A Long Way Gone...

Over vacation, I also finished A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. While this was a touching, albeit disturbing memoir, I felt like it could have gone much deeper. There were times, and scenes, where feelings and emotions were raw, but I still felt like a lot was also glossed over. I wanted to know more about the narrator Ishmael, and his mental and physical journey. Beah goes from being a 12-year old, happy boy who loves music and rap, to a child soldier, hopped up on drugs and killing with a fierceness and savageness, spurred on by the will to live and revenge for what happened to his family and his village. Can you blame me for wanting to know more about the boy who was strong enough to live through this and tell the tale?

This book should be a must-read for several reasons, but mostly for a reminder of how lucky most of us are, and to learn to appreciate everything we have. I would recommend this book to older readers, the descriptions of violence and war can be graphic and brutal, but never inappropriate. They are a necessary component to the book, if we are to ever understand a fraction of what life was like in Sierra Leone during their Civil War. This book certainly puts things into perspective, while shedding light on a Global issue that should not be ignored or swept under the rug.