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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
I meant to read this book ages ago when it came out, but only recently checked it out. This book isn’t an easy read, and there are some nightmare inducing parts, but I am glad that I read the book. The book is written by Beah, who at the age of 13 was recruited by the army in the Sierra Leone as a soldier. Beah’s family has been killed by rebels, and he is wandering the country alone, or with other orphan boys. He feels he has no choice. The young recruits are fed a steady supply of marijuana and cocaine to sustain their unbelievable acts of mindless violence. Then the violence becomes a habit to maintain as well.
Beah writes about some of the violence with bloody descriptions, including slitting a man’s throat and ambushing the rebels. Glossed over is any mention of harm against villagers, including women and children which seem like a certainty. I wouldn’t want to remember it either. Beah ends up in a rehabilitation center, and with the help of extended family is able to come to the United States and attend college. The writing was plain and straightforward.
Beah writes about some of the violence with bloody descriptions, including slitting a man’s throat and ambushing the rebels. Glossed over is any mention of harm against villagers, including women and children which seem like a certainty. I wouldn’t want to remember it either. Beah ends up in a rehabilitation center, and with the help of extended family is able to come to the United States and attend college. The writing was plain and straightforward.
adventurous
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
I found this difficult to rate as it is a 5-star topic and the books is informative, but I did not like Beah's writing style.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail
4.5
The absolute horrors this child went through broke my heart to pieces.
The absolute horrors this child went through broke my heart to pieces.
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
This kid is an amazing writer and for everything he went through...this a horrible story that he turned into a really good book. I didn't like the ending so much, I thought it was very abrupt, but over all the book was really well written.
It would be easy to not write a response to this book because the subject matter is so heavy and so far beyond my ken. But that feels lazy and a little naive. One thing that stood out to me about this book is that I imagined wars like this to be so distant from my life in America, but they so clearly are not. Ishmael listened to rap music from the US. He even visited the UN in New York before returning to Sierra Leone and facing deadly warfare again (though this time not as a combatant). The man who originated the war in question, Charles Taylor, went to university in Massachusetts. When he finally escaped to America, Ishmael ended up going to Oberlin where my sister went. He probably has an opinion on the Feve and great memories of Tappan Square and a favorite piece of art in the museum. While this war happened in a very different culture, it didn't happen in a different world. That's easy to forget.
dark
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Drug abuse
Minor: Gore
TRIGGER WARNING: war
If I could give this book 1000 stars, I would. And even that’s an understatement. This book made me feel a LOT of feelings. It really goes in-depth of what war is really like. I sobbed a million times reading this, as there was no comfort in it being fictional, because it isn’t. It is a real story, and I think that’s why I cried this much. I don’t think I will ever get over this book, and quite frankly, I don’t want to forget about it at all. It educated me and taught me to NEVER romanticize war. I hope everyone reads this book at least once in their lifetime, because it will CHANGE you. Like, drastically too. There is nothing I could say against this book whatsoever, and there’s nothing anyone could tell me that’s going to change my mind. Ishmael, I wish you the best and ONLY the best in your life.
If I could give this book 1000 stars, I would. And even that’s an understatement. This book made me feel a LOT of feelings. It really goes in-depth of what war is really like. I sobbed a million times reading this, as there was no comfort in it being fictional, because it isn’t. It is a real story, and I think that’s why I cried this much. I don’t think I will ever get over this book, and quite frankly, I don’t want to forget about it at all. It educated me and taught me to NEVER romanticize war. I hope everyone reads this book at least once in their lifetime, because it will CHANGE you. Like, drastically too. There is nothing I could say against this book whatsoever, and there’s nothing anyone could tell me that’s going to change my mind. Ishmael, I wish you the best and ONLY the best in your life.
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced