More Reading

Really stupid decision leads to a fascinating story. The author decides to interview a Taliban commander for his upcoming book and walks into a kidnapping trap. His early justifications of why he did it are a bit much. C’mon, you know it was dumb. But once it’s done, you can settle into the story and root for him to get out of it alive. I’ve done dumb things, too, and I’m always glad for mercy.

I wouldn’t call him a hero throughout the book, either. He continues to make mistakes in dealing with his kidnappers, but at least he’s honest enough to tell us about them. Most insightful are his descriptions of his kidnappers and their worldview. Very close to home for me right now. And I echo many of his observations.

“It is a universe filled with hypocrisy. My captors bitterly denounce missionaries, but they press me to convert to their faith. They complain about innocent M's being imprisoned by the United States, even as they continue to hold us captive and try to extort money from my family. They rail against American, Isr., and European mistreatment of M's, but they celebrate suicide attacks on mosques that kill dozens of M worshippers as they supplicate to God. Those living under Afghanistan’s and Pakistan’s apostate governments, they say, deserve it.”

Of course, the author concludes that “real” Islam is about peace and love, something that is not fully played out in the life of its founder or the history of the movement, let alone written in the Koran. But I can relate to the disillusionment of reading about the glorious ideals of Islam but seeing the sad shortcomings every day . . . like reading about how Islam’s founder was “green” and walking through more trash every day than I would in any non-Muslim country.

“To me, Mohammed’s calls for honesty, humility, charity, compassion, and confession of sins echo the tenets of all the world’s faiths. Instead of making me want to join their cause, reading the Koran makes me believe our captors are not following his core teaching. The dishonesty, injustice, and greed they show in my case are the opposite of what I am reading.”

Though there are parts where the book drags and I thought, How much more can you say about living in captivity for months? There isn’t much plot movement when he’s sitting under house arrest. However, unlike Between Two Worlds, Roxana S’s somewhat whiny account of being imprisoned in Iran, the author packs in a lot of history of Afghanistan and Pakistan in those lull times, as well as analysis of recent current events in the region.

Refreshingly, the author steers away from politicizing his account. I could still enjoy the story if I knew who he voted for in the last presidential election, but I don’t much like it when authors inject their political views when they don’t relate to the story . . . and he doesn’t. The most I know about his political leanings is that his wife respects Hillary C. and appreciates her compassion. (Um, I would, too.) He addresses mistakes that the US has made in the region, but he is not anti-US, which is also nice.

He offers sensible ideas of what needs to happen next without an arrogant, “I-know-best” attitude. He certainly has an insider view that not many others have.

He also comes to appreciate faith by the end of his experience more than he did at the beginning, though the faith he embraces isn't full.

It doesn’t give away the story for you to know that he lived to tell about it. That’s implied in the fact that he wrote the book. As for how he lived to tell about it . . . that would be giving away the story, so I’ll leave you with key lessons he came away with from his experience:

“This world is fleeting. . . I had my chance . . . Now everyone else first.”

We all could live a little more like that.