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A House in the Sky

Amanda Lindhout (Goodreads Author),

Sara Corbett (Goodreads Author)

4.23 · Rating details · 48,401 ratings · 4,636 reviews

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 Geogr ...more

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Hardcover, Canadian, 373 pages

Published September 10th 2013 by Scribner (first published June 25th 2013)

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Oct 07, 2013 Paul rated it it was ok

I am sure I am going to get negative responses to this review but here goes. This a mediocre book at best. Yes the writing is polished but my guess is the reason for this is the co author, who writes for the New York Times Magazine.
The first 140 odd pages details what a grossly naive person Amanda Lindhout is and her narcissistic belief that she can do anything. She seems to be the one of the highest grossing waitresses on the planet without taking off her clothes, and seems to think that survi I am sure I am going to get negative responses to this review but here goes. This a mediocre book at best. Yes the writing is polished but my guess is the reason for this is the co author, who writes for the New York Times Magazine.
The first 140 odd pages details what a grossly naive person Amanda Lindhout is and her narcissistic belief that she can do anything. She seems to be the one of the highest grossing waitresses on the planet without taking off her clothes, and seems to think that surviving Central and South America was justification for traveling to Pakistan, Afghanistan , and unfortunately for her ultimately Somalia. All this did for me was easily predict how her reckless behavior would end up getting her in trouble. I have seen reviews stating she got what she deserved. This assessment is grossly ignorant. Nobody deserves to be raped and tortured. The problem I had with the book is the first half is boring and as I said easy to see how the second half would play out. Having traveled to Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, and Mexico and Dubai, I have often encountered young travelers who think they can do anything with no repercussions. There is criticism the Canadian and Australian governments were less than effective is securing their release. I think people need to know that if you are going to go to countries that your government highly recommends that you don't, then if something happens to you it is not their job to help you. Other criticisms have pointed out that it seems like she purposely did this to get the fame of a once in a lifetime story, but ended up getting more than she bargained for, I doubt this is the case since it would be a great way to get killed!
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. ...more

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Aug 18, 2017 Elyse Walters rated it it was amazing

It's impossible to read this book without it weighing heavily in your thoughts.....

Amanda Lindhout, held hostage for 460 days, in Somalia, made many stupid choices: she was naïve and foolishly optimist....
yet, those same qualities about her- may have been what kept her alive!!!

Amanda is a fan of Eckhart Tolle. She mentioned reading "The Power of Now" ...which reminded her of being truly present in her own life --that it can be liberating from the past and the future -- and transform one's thinki ...more

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Apr 18, 2013 Greg rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Impossible to put down, and easily one of the bravest, most harrowing, and most inspiring memoirs you'll ever read. What Amanda went through during her 15 months of captivity in Somalia is about as close to hell on earth as anyone could get, and her story is at once many things: a remembrance of transcended origins and of lust for travel; a page-turning, ripped-from-the-headlines chronicle of a young woman's kidnapping; a portrait of the tragedy of religious fundamentalism and failed statehood a ...more

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Oct 20, 2017 Jennifer Masterson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017, audio, biography

This was another brutal book experience of 2017! I'm exhausted! I'm late to the party so there isn't much to add that hasn't been said. This is being made into a movie starring Rooney Mara so there is that. I think she's a good pic to play Amanda Lindhout. Thank you to Mark for recommending this book and for getting me an audio copy! ❤️

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Sep 03, 2013 David V. rated it liked it

Man, I don't know what to say about this one. I'd received it as an ARC from the publisher. Read it in just a few days. Saying I'm conflicted is an understatement. Yes it's the true story of a Canadian woman who, while working as a photojournalist (or at least she thinks she is), gets captured and held for ransom along with a male friend in Somalia for over a year. She's half starved, beaten and raped before she and her friend are released. It's a story of courage, inventiveness, and faith. But ...more

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Mar 02, 2016 Angela rated it it was amazing

Shelves: badass-females, 5-star-favorites, read-it-and-weep

“It was a lesson the world had already taught me and was teaching me still. You don’t know what’s possible until you actually see it.”

