her childhood days. She is kept in complete darkness, later she is also bound and gagged. As fever takes over, beatings and rape continue almost daily but she is now living in her mind and guided by a calmness brought on by what seems to be a voice and is able to use different approaches to this separation of her being and her mind. Her mind's eye sees a beautiful house, one that she constructs room by room, floor by floor, until it reaches the sky. A focus for survival.
When finally rescued, neither Amanda nor Nigel are able to comprehend the fact that they are free. They can't comprehend that the food they are given is meant for them, they are fearful it will be taken away or they will be beaten. Both are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and it will take a long time to learn how to handle that. It may never be gone. But Amanda has built that inner strength from her ordeals and although the fear is always with her, she becomes forgiving of many things, including forgiving herself.
In the Epilogue, we learn that she founds a non-profit organization, the Global Enrichment Foundation to help provide and support education in Somalia, and partnering with other groups, funding scholarships to thirty-six Somalian women attending university, among other projects. This book is gut-wrenchingly real, powerful, and well-written; although the memories and fears of the atrocities are obviously very much a part of her, she has chosen to move on with her life in a positive way.
The first 140 odd pages details what a grossly naive person Amanda
The biggest problem for me regarding this book was that after awhile I just didn't care about her or her ex boyfriend's ordeal. If she had a reason to be in Somalia like she was with the UN or a soldier, or with an NCO, I would say she was crazy to be there, but was hopefully briefed on the risks. But because she was either grossly naive and or ignorant, for me did not make this book worth the time I spent reading it.
I think this is one of the hardest reviews I have ever had to write. How do you critique someones harrowing life story when you have no writing ability, and have not been through anything even closely related. This fiercely strong women has opened her heart and showed her pain and
Amanda, I admire you and at the same time wish I had the power to make the rest of your life blessed to overcome the violence you faced. Your strength of will and of character is to be admired and your courage and ability to forgive is something we should all strive for. You give me hope for the future. I am so sorry when we met that I knew nothing of your past. I would like to go back in time and just hug you - I know that isn't much, but I am not a hugger by nature if that means anything.
deeply personal
no holds barred
Inspirational
Couldn't put this down
Never a moment of poor me - she speaks frankly about her background and her ordeal, without ever putting blame on anyone
Haunting - this book is still with me eventhough I finished it early June
Fascinating and informative
Inspirational
Hope and Forgiveness are the main messages she want to get through to the world
Takes what happened to her, and instead of letting it take hold and bring her down, uses it to try to bring around change and to help this from happening to others
SPOILER - The chapter dealing with her attempted escape sickens me. However, the sheer courage of one of those involved who tried to help does a least give me a little hope but at the same time breaks my heart for her probable fate
This will win awards my friends. The collaboration between Ms Lindhout and Ms Corbett is seamless and perfect
The Not So Good Stuff
Had to find something to put here - would have liked to know more about Amanda's life since the ordeal
Cover is sorta blah (not sure if that will change for finished product)
This is hard for me to say, but I have to be honest, whenever I read tales like this it makes me think even more poorly about that part of the world, and this makes me feel horrible. I am the type of person who wants to believe that there is good in everyone. I truly don't understand how someone who believes in a God, can treat a fellow person this way and than think that a God would not only approve, but reward them for it.
Favorite Quotes Passages
"It was as if we were poise at the edge of a witch's cauldron or sat at the prow of a great ship in the center of an otherworldly ocean. I had seen this place in the magazine, and now we were here, lost in it. It was a small truth affirmed. And it was all I needed to keep going."
"The Kuchis reminded me a little bit of the First Nations people back in Canada, independent and unintegrated and pretty much worse off for it."
"I made peace with anyone who might ever have been an enemy. I asked forgiveness for every vain or selfish thing I'd done in my life. Inside the house in the sky, all the people I loved sat down for a big holiday meal. I was safe and protected. It was where all the voices that normally tore through my head expressing fear and wishing for death were silent, until there was only one left speaking. It was a calmer, stronger voice, one that to me felt divine.
It said, See? You are okay, Amanda. It's only your body that's suffering, and you are not your body. The rest of you is fine."
"For one split second, I knew his suffering. It had assembled itself and looped through me in a rush. Its absolute clarity made me gasp. It was anguish, accrued over the brief span of his life. It was rage and helplessness. It was a little. This was the person who was hurting me. His sadness trenched beneath mine."
Who Should Shouldn't Read
This may be a difficult read for the more sensitive
Other than those who are extremely sensitive, you must read this!
5 Dewey s
I received this from the charming and fun Felicia at Simon and Schuster - thanks for the heads up Captain Awesome
Lindhout and Brennan, uninsured journalists who were once romantically involved and remained friends, were kidnapped together and held for ransom in lawless Somalia for 15 months from
Her story is horrible and heart wrenching, however it was difficult at times
But the horror of it will never leave me.
A few years later, Amanda changes careers to that of a freelance foreign journalist, those reporters who don't have the luxury of a large team behind them for translation, security, and safe housing among other essentials working in areas such as the Middle-East. She gets a bit cocky about her personal safety and takes an assignment over the border into Somalia (with an ex-lover, but good friend photographer), one of the most dangerous places on Earth for a single, white, foreign female to be traveling in. The insurgents there follow the Koran explicitly, including the way prisoners captured during a jihad may be treated. When the rebels check out their credentials and establish that the couple are not spies, they don't release them. Instead, they hold onto them to gain a multi-million dollar ransom, while Amanda and Nigel struggle to stay alive in their primitive holding rooms. However, the rebels and prisoners alike are disturbed to find out that Canada and Australia are among those countries that will not negotiate ransom for prisoners. What ensues next is an unbelievable true story of courage, inspiration, and a will to survive against all odds.
It's hard to say you love a book that is so full of angst, sorrow, and the instinct to hold onto each day as it comes, no matter what. It sounds almost disrespectful to "enjoy" such a story, but I will say I did. It has been such a long time since a storyline grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go. I had to keep reading, and when I couldn't get to it, I would think about it. I would lie in bed and think about what was going on with Amanda and Nigel as if I knew them personally and had to worry about them. Of course you know Amanda survives; she wrote this book three years later. The years of dictating her story to her writing partner dredged up painful memories, but while she continues her treatment for PTSD and physical ailments, she incredibly decided to give back and help poor people in other countries, specifically females who don't get a fair chance for education or don't have a physical school to attend.
This is one of those books that make you ask yourself "What would I do in these circumstances?" I'm pretty sure I would not have lasted being captive for any length of time and, if I did last, I'm pretty sure I would be mentally traumatized for the rest of my life. Lindhout has had treatment for Post-traumatic Stress but in the interviews I have seen of her she seems to be centered and focused on bringing something good out of this horrific experience.
to be lacking in common sense and the need for self-preservation. The part of the book that moved me most was actually thinking about it from her mother's point of view. I am trying to use that to be wiser about my own choices by asking myself how I would feel if one of my kids did ----
The first 140 odd pages details what a grossly naive person Amanda
The biggest problem for me regarding this book was that after awhile I just didn't care about her or her ex boyfriend's ordeal. If she had a reason to be in Somalia like she was with the UN or a soldier, or with an NCO, I would say she was crazy to be there, but was hopefully briefed on the risks. But because she was either grossly naive and or ignorant, for me did not make this book worth the time I spent reading it.
In 2008, Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout travelled to Somalia with Australian photographer, Nigel Brennen. While there, they (along with 3 Somalian escorts) were kidnapped and held for ransom. Amanda and Nigel were held for over a year before their families, with the help of a
Amanda not only tells her story in the book; she narrates the audio. As the book was coming close to the end, I marveled that she was not only able to write her story, but she is able to narrate it! The book started a bit slower, as she told of her life growing up in Alberta, Canada (fairly local to me!), before she caught the “travel bug” and she wanted to travel all over. She tells stories of some of the places she travelled before deciding to head into Somalia to hopefully write a story to “make” her career. But, the pace of the book just picks up more and more as the book goes on.
At the start of the book, I was ready to give it 3.5 stars, but it quickly went up to 4 stars. At the end I might have given 4.5 stars, but I wanted to take the entire book in account for my rating and settled on 4.25, as I feel like it does deserve higher than 4.