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internetnomads 's review for:
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
by Ishmael Beah
I am glad to see more being written on this topic. I find myself much more interested in world affairs these days, and in African affairs in particular. The law doesn't exist where Beah lived. People feel the need to run away from everything they've ever owned or known at a moment's notice - including their families. It's the most dog-eat-dog part of the world you can imagine.
I did wish for a bit more context in the story. I gather that it was a conscious decision on Beah's part to keep everything very simple, since the matter of survival in the wilderness during wartime does distill to its essentials. When he was a boy there was no understanding the whys and wherefores of the conflict, only that it existed. I found the simplicity of the story creating a distance instead of drawing me in.
I did wish for a bit more context in the story. I gather that it was a conscious decision on Beah's part to keep everything very simple, since the matter of survival in the wilderness during wartime does distill to its essentials. When he was a boy there was no understanding the whys and wherefores of the conflict, only that it existed. I found the simplicity of the story creating a distance instead of drawing me in.