Amanda Lindhout, a freelance journalist, was kidnapped while traveling alongside Nigel Brennan, a freelance photojournalist, in Somalia. The two were held captive for 460 days. Where they were starved, tortured, beaten, and Amanda even raped repeatedly. A House in the Sky is Amanda Lindhouts recount of the events that took place over her year in captivity. A Hous “It was a lesson the world had already taught me and was teaching me still. You don’t know what’s possible until you actually see it.”

Amanda Lindhout, a freelance journalist, was kidnapped while traveling alongside Nigel Brennan, a freelance photojournalist, in Somalia. The two were held captive for 460 days. Where they were starved, tortured, beaten, and Amanda even raped repeatedly. A House in the Sky is Amanda Lindhouts recount of the events that took place over her year in captivity. A House in the Sky starts off with Amanda's childhood. Going into the details of her struggles of being a child of poverty. Amanda's only escape from an abusive childhood was by flipping through the pages of National Geographic and pretending to be anywhere but where she is. Vowing that when she was old enough she would save the money and nothing would stop her from traveling. In her 20s Amanda started waitresses and saving all of her funds. After saving enough she started her travels and her career as a journalist. On one of her trips she met Nigel. The two continued to keep in touch and eventually started a relationship. With a long distance relationship proving to be too much the two ended up separating. Amanda continued to travel, doing her reporting work, and continued to keep contact with Nigel. Years and many countries later Amanda found herself wanting to go to Somalia and country named as the most dangerous place on earth. Knowing there was a war going on and about the terrible danger she could face she still decided to go anyways convincing Nigel to join her. This is roughly the first 150 pages of the book. These pages at first seem unimportant and are a bit sluggish. I was having trouble connecting with Amanda and found myself seeing her as being rather naïve. I decided to push through and was very thankful I did. These pages though trivial at first end up being very important in the long run.

Four days into their trip a group of masked men ambushed their car and kidnapped Amanda, Nigel, and the three men traveling with them. At the time Amanda assumes they are just being robbed, and held for a few days, but once the kidnappers force them to call their families and demand a ransom (3 million dollars for both of them) she realizes that this isn’t going to be over with quickly. After the first 150 pages the stories starts getting into the heavy issues and reveals what happened to the two while being held. For the first five months Amanda and Nigel were able to be kept together. The two though starving and miserable, were for the most part treated “okay”. Once their captures realized that their ransom wouldn’t be paid right away things started to increasingly get worse. The two ultimately decided to convert to Islam as a play to make their captures treat them better. Though this decision was probably in their best interest, it ultimately didn’t make things much better, and the two were eventually separated and kept in separate rooms. The two come up with secret way to communicate and after they are told that the men that were taken with them are killed, they know they have to escape. The two over the next several days use nail clippers to chip away at a window in a shared bathroom. Once the two get out they run for what they hope will be freedom ultimately only having one person even attempt to help them. The two end up recaptured. The teenage kidnappers decide that Amanda, because she is a woman, is to blame for the failed escape attempt. Nigel instead of backing her up and helping her decides that since they are blaming her anyways that she should “just go ahead and take this one”.

Amanda is then locked in a windowless room with nothing more than a few useless items, and a thin mat. She is kept in the dark for weeks where she is starved, not allowed to speak, has her feet chained together, is beaten, tortured, falls ill to a bacterial fungus, and then is ultimately gang raped for her acts. She is forced to lay on her sides at all times because her captures think otherwise she might become too strong and will try to escape again. The only time she is allowed to move is when she is praying, which she eventually becomes too weak to do. Nigel is kept in a separate room with windows, books, and allowed time to go outside because he is a man. Over the next few weeks and months Amanda is continued to be tortured, raped, and one of her captures even tells her he plans on marriage her once the money has been paid. This is all happening while their capture’s continue to call their families and demand ransom, sometimes up to ten times a day. With the government refusing to help pay ransom the families eventually seek outside help hiring a specialist to help get their kids back. After 460 days and 600,000 dollars being paid the two are released back to their families.

A House in the Sky goes deep into what it is like being left alone with nothing but your own thoughts. It’s about struggling, overcoming, suffering, forgiveness, and ultimately Amanda convincing herself that if she can just push through one more day she can make it.

“See? You are okay, Amanda, It’s only your body that is suffering, and you are not your body. The rest of you is fine.”

At times this novel was hard to read and painful, but at the same time managed to take a tragic situation and make it beautiful. This story shows that the mind is a very powerful thing. A House in the Sky is one of those stories that will forever stay with me. ...more

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Apr 11, 2020 Adina rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, somalia

Review of the audiobook narrated by the Author.

