A House in the Sky: A Memoir

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 9,771 ratings

Price: 19.68

Last update: 01-10-2025


About this item

Amanda Lindhout reads her 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 15 months of harrowing captivity in Somalia - a story of courage, resilience, and extraordinary grace.

At the age of 18, Amanda Lindhout moved from her hardscrabble Alberta hometown to the big city - Calgary - and worked as a cocktail waitress, saving her tips so she could travel the globe. As a child, she escaped a violent household by paging through National Geographic and imagining herself in its exotic locales. Now she would see those places for real. She backpacked through Latin America, Laos, Bangladesh, and India, and emboldened by each experience, went on to travel solo across Sudan, Syria, and Pakistan. In war-ridden Afghanistan and Iraq she carved out a fledgling career as a TV reporter. In August 2008, she traveled to Mogadishu, Somalia - "the most dangerous place on Earth" - to report on the fighting there. On her fourth day in the country, she and her photojournalist companion were abducted.

An astoundingly intimate and harrowing account of Lindhout's 15 months as a captive, A House in the Sky illuminates the psychology, motivations, and desperate extremism of her young guards and the men in charge of them. She is kept in chains, nearly starved, and subjected to unthinkable abuse. She survives by imagining herself in a "house in the sky", looking down at the woman shackled below, and finding strength and hope in the power of her own mind. Lindhout's decision, upon her release, to counter the violence she endured by founding an organization to help the Somali people rebuild their country through education is a wrenching testament to the capacity of the human spirit and an astonishing portrait of the power of compassion and forgiveness.


Top reviews from the United States

IVEY
5.0 out of 5 stars Could not put it down…
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2024
This is a heart wrenching story…and as a mother, I cried for her pain and the pain of not knowing what your child is going through. At times too raw to read, but the resilience and strength was shown through. Best book I’ve read in a long long time.
Customer image
IVEY
5.0 out of 5 stars Could not put it down…
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2024
This is a heart wrenching story…and as a mother, I cried for her pain and the pain of not knowing what your child is going through. At times too raw to read, but the resilience and strength was shown through. Best book I’ve read in a long long time.
Images in this review
Customer image
Beverly Diehl
5.0 out of 5 stars Didn't Want to Read It - Didn't Want to Put It Down
Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2014
When I first heard the story of this young woman: a rather naive and inexperienced white free-lance photographer venturing into tribal warfare-torn Somalia, against all warnings, with inadequate funds and protection, and that she'd been kidnapped and held for ransom, my emotional response was, "D'uh!" Kind of like I feel when I hear that some Darwin Award-winner has decided to climb the fence at the zoo and swim with the polar bears... any idiot could have predicted This Would Not Turn Out Well. I felt like I had little in common with this girl, though I felt more than a little sorry for her family and her country of origin (Canada). I was irritated this book was selected by my book club.

Then I started reading. I found I actually LIKED Amanda, envied her pursuing her travel dreams, her gutsiness in visiting South America, India, Pakistan, wherever the spirit moved her, with a backpack and not much else. Afghanistan, even. It isn't until about a third of the way in that we get to her travel to Somalia, and by then I "got" it, understood the way Amanda thought and what motivated her to go to such a place, ignoring the warnings.

I have to give a lot of credit to the co-writer, Sara Corbett, for skillfully weaving a tale that I did not want to put down, even though it went to some dark and scary places. There are horrors recounted here: coercion, rape, torture, hopes raised and dashed, and starvation, but they are so carefully handled it did not become overwhelming and make me want to put the book down. (Other readers may have a different experience.)

I liked the nuanced look at all the captors - some are a bit caricatured, with nicknames like Donald Trump or Romeo, but their vulnerabilities and suffering is explored, too.

I also have to give Amanda much credit for being willing to dig deep and bring the reader to those dark places; she doesn't gloss over them or portray herself out as some stoic prisoner, always in control of herself. She blew it, and her mistake not only hurt her, but her friend Nigel, and her family. While she acknowledges guilt, she has also learned from her experience and continues to reach out to the people of Somalia through a non-profit organization to help educate women and girls.

I'm not sure if "enjoyed" is the right word for my reading experience, but I found this to be an excellent and compelling story, well-told, and I highly recommend it.
Save the Elephants
4.0 out of 5 stars And now to read Nigel's account, too.
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2013
Focusing strictly on the narrative, I have to recommend this book very highly. It relates a harrowing experience in a very skillful way, only in a few passages verging on the overly artful. Outer action and suspense beautifully balance inner reflection and suffering. Pain is described openly but not indulgently; situations and settings are described clearly. Did Amanda get some help with the prose? My guess is that she did--not just with the editing but also the more artful descriptions and phrasing. It's just speculation on my part, and it doesn't make the story on the page any less enthralling.

Many people have commented on Amanda's naivete, but I'm more interested in her attraction to danger, what she refers to, late in the book, as a foolish sense of invincibility. Early chapters reveal a difficult, dysfunctional childhood, but we are left to make connections between that and her choices as a self-made freelance journalist learning on the fly.

As more and more horrors unfold on the page, I wonder when the narrator will reflect on those choices, but it comes in only 1-2 paragraphs late in the book, and more in the form of a rapid summary of personality traits and apologies and not as elaborated introspection. I'm sure that Amanda and Corbett (and the publisher) made conscious decisions about how much or little of that to include. Memoirs can't be all things to all people. Some of the best read more like novels than confessions or self-analyses, and that's to their credit.

Yes, Amanda suffered from naivete and maybe a bit of false invincibility, but she is certainly not the first person in her or his mid-twenties to surf among the sharks. I can certainly think of times when my own desire for adventure or a transcendent traveling experience blinded me to reality, but I can't imagine venturing blithely into one of the most dangerous places on earth--Mogadishu--after surviving Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't get it, but that's my projection, and the internet age has a way of making the world into a big backyard. Her return to Somalia also seems strange. I love the forgiveness and the creation of a foundation to fund educational opportunities for the women there, but it strikes me as more odd than brave or therapeutic to return to the belly of the beast, the site of extreme trauma. Again, that's my projection.

Back to the narrative itself, I have to say that the description of the escape into the mosque and the momentary rescue by the Somali woman is one of the most devastating sequences I have read or viewed in a movie. The sheer facts are moving enough, but the writing lifts those scenes from the page and drives them into our hearts.
Barbara Hahn
5.0 out of 5 stars strength and resolve
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2024
This is a difficult book to read because of the circumstances the captors had to endure. But at the same time it shows how humans can exhibit mental fortitude and hope to persevere. Worth reading
Shana
5.0 out of 5 stars Best book I have ever read
Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2018
This book was so well written that I feels like you are living it. You become Amanda and see and feel it through her eyes. It is raw, painful, and haunting. It will pull together every thought and feeling you have about your loved ones, your perception of the world, and any abuse you have suffered. It feels like you are climbing out of a dark pit with her from the depths of the darkest parts of your mind. You will understand what survival really means and feel like you can survive whatever it is you are going through. This book operates to provide entertainment value as all books do, but it is so much more than that. The book provides definition to the battles you are facing and hopefully shows you how to get out with grace and dignity.

Amanda was turned inside out during her ordeal in Somalia. Her bravery and understanding, her insight and forgiveness, makes me only hope I could be that good of a person. I wonder if any of her captors were brought to justice? Has she heard any news of the group and what they are doing? Prayers said for her, Nigel, and their loved ones.

Best Sellers in

 
 

The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 6798
17.05
 
 

Jamaican Patois: Get Past Ya Mon and Speak Jamaican Fi Real

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 104
13.08
 
 

Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 4335
26.21
 
 

Dubai Travel Guide: Unveiling Dubai's Exclusive Treasures, Your Gateway to Luxe Living and Captivating Experiences

4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 43
6.08
 
 

Madeira Travel Guide: Discovering Local Hidden Secrets and Authentic Places on the Portuguese Garden Isle

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 30
6.08
 
 

Ireland Travel Guide: Illuminating Ireland's Enchanting Charms, Embark on a Journey Through Emerald Landscapes and Timeless L

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 26
6.08
 
 

Unlost: A Journey of Self-Discovery and the Healing Power of the Wild Outdoors

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1242
17.46
 
 

Learn Intermediate Spanish & Learn Advanced Spanish: 69 Present-Day Spanish Conversations for Adults to Learn to Speak Latin

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 45
21.83