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challenging
dark
fast-paced
Oof this was sad but also straightforward enough that I didn't completely fall into a gaping pit of despair. Sucks to see how normal people can get wrapped up in a big situation out of their control and how limited information can have such a significant and destructive effect on their lives.
Graphic: War
Taught as summer reading for low level juniors. The students didn’t read it, but I did, and I thought it was good.
Most of the readers 'enjoyed' the book, meaning that they were glad that they read it, rather then that they took pleasure in reading it. Bruce bucked the trend by hating it, as far as I can tell, simply because it's been presented as something new, and the latest fad, when civil wars and atrocities have been going on in Africa for close to half a century. (That he remembers. He is a bit older than me.) Carolyn mused about what the point of reading the book might be - that is, what could we possibly do about atrocities in another country.
This sparked a lively discussion between the idealistic, naive college students and the worldly, cynical old farts. Mostly, it was about root causes of conflict, human nature, 'knowledge is power', and other social issues, rather than talking about the book itself.
A largish crowd, of nearly all new people (including Courtney and Jeanne, from PDOT) who had come out for the 'Everybody Reads' discussion. It was a difficult book to read for pretty much everyone. It was a memoir, rather than a history, told by a child. The middle part, when he was a soldier, was disjoint and sometimes incoherent. It's possible that he spared us the worst of the descriptions of the violence. Or maybe, between the drugs the the killing, he just couldn't remember the most of it.
This sparked a lively discussion between the idealistic, naive college students and the worldly, cynical old farts. Mostly, it was about root causes of conflict, human nature, 'knowledge is power', and other social issues, rather than talking about the book itself.
A largish crowd, of nearly all new people (including Courtney and Jeanne, from PDOT) who had come out for the 'Everybody Reads' discussion. It was a difficult book to read for pretty much everyone. It was a memoir, rather than a history, told by a child. The middle part, when he was a soldier, was disjoint and sometimes incoherent. It's possible that he spared us the worst of the descriptions of the violence. Or maybe, between the drugs the the killing, he just couldn't remember the most of it.
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
This was the summer reading book for my Sophomores (switched from Seniors, who read “The Glass Castle”), so I read this in order to teach it.
I was not in the head space to read this this month though. It is about Beah’s time as a child soldier in Sierra Leone—considering the news of late and it is summer (Summer to me means fun happy books). The first half dragged a bit and the ending is abrupt—I would have liked an epilogue just saying when Beah got to the US and a maybe a little biography of his time here. However, while this is not my preferred genre or subject matter, it is important to understand and learn about considering there are thousands of child soldiers still fighting today (and 40% of them are girls)!
I was not in the head space to read this this month though. It is about Beah’s time as a child soldier in Sierra Leone—considering the news of late and it is summer (Summer to me means fun happy books). The first half dragged a bit and the ending is abrupt—I would have liked an epilogue just saying when Beah got to the US and a maybe a little biography of his time here. However, while this is not my preferred genre or subject matter, it is important to understand and learn about considering there are thousands of child soldiers still fighting today (and 40% of them are girls)!
Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Violence
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, War
I'm still taken aback by the tale of a young boy losing his village, family, and friends in the Sierra Leone civil war and then being conscripted to become a solider himself. I have no frame of reference for the horror that became Ishmael Beah's daily life.
And yet there is redemption and grace in the tale. A story of dancing to rap music saved the lives of him and his friends. Moments of laughter and play amidst the horror of war.
I'm interested in reading more from the author. I found him listening to The Moth Radio Hour. Powerful.
The book did end too abruptly for my liking. I wanted a sense of closure to the story being told at the end.
And yet there is redemption and grace in the tale. A story of dancing to rap music saved the lives of him and his friends. Moments of laughter and play amidst the horror of war.
I'm interested in reading more from the author. I found him listening to The Moth Radio Hour. Powerful.
The book did end too abruptly for my liking. I wanted a sense of closure to the story being told at the end.
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
Graphic: Child death, Violence, War