A House in The Sky is the memoir of a young woman who is kidnapped in Somalia and kept captive for 15 months. We learn how she got to that war thorn place, how she was taken and how she managed to survive for all that time while being tortured, raped and starved.

I almost did not finish this novel because I deeply disliked Amanda pre-kidnap and disapproved of her stupidity, recklessness and selfish behavior. Let me elaborate. After some chapters ab Review of the audiobook narrated by the Author.

A House in The Sky is the memoir of a young woman who is kidnapped in Somalia and kept captive for 15 months. We learn how she got to that war thorn place, how she was taken and how she managed to survive for all that time while being tortured, raped and starved.

I almost did not finish this novel because I deeply disliked Amanda pre-kidnap and disapproved of her stupidity, recklessness and selfish behavior. Let me elaborate. After some chapters about her childhood we get to the part where she is working as a waitress in high end clubs in order to found her new found passion for traveling. I raised my brow to the amount of money she made only for serving drinks but whatever. I found her a bit smug from that point and her attitude seemed to continue. She began to travel more and more adventurously, first to Central America then to Middle East and reaching Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. She had some nasty experiences while she went ALONE to those places although she should know better that a woman in those countries is less than nothing and she will be treated badly. She kept saying that she was not a complete ignorant about the dangers of those countries but most of the times she behaved like an idiot. I am all for equal rights but those countries are not the place to through your fist in the air as a foreign female traveler. I could not shake the feeling that she did those trips to prove that she was more interesting and better than everybody else. The attitude persisted when she went to Afghanistan as a freelance journalist. Since the competition was too fierce and she wasn’t much liked there due to some shady career choices (and probably attitude) she decided to go somewhere where nobody went, Somalia. I wonder why? Maybe because it was one of the most dangerous places on Earth and nobody could guarantee any protection. I understand courage and need for adventure, I went to some not so safe places myself but there is a difference between being adventurous and stupid. Statistics might help to make the difference.

Although I do not think she deserved what happened to her (nobody does), I did not care too much about what happened to her at the beginning. I felt sorrier about her ex-lover Nigel who was dragged along with her. However, he did not have too much love from me either as I do not see as a quality to leave your girlfriend alone so you can travel with an ex.

Slowly, slowly I started to warm up to Amanda’s plight and to admire more and more the way she managed to survive and keep her mental health and positivism. I know I wouldn’t have made such a good job. In the end I had to admit that she proved to be a very strong woman and writing her story after all she went through is a proof to that. She was starved, raped, tortured in horrible ways, she was in pain almost all the time, kept in the dark and subjected to so many ordeals that not many would have been able to withstand.

I admired her for being able to forgive her captors and understand their side, the fact that she realized how much she made her family suffer because of her behavior. I also admired what she did after she came back, the fact that she created her own charity and she tries to help African women get an Education. Her work took her back to Somalia and I imagine how hard was for her to overcome her fears to return there.

The writing is beautiful, sometimes I felt it was too polished and it diminished some of the gravity of the events presented. Some other times the tone was just right. The narration was good and i was wondering how she could keep her composure while revising what happened to her. ...more

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Oct 24, 2013 Patricia Douglas rated it it was ok

A true story about a young Canadian woman bitten by wonderlust who ends up in war torn Somalia because she fancies herself a photo journalist. Not surprisingly she is kidnapped and held hostage for more than a year, starved, tortured and raped by her Muslim captors hoping for ransom money. I was engrossed in the book once I started because I wanted to know what happened to her and read it through to the end just to finish it and see how it ended. But, honestly, I spent more time wondering what o ...more

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Jan 19, 2014 Diane Yannick rated it it was amazing

Get past the part where you blame Amanda for entering Somalia. Yell at her for her wanderlust and her feelings of invincibility. Be mad at her for not setting goals for herself other than elite waitressing to earn enough money for her next trip. Find her as unlikeable as you want. Bash her for the way she treated/used her men friends. Tell her there were other ways to cope with the abuse she witnessed in her home. Yeah, she was a half-assed Canadian journalist mostly interested in seeing the bea Get past the part where you blame Amanda for entering Somalia. Yell at her for her wanderlust and her feelings of invincibility. Be mad at her for not setting goals for herself other than elite waitressing to earn enough money for her next trip. Find her as unlikeable as you want. Bash her for the way she treated/used her men friends. Tell her there were other ways to cope with the abuse she witnessed in her home. Yeah, she was a half-assed Canadian journalist mostly interested in seeing the beautiful parts of the world that many consider uncivilized. AND she wasted a lot of human and monetary resources by being so foolhardy. Then blame her for Nigel's kidnapping. Try to resist writing a review about how depressing this book is. (For heavens sake, didn't you read the synopsis?)

