At first, I thought "Why would you even GO NEAR Iran?" But then I realized that is not the point.

The book was well written and highly political. It made me think. And in the end I decided on four stars because I thought I would dislike all three of them, but I did not. It took courage to write this, and I appreciate that.

Wow. I wish I had followed this story more closely when it was happening. The complexities of governing are depressing but the way these three hung on for themselves and each other was imoressive

I can't imagine what these 3 went through. Whether they were in the right or wrong I don't think these 3 deserved what they got. The book, told from the voice of each of the 3 prisoners, was set up in a timeline and was a good read. If nothing else, this book reminded me how little I know about the middle east.

Not surprisingly, considering the authors' backgrounds, this is a very well written book. What I AM surprised by is the one star reviews on here that call the authors babies and equate being imprisoned to living in a dorm. I am amazed by the lack of compassion. There is only ONE difference between a dorm and a prison that matters here -- the freedom to leave. Had they been living in a 5-star hotel (and they weren't), it still would not be an excuse to call them whiny and entitled. I don't think anyone who hasn't spent time in prison and/or in solitary can possibly have a true understanding of what that experience is like. I certainly sympathize with anyone's experience in prison, but I would never foolishly claim to know what it's like and then judge people who have actually experienced it for wanting things like books to read.

The only reason this book didn't get 5 stars is because it lacked a lot of emotion. There was a lot of repetition about their experiences, which I understand given that their lives had to have been very repetitive, but it would have been really great to learn more about the emotions that a person goes through in that kind of environment. Not the general emotions the authors described, like going through the stages of brief. ...descriptors that went into depth would've been great. As well, it would have been great to read more about how frustrating it must be to not only be in prison, but to be in prison for doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG!

Overall, this is a great peek into the life of the incarcerated. Sarah's story was probably the most interesting because she was kept in solitary for most of her stay, which has got to be the worst kind of torture possible. It was also interesting to learn about how the governments interacted. It's a shame that a foreign government did much more to secure the release of these three than the American government even attempted to do.

I think I heard about this book on NPR - in any case it is a shared memoir of three friends who were prisoners in Iran for several years. They begin by hiking in Iraq and either accidentally or carelessly end up crossing the border into Iran where they are captured and thrown in prison.

The book alternates in each of their voices telling the story. You can feel their struggles and their joys, and how they are alternatively feeling hopeful and hopeless. They capture the soul-dullingly boredom of prison, the agony of solitary confinement, and the confusing relationships they had with the guards. While they weren't tortured (and in fact were given sufficient food, clothing, and medical care), they were manipulated, tricked, and often played against each other. At times they were allowed to share rooms or free time, but other times they were isolated. The relationships they had with each other were complex and fragile.

Not just a political statement (although it is), this book is about surviving with little to no information. It is about friendship and love, and about persevering through the unimaginable as a team.

I sympathize with the mental torture of solitary confinement and being wrongfully in-prisoned and cohered to cross a border, while being used as a political pawn. At the same time I have a hard time sympathizing with the overall experience knowing that many Iranian citizens are imprisiomed for just as little as being a free thinker! Also while they are in Edin they are tortured physically and mentally and don't see a court room if they aren't executed!
So yes this is a moving story but it would be nice if they touched upon how lucky they were to live, to not be tortured or killed!

(disclaimer: I know Sarah and Shane from real life)

I followed the campaign to free Sarah, Shane, and Josh closely. It was amazing to read this book and hear, in their own words, what happened to them and how they were affected by their experiences in prison. They were lured over the border into Iran, imprisoned, not given a proper trial or means to contact their lawyer, refused mail that prison authorities didn't approve of, and they both suffered and witnessed numerous other awful experiences that will stay with them for life.

Unfortunately, many things that the three witnessed in prison in Iran also happen to prisoners in the US. Many are held in solitary confinement for far too long. Many experience judges who have already made up their minds about the outcomes of their trial. Many are isolated by language, belief system, etc. from the people around them as well as prison employees. Please see http://solitarywatch.com/ and http://www.beaconreader.com/projects/the-prison-problem for info about Sarah and Shane's current projects.

I was of two minds while reading this book. First I would feel awful for the three authors that they had this experience, then I would think they should have been a lot more careful and then maybe it wouldn't have happened to them. First I would think their prison conditions were terrible, then I would realize other people were being treated far worse, or had been killed. First I would think they were handling the situation well and then I would get sick of ALL THEIR WHINING. First I would be impressed that they stuck with their convictions after being released and then I was kind of disgusted that they wouldn't work with any organizations to try to help people in similar situations to theirs.

Overall I'm glad I read the book, because it was interesting, and I'm sorry this happened to the authors, but based on the tone I bet they are pretty good at blaming others for everything that has gone wrong in their lives.

The world spins. Indifferent to our designs. But to read this book. You would think it spins around the authors.

I thought this would be much better than it was. Felt really flat and self involved. Not to discredit their experience, but it seemed like a lot of it was brought on by themselves. Their lack of awareness of anything greater than their microcosm is frustrating.

A belief I have, is that maybe I shouldn’t go hiking in places that have active wildfires, sub zero temperatures, or political regimes that are likely to throw me in prison for an extended period of time. Maybe that makes me a bit of a square. But the hope is that my value system prevents first/icy death or political imprisonments.

The first half of the book I thought, “good god, everyone sucks at communication.” Half truths, hunger strikes, and so on just make it worse. There’s a glaring lack of self awareness that makes reading this frustrating. And maybe that defiance helped keep their sanity. But it sure seemed to make their time worse.

In the second half, I was consistently amazed at the hints of perspective and how they were thrown away. Mentions of other political prisoners, other inmates, encounters with families after release. All presented themselves as more interesting stories than the one here. This story could be interesting, but the focus of this book was not compelling.

I think this work is a good example of the disconnect political activists sometimes have between their personal experience in the world and the world as a whole. The authors had been very critical of many of the United States policies regarding war and involvement in the Middle East. Criticisms that I personally would agree with. My impression is that many of those policy decisions are seen as a best worst option in higher levels of government But their single mindedness of opinion means they miss the tapestry for a single thread. And I think that’s what this book is. It’s a single thread trying to be a tapestry. And it’s pretty bare at that