booksbythecup 's review for:

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

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I had to stop reading this book several times because what Beah and other young men like him had to endure in surviving in his country sieged by war is unthinkable. This book should be something everyone should read simply for the fact that growing up isn't always bells and whistles. What has been stolen from Beah, his family, his childhood can't be replaced. But what he has done in penning this memoir is to allow us to see what he loss, "everything that meant something" to him, everything that means something to each one of us. I'm embarrassed with my lack of awareness, the audacity we have as citizens of other places to forget what life has been like for others. We could easily get stuck in the mindset that the place we live has so many problems but can we expand our compassion and sympathy to realize the WHOLE race of mankind in all corners of the world have lived something as terrifying as being a child solider. In no way should we minimize or demean the lives of others.

It's a shame it's taken me this long to read this book. I don't think I could ever forget Beah's story and I hope anytime I'm tempted to, I'll be reminded of how much so many have endured.