Then, when you're all finished with these rants, reopen the book and read a truly unbelievable and inspiring tale of a young woman who was brutally tortured for fifteen months by men who raped and prayed with equal fervor. This all happened in 2008.

Amanda's curiosity and quest for adventure got her into a horrendous predicament yet also allowed her to survive. She was able to endure starvation, brutal beatings, physical deterioration and repeated rapes. Her spirit, tenaciousness and belief in the future allowed her to endure what would have destroyed many of us. She clung to Eckart Tolle's teachings and created a house in the sky that would allow her to envision beauty filled with people she loved. "In my mind I built stairways. At the end of the stairways, I imagined rooms. These were high, airy places with big windows and a cool breeze moving through. I imagined one room opening brightly onto another room opening onto another room until I'd built a house..."
So it was she lived in the sky of her mind. With extreme attention to detail, she becomes a Muslim hoping to humanize herself in the eyes of her captors. She maintains communication with Nigel against many odds. An especially tender moment was when they exchanged creatively crafted Christmas presents.

This book is a straightforward retelling of events. It is detailed enough to haunt your dreams. After their failed escape, I almost lost hope for her survival even though I knew she lived to tell the tale. Without the gruesome details of the captivity, I would not have envisioned the squalor and the personal cost of clinging to hope in the face of fear.

Yet she lives to forgive those her abused her. She continues to face her banana peels, those things that "unwittingly trip an internal wire" in her mind opening the "floodgates of fear." This book helped me to understand a world of depravity that I never even imagined.I hope that it helped Amanda to expunge a few of her demons. ...more

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Sep 06, 2013 Kristi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: unforgettable, mindful-readers-book-club-selection, 2013

Every so often you’ll read a book that stays unshakably close to you. It’ll linger in your mind and fill your thoughts throughout the day when you've set it aside and lovingly so very, very long after the last page. Memoir A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout is one of those books. Receiving the absolute highest possible praise of five and four stars from the Mindful Readers, this book is incredible. Amanda’s rich, flowing, and relentless, beautiful writing takes you intensely side by side with ...more

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Feb 11, 2016 Arah-Lynda rated it really liked it

Shelves: lets-get-real, i-said

Deep breath.

I have been thinking about Amanda’s story a great deal since I finished this book. I have also read a great many glowing reviews that point out among other things; how well the book was written, how courageous in the face of extreme adversity Amanda was, how honest she is about her own culpability in being in that position in the first place, how remorseful she is about the ordeal her parents suffered in their efforts to free her and how humbled and self less she has become on the ot ...more

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Aug 20, 2013 Angela Auclair rated it it was amazing

In August, five years ago, Canadian Amanda Lindhout was kidnapped with Australian Nigel Brennan in Somalia, as they traveled, writing and taking photos of their experiences.

In August, five years ago, I had just had Alex and was spending most of my nights awake, in a bleary, exhausted post partum haze and began following Amanda’s story. Late at night, I would search the internet for updates, hoping for good news, reading blogs that claimed to have answers as to where she was and wonder how on ear ...more

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Jan 15, 2014 Jen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own, memoirs-biographies, 5-star-favourites

I read this prior to joining GR and hence a late review but as I pulled this out for my husband to read, I thought I must write something as this has stayed with me. This is one of the most memorable, shocking, fascinating memoirs I have ever read. Amanda Lindhout is an astonishing woman and the ordeal she went through - as disturbing as it was - transformed her into becoming one of the most courageous of women whom exist today. From the time she had written this, she has done amazing things in ...more

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Feb 04, 2019 Whitney Atkinson rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir, read-in-2019, audiobook

