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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
There is so much to admire in Mr. Ishmael Beah. I cannot imagine myself surviving the challenges and difficulties he had experienced and endured in his teenage years, and his determination and will to live and change the course of his life is beyond admirable. This would have been a five-star read if the manner is which the story is told was fluid, consistent, and cohesive.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
A Long Way Gone is a special book. First of all, it made me cry, it made me madly defend it to everyone I saw and also recommend it to those same people. This book was amazing in the brutal honesty of everything that was written in it. This book made me question what I thought I knew about the wars and boy soldiers.
A Long Way Gone tells the story of Ishmael, a boy who loses his family and is forced to become one of the infamous boy soldiers we have heard so many stories about. In reading this memoir, we get to see everything from the point of view of a boy that wanted to get the bad guys for taking his family away. It is a tragic tale of human nature and manipulation that although ends fairly well, is slightly traumatic, even for the reader. Some of the themes in this book include death (descriptive), killing in all kinds of ways, and PTSD. Be careful choosing this book for your child to read as this is not for everyone.
A Long Way Gone tells the story of Ishmael, a boy who loses his family and is forced to become one of the infamous boy soldiers we have heard so many stories about. In reading this memoir, we get to see everything from the point of view of a boy that wanted to get the bad guys for taking his family away. It is a tragic tale of human nature and manipulation that although ends fairly well, is slightly traumatic, even for the reader. Some of the themes in this book include death (descriptive), killing in all kinds of ways, and PTSD. Be careful choosing this book for your child to read as this is not for everyone.
Eu chorei algumas vezes lendo esse livro. A história de vida de Ishmael Beah é extremamente triste, dolorosa, pesada. Não tem como ficar revoltado com toda a situação que ele viveu. Há inúmeras passagens tristes, mas também chorei de felicidade.
É triste perceber o quanto políticos e pessoas que buscam vingança a todo custo podem acabar com a vida de outros. Principalmente quando são crianças. É importante perceber que o amor e o carinho pode fazer uma diferença significativa.
A violência e lavagem cerebral na história de Beah é o que permeia grande parte história de Serra Leoa. Deixo aqui a recomendação de um bom livro. Se você não gostar da forma que ele escreve que é faz a leitura se tonar tranquila pelo menos pode aprender o que uma guerra pode causar na vida de milhares de pessoas ao redor do mundo.
É triste perceber o quanto políticos e pessoas que buscam vingança a todo custo podem acabar com a vida de outros. Principalmente quando são crianças. É importante perceber que o amor e o carinho pode fazer uma diferença significativa.
A violência e lavagem cerebral na história de Beah é o que permeia grande parte história de Serra Leoa. Deixo aqui a recomendação de um bom livro. Se você não gostar da forma que ele escreve que é faz a leitura se tonar tranquila pelo menos pode aprender o que uma guerra pode causar na vida de milhares de pessoas ao redor do mundo.
Something was off when I read this book. First, it was written simplistically, as a young adult novel would be. It's a very quick read. Then, at times it felt vague and lackluster...it lacked detail. I thought maybe this was due to the author's drug use as a boy soldier. Perhaps he suffered memory loss due to his substance abuse. Some of the time line seemed jumbled. It seemed strange that the book was mostly about the time leading up to his soldiering and the time after his rescue, with little writing about the actual soldiering. Again, I thought memory loss, or maybe just unwillingness to relive that episode in time. The behavior of the rehab clinic seemed unlike American rehab clinics,(no description of drug withdrawals, patients left to come and go despite attacks and violence they perpetrated...no repercussions or comments from the staff), but it wasn't America. Perhaps that was as good as rehab got in a country decimated by civil war, understaffed and no money. Also, there were things that felt "fantasical", to use my own made-up word. A Rap cassette tape fell from his pocket twice to facilitate his safety? He ran for a half mile from a pack of wild boar? There were others. Mostly, I was left with a lot of questions in which I tried to fill in the holes.
I put these things aside and continued to read. Having a 12 year old (the age in which Ishmael became a soldier), made reading difficult...picturing my own 12 year old alone in bush for months, with little to eat, without family, seeing the things he saw. Horrific. There were times when I was glad there were few details and description.
I didn't know of the controversy of the book until after I finished it. Apparently, there is some question as to whether parts (or all of it) were fictionalized. Only Ishmael knows that. It would address why the book felt "off" to me. But then so would memory loss and poor writing (perhaps due to language barrier). Regardless of the controversy, it does educate on the subject of child soldiers and the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 90's.
I put these things aside and continued to read. Having a 12 year old (the age in which Ishmael became a soldier), made reading difficult...picturing my own 12 year old alone in bush for months, with little to eat, without family, seeing the things he saw. Horrific. There were times when I was glad there were few details and description.
I didn't know of the controversy of the book until after I finished it. Apparently, there is some question as to whether parts (or all of it) were fictionalized. Only Ishmael knows that. It would address why the book felt "off" to me. But then so would memory loss and poor writing (perhaps due to language barrier). Regardless of the controversy, it does educate on the subject of child soldiers and the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 90's.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Beautiful and poignant story. Takes you on the journey of a real-life story of a boy stripped of his childhood, trying to survive in the depths of a civil war in which many lives around him are lost.
Its raw, graphic imagery will shock you (made me cry a few times) but its worth the read. Knowing that this a true story that affected many children within Sierra Leone and wars today that affect others in many different countries makes the reader try to empathise, to understand the brutality of it all but no child or human should have to experience so much death.
Its raw, graphic imagery will shock you (made me cry a few times) but its worth the read. Knowing that this a true story that affected many children within Sierra Leone and wars today that affect others in many different countries makes the reader try to empathise, to understand the brutality of it all but no child or human should have to experience so much death.
Ishmael Beah was a child soldier, rescued, rehabilitated who shares his story with millions in his memoir, Long Way Gone. It’s a powerful story of a stolen childhood, innocence lost, and fighting for survival. Ishmael grew up in West Africa, in beautiful Sierra Leone, where storytelling is part of the culture. To tell stories was to communicate. Years after his horrendous experience in combat, Ishmael decided to tell his own story of what happened in the war. He writes this book to raise awareness & shed a light on the once unknown injustice of child soldiers. From his journey as a child before the war to his induction into the army to his drug addiction days of combat to his rehabilitation and new life, Ishmael gives readers insight and details into the not just the things he did, but the emotions he felt, throughout his young life.
I loved this book, and it's impact on the conversation of modern-day slavery, child trafficking, and child soldiers. Read it!
I loved this book, and it's impact on the conversation of modern-day slavery, child trafficking, and child soldiers. Read it!
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced