I was recently reading A House in the Sky, Amanda Lindhout's account of her fifteen month captivity at the hands of Somali kidnappers, and came across this passage early on:
Melissa Fung, the CBC television correspondent who looked so purposeful and confident, couldn't know that sixteen months later, on a return trip to Afghanistan, she would get kidnapped outside of Kabul and spend twenty-eight days as a hostage, kept half-starved in an underground room in the mountains.
I immediately felt deflated because I thought that I was reading about the Canadian journalist who had been held in a hole in the ground, so it was just by happenstance that I had picked up the wrong memoir. I went on to quite enjoy Lindhout's book, and although comparisons between the two might not be fair, I can't help but compare them now, and as a result, Under an Afghan Sky falls short.
Of course, I'm not comparing the two women's actual experiences -- whether for one month or fifteen, being held against your will by armed young extremists must be a hopeless and terrifying experience, and both Lindhout and Fung held up much better than I suspect I would in their stead. The real comparison is in the reporting of their experiences, and my biggest complaint about Fung's book is that it came off as a bit dry and clinical, curiously lacking in heart, yet -- and here's where I get to look like a hypocrite -- I had initially been put off Lindhout's book because she collaborated with another writer, someone who added flair and drama that I initially felt built up a barrier between me and the plain truth. Under an Afghan Sky seems to demonstrate what happens when a straight-up journalist goes solo with her material: the story lacked in storytelling. I was teary throughout much of Lindhout's account, full out crying when she reunited with her family, but totally dry-eyed (though not completely unaffected by the details) throughout Fung's.
Mellissa Fung was (until very recently) a CBC correspondent and so many of her attitudes displayed in Under an Afghan Sky demonstrate why I resent my tax dollars funding the public television station, or at least its news division anyway. Most annoying was her voicing the Canadian left's reflexive anti-Americanism in statements like: I thought that by trying to make Zahir see that there was a difference between Canada and the United States, I could make him realize his captive wasn't a sworn enemy of the Taliban the same way an American might be. I thought that after 9/11 we were "all American" and that Canada was actually leading the efforts in Afghanistan -- a maple leaf on her backpack wasn't going to get Fung out of this jam. Also: "I agree, I think George Bush is a very bad man," I said. This wasn't completely untrue, and I figured it was time we agreed on something. I understand trying to find common ground with her captor, and also appreciate that many people didn't find Bush too bright, but "a very bad man"? Later, Fung made this statement: It was Wednesday, November 5, and the night after the US presidential election. I wondered what had happened, and hoped that America had made the right decision. The right decision, electing Obama. What hubris coming from a Canadian journalist, and totally inappropriate coming from someone who reports for Canada's national broadcaster.
Despite her no-atheists-in-foxholes-constant-rosary-recitation, Fung also takes swipes at Christian fundamentalists (equating a devout Muslim's prayer cycles to that of a "Deep South" Christian and saying, "God knows there are enough problems with Christian fundamentalists in Western society…") and also demeans her own Canadian citizenship: Just like I wouldn't say I'm a devout Catholic, I wouldn't call myself an unduly patriotic Canadian…But everywhere I went, I was pretty proud to be a Canadian, proud of everything Canada stood for internationally in the tradition of Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau. In the tradition of Pearson and Trudeau is really important there -- the peacekeepers-not-policemen foreign policy that certain proper-thinking people think should be Canada's only role internationally -- you know Pearson and Trudeau, the Prime Minister who charged into Korea and the one who chummed with Castro soon after the Bay of Pigs.
Her politics aside, I was also surprised that Fung seemed to empathise with her kidnappers, blaming a generation of domestic war for their criminal activities. While I could see why Lindhout understood her captors' motivations (the young men who held her wanted the ransom to fund their education and marriages) I was dismayed that Fung could also see logic in her captors seeking ransom to buy Kalashnikovs and materials to make the IEDs that were all too often blowing up the Canadian Forces that she was embedded with.
And one last comparison -- Lindhout's book included information about what her family and the Canadian Government were doing to secure her release, including information about how the ransom negotiations were going; information I found very interesting and compelling. Fung's book didn't share any of this, despite including letters from her "special friend" Peter, a man who began writing letters to her while she was being held because "I wanted you to have a record of what went on". These letters, while loving, don't actually include any information about "what went on".
I have much empathy for Mellissa Fung and am heartened to see that writing this book has helped her to deal with her horrific experience, but fair or not, I have recently seen the format done better, and as a result, this memoir is ultimately disappointing.