4.5 stars

It feels unfair to quantify this book into a rating because Amanda's resilience and willingness to share her story is worth 10 stars alone. I went into this book sort of anticipating it to only focus on the abuse she suffered, but it actually was a full tale of why traveling fulfilled her and how she spent her restless youth pursuing new experiences. also, this book humanized her captors in a way I didn't anticipate. Obviously, they still committed horrible crimes and should suffer cons ...more

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Jan 17, 2015 Julie Christine rated it really liked it

Shelves: bio-autobio-memoir, africa-theme-setting, read-2015

A chance conversation with someone in a coffee shop a few weeks ago brought this book to my attention. As I read, I wondered both how this story and the publication of memoir passed me by. Did I perhaps read a snippet in The New York Timesin the fall of 2008, shake my head in momentary worry and sadness, and move on to Presidential election campaign squabbles, forgetting all about the plight of Amanda Lindhout?

I certainly won't forget her story now. A young woman, blithely tripping about the gl A chance conversation with someone in a coffee shop a few weeks ago brought this book to my attention. As I read, I wondered both how this story and the publication of memoir passed me by. Did I perhaps read a snippet in The New York Timesin the fall of 2008, shake my head in momentary worry and sadness, and move on to Presidential election campaign squabbles, forgetting all about the plight of Amanda Lindhout?

I certainly won't forget her story now. A young woman, blithely tripping about the globe, in search of direction, meaning, identity and adventure, becomes a prisoner by means of her own ignorance, arrogance, and good intentions.

Growing up in Alberta, Canada with a single mom whose much-younger boyfriend terrorized the family with bouts of drunken violence, Amanda found an escape route in old copies of National Geographic. In those pages filled with images of the Hindu Kush mountains, the tropical forests of Indonesia, and the vast plains of the Serengeti, Amanda dreamed of a life less-ordinary, of finding the freedom that is unique to the traveler. At the age of twenty, she begins a series of extreme adventures, funded by episodes of waitressing at high-end restaurants in Calgary. Traveling as cheaply as she can, she set off for months at a time—traipsing through South America, South Asia, Africa—full of spirit, but without direction.

It's only after she takes hold of a camera that Amanda Lindhout finds a calling as a free-lance photojournalist. She cuts her teeth as a stringer in Afghanistan, and then takes a job as a correspondent for an Iranian-run news channel in Baghdad, a job which earns her the scorn and contempt of nearly every other Western journalist she encounters. Shamed by her own naïveté, she decamps to Kenya with the intention of inserting herself into the war in Somalia.

Days after she and a former boyfriend, photographer Nigel Brennan, arrive in Mogadishu in August 2008, they are kidnapped by a group of heavily-armed young men. Amanda and Nigel spend the next 460 days in brutal, soul-crushing captivity.

This book is a narrative of two parts, two very differently constructed narratives—what I call Before Captivity and After Captivity. Before Captivity is a series of events, a "First this happened, then that happened", with largely shallow self-reflection. Truly, it is an honest mirror of Amanda at this time: an earnest, brave, determined young woman without direction. Her only goal is to move away from where she is and what she might become if she remains standing still.

After Captivity is a shattering coming-of-age story of a woman in physical, emotional and spiritual crisis. How Amanda survives her ordeal is not only her story, but a larger story of war, poverty, and faith.

This is an anguishing read. The abuse Amanda sustains at the hands of young men for whom she comes to feel tremendous empathy is graphic and wrenching. But the story she and co-author Sara Corbett tell is a vital one: to understand how the soul transcends while the body suffers.

Highly recommended. ...more

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Nov 14, 2013 Christopher rated it liked it

Recommends it for: Travel Enthusatists

Ghost written account of a stupid and reckless young Alberta women who ignored all advice to enter the lawless, warlord-divided and 20yr civil-war ravaged country of Somalia and who was kidnapped and held for ransom for 460 days with equally dumb Australian ex-boyfriend/wannabe photojournalist.

I must congratulate New York Times writer Sara Corbett for corralling the flotsam and jetsam thoughts of the airheaded Lindhout. She managed to put structure and weave a simple plotline into the vapid, sto ...more

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Jun 16, 2013 Chrissie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: somalia, 2013-read, bio, downpour, canada, bad-trip

Through A House in the Sky you vicariously experience being a hostage.

Please start by carefully reading the GR book description. It is accurate and to the point.

