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A review by willowbiblio
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
5.0
"All the students sat apart from us, as if Mohamed and I were going to snap at any minute and kill someone. Somehow they had learned that we had been child soldiers. We had not only lost our childhood in the war but our lives had been tainted by the same experiences that still caused us great pain and sadness."
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Wow. I had basically no knowledge of the civil strife in Sierra Leone beyond a general understanding that child soldiers were used and it was horrific. This book at times felt like an almost disassociated recounting of the horrors Ishmael witnessed and took part in. Throughout I was struck by his very direct prose and descriptions of emotions as sensations in his body, especially when the reality he was faced with became too much to bear.
I think it would be easy to look away and not witness this story, but that is how this kind of evil proliferates. I found myself crying at the patient love displayed by the care/aid workers. Their repetitions of "it's not your fault" and their smiles/kindness were a ray of light among so much cruelty and loss.
Ishmael's descriptions of his PTSD symptoms- migraines, insomnia, flashbacks, etc- were so sincere. They clearly depicted the ongoing cost of his stolen childhood. And throughout, the propaganda and brainwashing that allowed those atrocities to continue unabated were quite jarring. Truly a perspective-altering narrative.
---------
Wow. I had basically no knowledge of the civil strife in Sierra Leone beyond a general understanding that child soldiers were used and it was horrific. This book at times felt like an almost disassociated recounting of the horrors Ishmael witnessed and took part in. Throughout I was struck by his very direct prose and descriptions of emotions as sensations in his body, especially when the reality he was faced with became too much to bear.
I think it would be easy to look away and not witness this story, but that is how this kind of evil proliferates. I found myself crying at the patient love displayed by the care/aid workers. Their repetitions of "it's not your fault" and their smiles/kindness were a ray of light among so much cruelty and loss.
Ishmael's descriptions of his PTSD symptoms- migraines, insomnia, flashbacks, etc- were so sincere. They clearly depicted the ongoing cost of his stolen childhood. And throughout, the propaganda and brainwashing that allowed those atrocities to continue unabated were quite jarring. Truly a perspective-altering narrative.