by David Rhode and Kristen Mulvihill, 2010, The Penguin Group, New York

I was introduced to this book at a Brown Alumni Club event in Naples, FL,  last spring when David and Kristen presented their book.  Naturally, I bought a copy but it sat on my shelf until I finished some other books.

The book was extremely interesting and the subject, a kidnapping by the Taliban, is something that I wouldn’t wish on anybody.  I think I learned a lot about what is going on over in Afghanistan and the tribal areas of Pakistan by reading the book.

While reading some of Kristin’s sections, I was struck with how much effort she had to devote to her job at Cosmopolitan working on projects which were made to seem so trite and trivial compared to the ordeal she was facing with her husband.

I also feel, however, that there was something missing in the book and I can’t quite put my finger on it.  David’s recounting of his escape seemed a bit ho-hum.  He just went to the bathroom one night, grabbed a rope and he and his driver went over a wall and walked to the nearest Pakistani military base.  But even more of a letdown was the epilogue.  David’s part of this section is an analysis of what needs to done in Afghanistan to get it back on track.  There are some hints as to how the experience has changed him as an individual and his relationship with Kristin.  I felt that I never really got to know him as a breathing individual.  Kristin lets her hair down a bit more by delving into her spirituality, but only a little.

From someone who has gone through such a harrowing experience, I somehow expected a little more insight as what the short and long term impacts on him might be.

Note that while I was reading this book on the beach in Rhode Island, a seagull came over and dropped his load right on the book as I was reading it.  I had the fleeting thought that, because the subject of the material was about various atrocities committed by the Taliban in the name of their religion, the seagull, himself, may have been a reincarnated Taliban suicide bomber who had at last found his paradise in heaven (Narragansett Beach).