What can I add? The book is both well written and well laid out. What the author lived through is not sensationalized and I admire Amanda Lindhout for that. The book is co-authored by Sara Corbett. Together the two have written a very, very good book. It is not an easy book to read. By starting with Amanda's troubled family circumstance ...more

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Jun 11, 2013 Saleem Khan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian, conflict, war, africa, non-fiction, security, biography, canada, autobiography, journalism-issues

UPDATE, Sept. 13, 2013: My full review runs in Canada's National Post newspaper on Sept. 14, but you can read it online now at http://j.mp/skahitsrnp

One note on the Goodreads rating: It should be 4.5 stars, but I don't see a way to do that.

Update Sept. 8, 2019. The Post broke the short link and the new URL for the full review is now https://nationalpost.com/entertainmen...

Initial impressions posted: July 16, 2013:

I read this in about eight hours. Part of the reason might have been personal inte ...more

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Aug 07, 2014 linda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, amazing-reads

I wish I could give it more stars. In some ways I'm just speechless..... At times I literally had to flip the book over and look at Amanda's picture and remind myself that she truly did survive this! How deep she had to dig within herself to keep herself sane.
This is a must read. She is a hero and has turned her horrific experience into one of giving to others .

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Sep 17, 2013 Lisa Regan rated it it was amazing

This is one of those books that is so powerful it changes your most fundamental view of the world. It reads like a novel, like literary fiction. There is so much in this, I could see this being read in college classes. It is fast paced. I wanted to slow down to savor how amazing the writing was, but it was hard not to rush ahead. Several times I found my heart pounding--wanting to put the book down because some of the things this woman endured were so horrifying it felt like a punch to the gut. ...more

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Nov 27, 2013 Bill rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

About 3 weeks ago a co-worker gave me this book to read. He warned me, "It's brutal." Since it was non-fiction, this really scared me. While I was finishing up another book, I left A House in the Sky on the end table and watched it with weariness, as if it was a wild animal that would bite me if I got too close.

After about 10 days of watching the book rest next to the couch, with the warning of it's profound brutality, I finally dug in. Oh my goodness ... brutal is an understatement. This book ...more

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Oct 16, 2013 Cori rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mindful-readers-book-club-selection

I have to admit that I found myself rolling my eyes 2 or 3 times during the first part of this book. I was seriously irritated by Lindhout’s accounts of her love life. To me, she came across as conceited. She “felt an instant pull in his direction.” He “stirred her.” She gave an ultimatum, “our lives could be fantastic.” Maybe it is my current state of mind, my skepticism of happily-ever-after’s, but I just didn’t see the point of documenting her male conquests. And then there was her naïve noti ...more

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Dec 11, 2015 Denise rated it it was amazing

A House in the Sky is an amazing memoir about a Canadian woman named Amanda Lindhout. This well written book is co-authored by Sara Corbett. It was on the New York Times bestseller list and won the 2014 CBC Bookie Award for Best Canadian Nonfiction.
Amanda writes about the horrible experiences in a factual manner that made it sound very realistic. I admire her tremendously for how she remained positive, survived and how she has dedicated her life to help others.
I listened to the audiobook narrat ...more

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Jun 24, 2017 Gina *loves sunshine* rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017, audiobook, memoir

I went back and forth on this rating, I wanted to give it 3/3.5 stars but in order to really do this review justice I'm gonna have to bump it up to 4 stars. This was a tough book to read! I can't knock in down just because what happened to her was so horrible!!!!

It is the true story of Amanda Lindhout and how she was captured and held prisoner in Somalia. In the beginning you meet Amanda, she's carefree, she's a traveler and she's not afraid to go where ever - dangerous or not! It set up in a wa ...more

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Oct 26, 2013 Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoirs, favourites, own

5.0 Stars
Video Review: https://youtu.be/fxRmBmG8PzI
Reread one of my all time favourite books. This was such a powerful, compelling memoir. The narrative grips me in every time. I highly recommend this one. ...more

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Jun 14, 2013 Jennifer Rayment rated it it was amazing

The Good Stuff

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 suffering to complete strangers. I don't want to do a disservice to her story with my inadequate words or trite commentary. Please forgive me for my inadequacy and just do yourself a favor and pick up a ...more

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May 31, 2014 Helen rated it really liked it

