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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
A Long Way Gone is simply and bluntly written and therein lies its power. An unflinching account of Beah's own experience in war-torn 1990s Sierra Leone, this novel is at once gripping, tragic, and inspiring.
It seems as though this memoir clearly set out to educate, an effort which it achieved stunningly. In a mirror of his trip to the UN to educate ambassadors on the conflict in Sierra Leone, Beah also uses his story to educate the reader. Including a chronology at the end of the book was a great idea and helped put the events of the memoir into context. I also felt that because of the chronology, I was able to walk away from this book having both read an amazing story and also learned a lot about a conflict to which I was otherwise ignorant. On a separate note, memoirs are just unbelievable to me in general because it gives me an incredibly unique opportunity to reach into someone's head and interpret life through their eyes. Though I haven't read many, I don't think I've come across a memoir that I didn't enjoy.
One of the most powerful things for me in this story actually came as early as the first page. The preface, which has Beah's high school friends grilling him about his war experience, raises all kinds of flags especially in retrospect. It clearly represents how shallow our impressions of other people can be (Beah's friends' impression of Beah) especially when they are profound to the point of terror. Storytelling can be fun and exciting but it can also be traumatic and heartrending. I personally enjoy getting to know things about people and love asking questions, but this passage really made me reflect on whether or not that's always the best thing to do. Taking a lesson from Esther towards the end of the novel, sometimes it's best to just be quiet.
Another major theme for me was how difficult it was to really get a handle on who was "in the right" in the Sierra Leone war. First, I thought it was interesting that I had that instinct at all, but I don't think that discussion fits in the scope of this review. However, the next realization I came to was that it was harder than anticipated to make a decision based on that instinct. Initially, the RUF seem like the good guys -- overthrowing a corrupt government for the sake of the people. But as Beah describes the atrocities committed at their hand, I couldn't help but second-guess myself. The brutality was often senseless and without aim and was taken out on innocent people. OK, I thought, then clearly the RUF are the bad guys. And I continued with this impression until I got to the end of the story -- when the national army joins with the RUF to overthrow the government which, as it turns out, was democratically elected. The chronology makes it seem like the government that the RUF set out to destroy was actually the first step in improving Sierra Leonean politics. So who then was in the right? The RUF? The national army that Beah fought for? The government? I still don't know, and I think it's too simplistic to say 'nobody'. The only conclusion that I was able to arrive at was that the scale of violence committed was certainly great enough to obscure any good intentions.
The last major topic of interest for me was getting in the mind of someone who has been through tragedy, is in the process of rehabilitation, and is actively working against it. The reader is excited when Beah is removed from the war, but Beah himself is not. He fights (sometimes literally) against all the efforts of UNICEF and the NGOs and I found myself constantly wishing that he would let them help him. But it makes sense; how can we expect someone who has lost all trust in man, who has looked evil in the eye, to suddenly soften up to a social worker? At the same time though, the resistance they put up makes the act of rehabilitation even harder and stretches social workers incredibly thin. It seems like an unsolvable problem, the only glint of hope being pure human resilience. And that is either beautiful or devastatingly sad.
Overall, a great read and would highly recommend.
It seems as though this memoir clearly set out to educate, an effort which it achieved stunningly. In a mirror of his trip to the UN to educate ambassadors on the conflict in Sierra Leone, Beah also uses his story to educate the reader. Including a chronology at the end of the book was a great idea and helped put the events of the memoir into context. I also felt that because of the chronology, I was able to walk away from this book having both read an amazing story and also learned a lot about a conflict to which I was otherwise ignorant. On a separate note, memoirs are just unbelievable to me in general because it gives me an incredibly unique opportunity to reach into someone's head and interpret life through their eyes. Though I haven't read many, I don't think I've come across a memoir that I didn't enjoy.
