Customer Reviews

Cannibals and Missionaries

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The title is misleading -- it is more a study of human interaction and the relationships that result from a high-stress enviroment (i.e. -- a hijacking). The author achieves the remarkable by keeping the reader unbalanced -- there are no clear-cut villians or heroes in this book, only human beings trapped together on a remote Dutch polder. It is as easy to hate the hostages as it is to hate the captors; in the end, all you feel is a sense of pity for all involved.

So far as plot is concerned, the storyline is simple (the editorial review does a fine job of summing it up, so I won't take up space by repeating it here). The suspense comes when the hijackers find their well-laid plan going badly astray -- and not from any outside forces. A strange partnership springs up between those and they have kidnapped and themselves; particularly after it becomes clear that the government fully intends to leave them stranded out on the polder (the loneliest place imaginable).

The artwork the hijackers finally manage to get to replace the hostages twists the already bad situation further -- the negotiating governments clearly are under more pressure to care about the paintings' safety than they ever were inclined to care about the human hostages.

This is a gripping book, as well as a stirring social commentary. The ending is everything you would never expect, and yet, it makes perfect sense in the world the book lays out for you. Read it only if you intend to read it thoroughly and thoughtfully -- it is worth the effort.