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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
This book is well-written, but extremely heartbreaking. I am impressed by Ishmael's resilience. His story is impossible to fathom by someone who has never experienced the tragedies he endured.
Read for English 593: Human Rights Literature and the Law
Good and enlightening memoir about the life of a 12 year old boy soldier in Sierra Leone.
This book is so incredibly important. Harrowing, captivating, and real.
My only opinion of this book: If you haven't read it: drop what you're doing, go pick it up, and start reading it now.
This was a hard read, as can be expected (or listen, since I got the audiobook version). Beah's memoir covers his childhood, starting when war broke out in his area and he had to go on the run to avoid being killed or forced into being a child soldier. As the reader already knows from the subtitle of the book, running did not work, and Beah is ultimately forced into the army and brainwashed into viewing the rebels the army is fighting as the enemy, and the ultimate reason for the upheaval of his life.
The writing is sparse, but with striking details that jump out at you every once in a while. Much of the book describes Beah and his various companions' travels before their conscription into the army, where they went for long stretches of time without regular food or water and were regarded with suspicion by almost every village they passed through, the villagers fearing that they were boy soldiers themselves. This portion dragged on a bit, but was necessary for understanding how the army was almost a welcome respite after Beah's struggles. In the village housing the army that the boys are taken to, they find peace for the first time in a long time. Until it's time to go to battle. Beah and his fellow soldiers fight for revenge for their ravaged villages and families, but none of them truly know what they're fighting for, ultimately. They're led around, following orders but kept in the dark as to the reasons why.
Beah's story is haunting in its horrible truths and the distant familiarity of it. I know that in far-off countries, terrible wars are being fought, and boy soldiers are still very much a reality. A Long Way Gone brings that reality to life, right in your face in a way you can't turn away from. It's not a pleasant book, but is an important one.
The writing is sparse, but with striking details that jump out at you every once in a while. Much of the book describes Beah and his various companions' travels before their conscription into the army, where they went for long stretches of time without regular food or water and were regarded with suspicion by almost every village they passed through, the villagers fearing that they were boy soldiers themselves. This portion dragged on a bit, but was necessary for understanding how the army was almost a welcome respite after Beah's struggles. In the village housing the army that the boys are taken to, they find peace for the first time in a long time. Until it's time to go to battle. Beah and his fellow soldiers fight for revenge for their ravaged villages and families, but none of them truly know what they're fighting for, ultimately. They're led around, following orders but kept in the dark as to the reasons why.
Beah's story is haunting in its horrible truths and the distant familiarity of it. I know that in far-off countries, terrible wars are being fought, and boy soldiers are still very much a reality. A Long Way Gone brings that reality to life, right in your face in a way you can't turn away from. It's not a pleasant book, but is an important one.
This important book is beautifully written and heartbreaking on almost every page. But there is also an innocence and humor that come through, especially when the author describes his first time in an elevator and his first experience of Winter. It also makes a profound statement about the self-perpetuating nature of war: "I joined the army to avenge the deaths of my family and to survive, but I’ve come to learn that if I am going to take revenge, in that process I will kill another person whose family will want revenge; then revenge and revenge and revenge will never come to an end."Highly recommended.
I've wanted to read this for a while (since it came out). I checked out the audio version over Thanksgiving 2011, hoping I could listen to it on my drive to NC. Alas, I didn't like the narrator, and I found it very hard to follow. Just after Christmas I finally watched Blood Diamond, and found myself ready to try this again.
Updated: WOW. Why did it take me so many years to read this? Powerful, eloquent, and horrifying, because you know it's true. This war did unspeakable things to these children, and they to one another. It took me about 100 pages (nearly half the book) to really get into it, but what a powerful, unforgettable read.
Updated: WOW. Why did it take me so many years to read this? Powerful, eloquent, and horrifying, because you know it's true. This war did unspeakable things to these children, and they to one another. It took me about 100 pages (nearly half the book) to really get into it, but what a powerful, unforgettable read.
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced