Captive with the Taliban

By: Cameron M.

        Jere Van Dyk, an innocent American Journalist captured by the infamous Taliban. The story Captive, written by Van Dyk himself is a thrilling biography of the events that occurred during the forty-five days he was captured in a Taliban prison. The author has also written many different publications for the New York Times magazine, National Geographic, and the Wall Street Journal. He has also visited Afghanistan and reported on their doings for several different television stations such as CBS News and CNN. Captive is interesting nonfiction read that keep you relatively questioning what will happen next.

        Captive is about an American Journalist who traveled to Afghanistan to start working on a book when he crossed over the border of Pakistan knowing that the Taliban and Al Qaeda Islam cists were hiding. Van Dyk thought that he could be successful crossing over the border even though no westerner had done it before. Clearly, he was wrong and the Taliban took him as their prisoner. Jere was then brought back to their infamous prison where he will be given the choice to convert to Islam or die. Will Jere Van Dyk survive this life-changing adventure, or will he lose himself along the way?

        Captive was a very grabbing nonfiction biography that kept me in the loop and I was constantly developing questions on what would come next. As with nonfiction stories, I really enjoyed how real the characters were. This means that they did not have superhuman powers such as being able to perform tricks and out of these world occurrences. I really enjoy how this book was written in a first point of view so I was able to gather information about how Van Dyk was feeling using his judgment. Captive is divided into three parts, each having a different main idea. I really enjoyed this aspect because it helped me follow along with the story.

        Although the majority of the biography was very engaging, I felt that some parts were slow and drawn out. I did not like how the author kept on asking questions to himself because it sometimes made me feel like I was lost in the story. Captive is not divided into chapters, rather entry dates, which can get confusing for some people. Honestly, this book was very well written and I really enjoyed the majority of it.

        I think that readers who like nonfiction stories and are somewhat interested in world history should seek out this free read. This story gives you a very good synopsis on what happens in other countries less fortunate than ours and will make you appreciate the fact that most of us do not have to live in terror from day to day. I do not recommend this book to people who find real life situations boring or unattractive because chances are that Captive is not much different. Jere Van Dyk's Captive was a very great free read.

        Readers can find this short story in their local libraries or bookstores under the biography section 958 in the Dewey decimal chart.