One of the most powerful things for me in this story actually came as early as the first page. The preface, which has Beah's high school friends grilling him about his war experience, raises all kinds of flags especially in retrospect. It clearly represents how shallow our impressions of other people can be (Beah's friends' impression of Beah) especially when they are profound to the point of terror. Storytelling can be fun and exciting but it can also be traumatic and heartrending. I personally enjoy getting to know things about people and love asking questions, but this passage really made me reflect on whether or not that's always the best thing to do. Taking a lesson from Esther towards the end of the novel, sometimes it's best to just be quiet.
Another major theme for me was how difficult it was to really get a handle on who was "in the right" in the Sierra Leone war. First, I thought it was interesting that I had that instinct at all, but I don't think that discussion fits in the scope of this review. However, the next realization I came to was that it was harder than anticipated to make a decision based on that instinct. Initially, the RUF seem like the good guys -- overthrowing a corrupt government for the sake of the people. But as Beah describes the atrocities committed at their hand, I couldn't help but second-guess myself. The brutality was often senseless and without aim and was taken out on innocent people. OK, I thought, then clearly the RUF are the bad guys. And I continued with this impression until I got to the end of the story -- when the national army joins with the RUF to overthrow the government which, as it turns out, was democratically elected. The chronology makes it seem like the government that the RUF set out to destroy was actually the first step in improving Sierra Leonean politics. So who then was in the right? The RUF? The national army that Beah fought for? The government? I still don't know, and I think it's too simplistic to say 'nobody'. The only conclusion that I was able to arrive at was that the scale of violence committed was certainly great enough to obscure any good intentions.
The last major topic of interest for me was getting in the mind of someone who has been through tragedy, is in the process of rehabilitation, and is actively working against it. The reader is excited when Beah is removed from the war, but Beah himself is not. He fights (sometimes literally) against all the efforts of UNICEF and the NGOs and I found myself constantly wishing that he would let them help him. But it makes sense; how can we expect someone who has lost all trust in man, who has looked evil in the eye, to suddenly soften up to a social worker? At the same time though, the resistance they put up makes the act of rehabilitation even harder and stretches social workers incredibly thin. It seems like an unsolvable problem, the only glint of hope being pure human resilience. And that is either beautiful or devastatingly sad.
Overall, a great read and would highly recommend.
The deepest book I've ever read about never letting go to life and what it stands for.
I have one minor problem with the so-called “plot” ending being incredibly abrupt, but like I said, it’s minor. I understand why this is the route that was taken, and I think it was still effective nonetheless.
Additionally, the only way I can judge someone else’s story is based on how well it’s told. And Beah’s story is told incredibly well; you start to think even as you begin to feel. For me, this is possible because of how realistically it’s told.
The biggest shock for me was that the retelling of Beah’s time in the army is shockingly short, and that was what I thought I was going to be reading a lot about. But from what we do learn and from what comes next, I think this was the perfect way for this memoir to unfold. We as readers don’t particularly want to know the specifics - we read stories like these to understand someone else. So we don’t want to know WHAT happened in the army, we want to know WHY it happened and HOW it affected Beah. And the army segment and the rehabilitation segment speak volumes, and give us an incredible understanding of how children end up fighting in war.
Truly well done, and the flashback at the end was absolutely perfect. A well deserved 5 stars.
Additionally, the only way I can judge someone else’s story is based on how well it’s told. And Beah’s story is told incredibly well; you start to think even as you begin to feel. For me, this is possible because of how realistically it’s told.
The biggest shock for me was that the retelling of Beah’s time in the army is shockingly short, and that was what I thought I was going to be reading a lot about. But from what we do learn and from what comes next, I think this was the perfect way for this memoir to unfold. We as readers don’t particularly want to know the specifics - we read stories like these to understand someone else. So we don’t want to know WHAT happened in the army, we want to know WHY it happened and HOW it affected Beah. And the army segment and the rehabilitation segment speak volumes, and give us an incredible understanding of how children end up fighting in war.
Truly well done, and the flashback at the end was absolutely perfect. A well deserved 5 stars.
A Long Way Gone, a memoir of an ex-boy-soldier. The book was decently written, it was eye opening to some of the conflicts out there in the world. In general, all was very good. However, I'm not sure if I was the only one but by the end of the book I came to very much dislike Ishmael. Why? Allow me to explain.
After living the gruesome life of a boy-soldier, Ishmael is taken to rehabilitation so he may be re-integrated to society. He goes through rehab smoothly thanks to a very nice and caring nurse named Esther. After he is done with rehab and is about to be sent to an adoptive family, one of the men working for the rehabilitation program searches and finds Ishmael's uncle, which he has never seen in his life.
His uncle blindly accepts him into his family, does not probe into Ishmael's past life and cares and loves for him. Ishmael's cousins that also lived with said uncle also welcomed him warmly and so did his aunt. So why, I ask myself, did Ishmael have the courage to abandon his family when the going got tough? Not even a week after his uncle died did Ishmael pack up his bags and leave the family. Leaving his poor aunt in shock and full of grief along with the rest of the family (And his best friend) in the midst of the war.
He leaves them and not once did I read a line of remorse for leaving. That just made me feel awful. So once I finished the book I saw there was a few more pages reserved for Ishmael's thank yous. I figured, hey, all those people will probably be in there, thanked properly and well for.
I searched and searched and I did not find a single one of their names. Not his uncle's, not his aunt's, not any of his cousins', not his best friend's, not Esther's (Which he even said before he had truly loved), not even his immediate family who in the middle of the book are said to have searched for him despite all odds that he would still be alive. Nothing, none of them!
In the end, after completing the book I was just left with a bitter aftertaste. I believe those people deserved more than just thank yous and recognition in those pages, and even that they did not receive.
Spoiler
After living the gruesome life of a boy-soldier, Ishmael is taken to rehabilitation so he may be re-integrated to society. He goes through rehab smoothly thanks to a very nice and caring nurse named Esther. After he is done with rehab and is about to be sent to an adoptive family, one of the men working for the rehabilitation program searches and finds Ishmael's uncle, which he has never seen in his life.
His uncle blindly accepts him into his family, does not probe into Ishmael's past life and cares and loves for him. Ishmael's cousins that also lived with said uncle also welcomed him warmly and so did his aunt. So why, I ask myself, did Ishmael have the courage to abandon his family when the going got tough? Not even a week after his uncle died did Ishmael pack up his bags and leave the family. Leaving his poor aunt in shock and full of grief along with the rest of the family (And his best friend) in the midst of the war.
He leaves them and not once did I read a line of remorse for leaving. That just made me feel awful. So once I finished the book I saw there was a few more pages reserved for Ishmael's thank yous. I figured, hey, all those people will probably be in there, thanked properly and well for.
I searched and searched and I did not find a single one of their names. Not his uncle's, not his aunt's, not any of his cousins', not his best friend's, not Esther's (Which he even said before he had truly loved), not even his immediate family who in the middle of the book are said to have searched for him despite all odds that he would still be alive. Nothing, none of them!
In the end, after completing the book I was just left with a bitter aftertaste. I believe those people deserved more than just thank yous and recognition in those pages, and even that they did not receive.
A harrowing and emotional account from the eyes of a former child soldier, but it didn't quite connect with me on a literary level and was a bit of a slog for me to get through at times.
Details a firsthand account of Beah's time as a child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone. I had a couple of qualms with the editing and ending but, I found the story so impactful that I couldn't rate it below 5 stars.
Amazing book that tells a horrid story in such simple and succinct language.
Teacher Notes:
Contains scenes of intense violence and explicit drug use, but neither is sensationalized. Would still recommend to most middle-schoolers.
Might make a good companion book for Holocaust teachings.
Teacher Notes:
Contains scenes of intense violence and explicit drug use, but neither is sensationalized. Would still recommend to most middle-schoolers.
Might make a good companion book for Holocaust teachings.
So sad this happens to so many children in this world. Thanks to Ishmael for being brave enough to tell the story.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced