A House in the Sky: A Memoir

If you only read one memoir this year, make it A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett.

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 magazines. Amanda escaped into the pages,dreaming of one day visiting the exotic places pictured.

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 show more 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 show less

This book was incredible. I had a hard time putting it down. It was written so beautifully detailed that I could see everything in my mind, even when I didn't want to. I couldn't even attempt to put myself in her shoes, but I kept imagining what I would've done if I was her and I don't think I could ever be as strong as she was. She is a resilient human being, that's for sure. This was a shockingly sad book - it actually brought me to tears. A hard book to get through sometimes but well worth the read. One of the better books I've read in a long time. Do I think she was stupid to even go to Somalia? Of course! But NO ONE deserves to be treated like that, no matter what. This book shows how tragic women's lives are in a fundamentalist show more society (of any religion). show less

Harrowing memoir of Amanda Lindhout’s fifteen-month captivity by Somali extremists in 2008-2009. The book starts with Lindhout’s childhood in Canada and outlines how she became interested in traveling the world. It covers her early trips to South America, Guatemala, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, and her attempts to make a career in journalism. The vast majority focuses on her ordeal in Somalia. During her captivity, she endured physical torments and abuse.

She is accompanied to Somalia by photojournalist Nigel Brennan. The two paid for security and bodyguards, but despite their attempts at ensuring safety, their plans were sold to extremists, and they were captured. This is a difficult book to read in places. show more Lindhout does not shy away from disclosing the rapes and abuses she suffered but does not dwell on explicit details.

It is a well-told and engrossing read. It contains quite a bit about Islam, as the two captives asked for a copy of the Koran in order to better understand their abductors. Somehow Lindhout maintains her optimism when it would be easy to succumb to despair. The theme of forgiveness pervades the narrative. She has formed a non-profit organization to support education in Somalia.

“I choose to forgive the people who took my freedom and abused me, despite the fact that what they were doing was absolutely wrong. I choose also to forgive myself for the impact that my decision to go to Somalia had on family and friends at home. Forgiving is not an easy thing to do.…Some days I get there and other days I don’t. More than anything else, it’s what has helped me move forward with my life.” show less

(37) Wow - I devoured this book. Great book to read on vacation with long flights/airport time, etc. Amanda travelled the world instead of going to college; using high paid cocktail waitressing gigs to fund 6 months on the road to foreign places as depicted in the tattered copies of 'National Geographic' she treasured growing up in an unstable family in Alberta. She ultimately decided to be a freelance reporter based on her worldly travels and autodidactics - she went to Bagdad, and Afghanistan, and ultimately to Somalia where she was kidnapped and held for ransom in loathsome conditions for over a year. The title comes from the place in her mind she went to at the worst moments to remain sane and hopeful.

She wrote this with a show more co-author who is a NY Times writer and the narrative was excellent - compelling; lyrical; heart-wrenching. Yet, I feel she did not depict herself (Amanda) in overly rosy way. No doubt, she made some horrible decisions. And it is easy to see why the trained network reporters in War zones snubbed her. She didn't really shy away from her naiveté and frankly stupidity. It was clear she felt very guilty about many of her decisions. And her kidnappers profited!!! ...makes one so mad for the people that are actually out there doing humanitarian work and not just voyeurs. Her actions put all of those selfless people at risk. Again, she is more than that as evidenced by her post trauma non-profit work helping the Somali people. Personally, I think I would be of the mind to want to wipe them all off the map after enduring such horrors. A failed state! How can the world tolerate this. . .

Amanda made my mule ride to the bottom of the Grand Canyon seem tame in comparison. I love CURATED adventure travel; call me bougie, I don't care. I admire her strength though and the tactics she used to talk herself off the ledge. The mindfulness; the dissociation, the empathy. Truly amazing. I hope she will make a full recovery from such trauma and I am sad that she and Nigel did not remain close after facing such a trial together. It honestly is a miracle that they are alive. Highly recommended for those who like harrowing adventure memoirs that read like a novel - 'A Perfect Storm,' 'Beautiful Boy,' 'The Adventurer's Son, 'Into Thin Air, etc. show less

A House in the Sky, Amanda Lindhout’s account of her capture by Somali jihadists and of being held 460 days for ransom, is extra-ordinary in the literal sense of the word. Her book is not the fruit of a prudent decision. But I tell you, it is a tale worth her telling and our hearing.

Listen to her, afterward:
“I choose to forgive the people who took my freedom from me and abused me, despite the fact that what they were doing was absolutely wrong. I choose also to forgive myself for the impact that my decision to go to Somalia had on family and friends at home. Forgiving is not an easy thing to do. Some days it’s no more than a distant spot on the horizon. I look toward it. I point my feet in its direction. Some days I get there and show more other days I don’t. More than anything else, though, it’s what has helped me move forward with my life.”

The “abuse” of which she speaks, by the way, encompasses just about all that word can mean. show less

This is the most remarkable book I’ve read this year. I don’t know how Amanda survived or how she continues to persevere but I’m grateful that she did and that she was strong enough to share her story.

Unlike other reviewers I’m not overwhelmed with dislike of Amanda or her decision to travel to Somalia. I could relate to her in many ways. I understand her desire to see the world and her dreams of being a reporter sharing important stories from war torn ravaged countries. I find her bold adventurous spirit admirable. To say she was stupid or overly naive ignores the fact that many reporters and journalists take these risks everyday and often to great effect. I dislike how many portray her kidnapping as a forgone conclusion, an show more unavoidable reality of visiting Somalia. That simply isn’t the case especially when you consider the intended target were two Nat Geo photojournalists in the country at the same time as her and travelling on a very similar itinerary.

I also dislike how many reviews paint Amanda’s story as one of a wayward traveller who showed up on Mogadishu’s doorstep completely unprepared. That isn’t the case and in many ways her years of travelling experience, her research, and understanding of the region's culture was a vital tool in prolonging her survival.

And despite me dispensing many words on her decision why and whether she was justified in travelling to Somalia in the first place that isn’t what this book is ultimately about. Instead it is about how she found it within herself to survive the worst that humanity has to offer.

Sara Corbett did an excellent job in taking such traumatic events and weaving them so deftly into a novel and a story of survival. I thought many of the more awful parts of Amanda’s story (the sexual abuse, the torture) were dealt with very sensitively without stripping away any of the impact. It felt as though Amanda was as honest as she could be while still being respectful of the other parties involved.

This novel does a wonderful job of showing you the most awful of humanity (how easily one can be corrupted) juxtaposed with the brute strength of the individual human spirit. Amanda Lindhout shows us what is means to be made of the toughest stuff in the whole entire universe. show less

Because it is a memoir, I knew that she lived to tell the tale. Despite the cerebral understanding that she is alive today, I was nonetheless beside myself with anxiety reading her tale of capture, torture, and rescue. The title of the novel refers to a mental space she cleared for herself in order to withstand the trauma her every waking moment held during the nearly a year and a half she was held in captivity. A House in the Sky, a far-away place with staircase upon staircase revealing spacious, well-lit rooms with books, coffee, cats, and warm blankets. A House where she could escape from the harrowing reality of being the captive of Fundamentalist Muslim Somalians.
There is a section of the book where the author is kept in absolute show more darkness. The writing in this section is not only impeccable but the ways Amanda kept herself sane are nothing short of miraculous. Listen to this:
"My mattress floated like a raft in the middle of a black ocean. The darkness surrounding me had substance. It had weight. It was thick like tar, catching in my throat and gumming up my lungs. I had to coach myself how to breathe it. There were moments when the darkness seemed aggressive, like it was trying to swallow me. I'd hold a hand in front of my face and see nothing. I fanned my arms, attempting to create wind, to exert some power over the dark. Sometimes I pressed the hallow at the base of my neck, just to remind myself that I was solid."
Whew...this is just one of the many moments where Amanda struggles so hard against the reality. I bought this book because I love memoirs and the number of high starred reviews was crazy impressive for a memoir. I downloaded it without even reading what it was about. I'm grateful that Amanda survived and shared such an incredible tale of survival with the world. show less