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 A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier :: 0374105235
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My new friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them the full story of my life.
“Why did you leave Sierra Leone?”
“Because there is a war.”
“You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?”
“Yes, all the time.”
“Cool.”
I smile a little.
“You should tell us about it sometime.”
“Yes, sometime.”
This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.
What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived.
In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.Editorial Descriptions are usually submitted by the manufacturers, publishers and authors. Contact us if you are one of them, and wish to change the above description. |
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Author: Guest
So how should we think of this book?
Ishmael Beah displays great range of emotion: from his description of shocking atrocities (many carried out by the author himself and graphically described) to the tender feelings between him and his nurse, Esther, in the rehabilitation camp, and his relationship with his uncle and the family members he's united with in Freetown.
Think of this book as a great and important story. Beah shows how we strive mightily to hold on to our humanity--even in the midst of terrifying conditions. And we can recover. How regrettable that we live in a world where so many blood curdling stories are taken for granted. This isn't a movie.
In Ishmael's first speech about the horrors he experienced as a child soldier he reminds his audience that children have the resilience to outlive their sufferings. Ishmael's tale is a story of great hope--something very necessary given the present state of the world. How eloquent he is, and how beautiful his story is!
I was pleased to hear Ishmael Beah read from this book in person recently in Washington, D.C. It was a great literary experience.
Beah is at his best in describing the events of village life before the terrible civil war. I found the scene where he and his father recited passages from Julius Caeser in his village especially moving. Similarly his description of the first time he comes upon the ocean, and his impressions of New York on his first arrival there. When Ishmael asks his chaperone why it's cold, he's told that it is winter. He knows the word "winter" from Shakespeare and decides to look it up again.
The Sierra Leone rebels and soldiers who commit unspeakable acts are people like us. Loss of moral compass and the ability to engage in brutality against others is not unique to Africa--it can happen to anyone.
Ishmael Beah defies the usual stereotypes of victimhood. His is a magnificent talent.
He does not ask for pity or place blame. He simply tells us his story. He tells us that he comes from a tribe in Sierra Leone that is known for storytelling. It shows.
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Author: Guest
This book was a heartbreaking, inspirational, page-turner. For the past two days, I have read it at every possible moment - on the bus to/from work, during my lunch break, while walking on the treadmill, etc...that's how good it was. What shocked me was how insulated the U.S. was to what was happening in Sierra Leone less than a decade ago - I barely remember hearing about this when I got out of college in the mid-90s.
After reading this book, I have so much admiration for Ishmael Beah and his resilience. His childhood was destroyed, he lost everything and was forced to witness and participate in unimaginable horrors, yet he emerged with an even stronger spirit.
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Author: Guest
Very interesting read....gave me a great sense of understanding and pictorial overview of the situation in Sierre Leone. Riveting and beautiful. All should read
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Author: Guest
It seems that many people in the West, including myself, are largely unaware of what has transpired in Sierra Leone. This is a touching account told by a skilled storyteller. Lighthearted content, such as the author's musical tastes, is skillfully mixed with the grim realities of being a 12 year old solider in Sierra Leone. He portrays his involvement in the civil war in a fashion that is very compelling. The account is personal but also very maturely composed.
Ishmael was thrust into this war when rebels killed his family. He then proceeds to slaughter and fight, and eventually discovers that revenge can be an endless cycle only leading to chaos and ugliness. After many adventures which seem unfit for a 12 year old, he was chosen to go to New York to speak at a UN children's conference. He is totally awestruck about New York and puzzled by the white things falling from the air. He then returns to Sierra Leone to more chaos, and then eventually moves to the U.S.
The countless kids who get drawn into the war either by force, necessity, or familial revenge are all deeply impacted by the things they experience. It is hard to imagine what sort of horrible scars this sort of experiences leaves in the life of a 12 year old. And as if the emotional trauma wasn't enough, the author also documents the heavy use of drugs such as cocaine.
There aren't really any sort of explicit religious, spiritual, philosophical, or theological statements in the book. Implicit in the book is a tension between pessimism and optimistic humanism. There are passing references to Muslim clerics and the religious practices of other people, but religion is not a central theme and there are no personal reflections that are obviously religious. The book leaves a few seemingly unfinished trains of thought. I sort of wish the author would have filled in a few of the blanks, but it did add a bit to the intruige.
Ishmael has not only profound experiences to share, but also a great amount of talent as a writer. This is a memorable book. I highly recommend reading it.
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Author: Guest
This book was an amazing and startling tale of a young boy and his horrific movement through Sierra Leone and becoming a boy soldier. This book is for the person who is interested in learning more about the continuous civil war and human rights violations brought on by the goverment and rebel forces of Serria Leone. I think more people should know about these violations, reading this book will break your heart but will leave you wanting to learn more and understand what we can't see and hope for an end.
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