leslie115 's review for:

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

4.0

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Very good read for my AtW challenge (Sierra Leone). I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author, and his story was compelling despite some gaps. For example, his rehabilitation seemed so gradual that it felt like one minute he was a drugged-up boy fighting former rebels in the program, and the next minute he is asked to talk about his experiences as a recovered child soldier. I also think it was interesting how people in the rehabilitation program constantly told him that it (e.g., the war, his killings) was not his fault, but it took a long time for him (understandably) to even feel guilt.