I read this because my husband couldn't put it down. As the book description says, it's the story of a woman who was kidnapped in Somalia. Though I respect Amanda Lindhout for raising herself out of a sad and difficult childhood, I did spend a lot of time saying to myself, (sometimes out loud) "Wow, what a stupid thing to do!" as she compulsively travels alone to dangerous flashpoint destinations. Amanda Lindhout is a traveler/cocktail waitress/wannabe journalist. For a few years, she's extremel I read this because my husband couldn't put it down. As the book description says, it's the story of a woman who was kidnapped in Somalia. Though I respect Amanda Lindhout for raising herself out of a sad and difficult childhood, I did spend a lot of time saying to myself, (sometimes out loud) "Wow, what a stupid thing to do!" as she compulsively travels alone to dangerous flashpoint destinations. Amanda Lindhout is a traveler/cocktail waitress/wannabe journalist. For a few years, she's extremely lucky--people are nice, no one rapes her--until she travels to Somalia, where no one is in charge; the land of pirates, professional kidnappers, and Islamic fundamentalists--and there, her luck runs out.

What did I learn from this book? A couple of things. What it takes, psychologically, to survive kidnapping and torture. Despite being treated like some kind of amalgamation of slave, war booty, and animal, Lindhout never loses hope, is incredibly positive, learns to leave her poor abused body and disappear inside her mind, and retains an almost kindly view of her kidnappers. (Yes. I was thinking Stockholm Syndrome, too.)

This book served as a shocking reminder of the difference between Western civilization and fundamentalist Islamic society. It is almost a tragedy to be born female in a place where women are forced to walk around in shrouds, peering at the world through a slit in the fabric. It's heartbreaking even just reading about a society that forces those conditions upon fifty percent of their population.

Lindhout isn't alone; she's kidnapped with a male friend, yet only she is beaten, raped, tied up, starved, scapegoated, tortured, forced to lie on the floor for months in a windowless, lightless room. In contrast, her companion, a hapless wannabe photographer ex-boyfriend, is given books to read, a room with windows, and the teenage kidnappers treat him like a buddy.

Was Lindhout helplessly naive? Oh, yes. Will you shake your head in stunned disbelief as you read of her loony escapades? You certainly will. Will you make your daughters read it before you allow them to travel anywhere? Absolutely yes. What happened to her was tragically inevitable. But her clear-headed and beautifully-written description of her time in Somalia makes for a fascinating read. ...more

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Nov 30, 2014 Cher rated it really liked it

Shelves: bookclub, pbcp, cover_lover, memoir-bio

4 stars - It was great. I loved it.

Somalia sounds like hell on Earth. I cannot fathom living somewhere that is so ingrained with violence, and the uncertainty that must exist for the citizens as the law and who is in control changes hands so frequently, perhaps even depending on what part of the country you are in at the moment. I cannot get the image out of my head of the woman that tried to help Amanda in vain, at the mosque. How difficult of a life the innocents in that country must have, as ...more

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Oct 08, 2014 Tania rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir

They became guilty, one the same as another. I bled not for hours or days but for weeks afterwards.

I almost did not finish this book. I did not like and could not identify with the young Amanda. Also living in Africa, it is very difficult to understand why anyone would choose to go into one of the most dangerous countries in the world by choice. I am very glad I stuck it out. I appreciated how the memoir was able to show us how she changed as a person. I'm always amazed when someone is able to d ...more

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Nov 28, 2013 Anna Graham Hunter rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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About Amanda Lindhout

Amanda Lindhout

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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.

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Quotes from A House in the Sky

“In my mind, I built stairways. At the end of the stairways, I imagined rooms. These were high, airy places with big windows and a cool breeze moving through. I imagined one room opening brightly onto another room until I'd built a house, a place with hallways and more staircases. I built many houses, one after another, and those gave rise to a city -- a calm, sparkling city near the ocean, a place like Vancouver. I put myself there, and that's where I lived, in the wide-open sky of my mind. I made friends and read books and went running on a footpath in a jewel-green park along the harbour. I ate pancakes drizzled in syrup and took baths and watched sunlight pour through trees. This wasn't longing, and it wasn't insanity. It was relief. It got me through.” — 31 likes

“By concentrating on what I was grateful for, I was able to stave off despair.” — 12 likes

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