A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Thorndike Press Large Print Basic Series)

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My new friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them the full story of my life.
“Why did you leave Sierra Leone?”
“Because there is a war.”
“You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?”
“Yes, all the time.”
“Cool.”
I smile a little.
“You should tell us about it sometime.”
“Yes, sometime.”

This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.

What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived.

In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.

What Customers Say About A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Thorndike Press Large Print Basic Series):

After the atrocities that happened to him and his family he finds refuge with his family. This book sums up the atrocities that occurred there. Here it is a book about adventure and action, emotion and death. The war in South Africa took its toll on thousands of people, emotionally and physically. These horrific tragedies are repeated and repeated throughout the story line.After I have read this book many times, I think the book has a very good description of the civil war in South Africa. The events in this book have happened and have happened to many children. Exciting and fun but at different parts of the book he mixes in sadness.As the main character, Ishmael, tries to walk away from his worst nightmare, he runs into problems.

He also uses very descriptive paragraphs to enlighten the reader. Both, the civil war and Ishmael's life as a soldier are the same in many ways.Ishmael Beah changes a good hearted kid into a ruthless troublesome teenager as he is faced with many different challenges such as starvation and death.

The book uses graphic description and profanity not suitable for minors or teens. Genocide and poverty has corrupted South Africa's coast line.

The memoirs of a boy soldier. Try picturing thatched roofs blazing with fire, women and children screaming for there lives and the only thing you are worried about is you might not have drugs for the night.Along way gone cannot relate to any of my real life situations or even any books I have read but can relate to similar situations.

I would recommend this book to anyone willing to read it. Poverty plagues Ishmael Beah in Along Way Gone.Along Way Gone should be read by adults only.

This is nothing line any book I have ever read.

At times it does seem a bit too matter of fact and certain parts do appear dry in their accounts. He does not make the reader feel guilty for their lack of knowledge on the subject nor does he criticize those whose involvement is a direct cause of this conflict. He is forcibly hooked on drugs and becomes a killing machine that closely mirrors those he abhors. However, his story is so incredible, informative and touching that it overpowers any and all of its flaws.This is one of those books you simply MUST read but be prepared because the details will get to you. Considering what he went through and how close this is to his recent life I was astounded at how objective his account is. I want to preclude this review by saying I do have some minor spoilers here to the plot but they don't give so much away that it would in any way diminish your enjoyment of this book.Having heard about the ongoing conflicts in Sierra Leone and knowing that often children in many different countries are forced into military service far too young I was drawn to this book and Ishmael's story.I was not disappointed.Ishmael's story begins as a young adolescent boy who lives in a village that is industrially behind but peaceful and productive.

He narrowly misses being reunited with his family when they are burnt alive by the rebels only minutes prior to him reaching them.Ishmael eventually is trapped in a situation where he must decide if he want to be killed by the rebels or join those who kill them. It truly is just his story with every excruciating detail of how he remembers it.Although I am giving this book five stars, I must say that stylistically it is not one of the strongest books I have ever read. His world is turned upside down when the rebels come and destroy his entire community and in the midst of the gunfire and fleeing he is separated from his family. He does describe his hate and disgust that he may have felt in the moment but he never deviates from his story to try and give a political or social tirade on the events (which if he did I honestly would have been forgiving of). Also, understand that once you read it you can never, ever truly be the same. He begins a long and dangerous journey where good people mistrust him and believe he is the enemy, to facing the truly threatening who kill without mercy or restraint.

The last third of the book is dedicated to his slow rehabilitation and advocating for peace only to be once again caught in the midst of the killing.Prior to reading this book I knew that these situations were horrible but I truly had no clue.

Having read other books on child soldiers, I was disappointed in this one. There was no sense of cohesion to this war story. I was looking for a lot more.Two stars An interesting story, but child soldiers fighting for the side of the government seem a lot less interesting than those fighting on the sides of the rebels.Here, although there were some harrowing, even blood curling incidents, they were spaced out far enough that there was a lot of empty space, both in the story and in the logic of the narrative. There was a lot of walking along isolated roads that led to nowhere and a lot of sleeping in the woods along those roads to nowhere.

When I put this book down all I could say was, "Wow." You feel the pain he must have been going through when he lost his family, you feel his anger at the way he was treated by the Rebels and you are shocked when the Rebels who claim to be siding with the people are killing the people with joy.

Otherwise it is a good companion to the Blood Diamond movie which covers some of the same material. The author does a great job of telling his story from a boys point of view with imagery that will give you nightmares.If you cannot handle reading about graphic violence, rape, murder, wartime atrocities, then do not buy this book. This book is disturbing and for that reason should be on the short list of required texts for college. Unlike the WWI and WWII war books which read like ancient history this one hits close to home as most of the events transpired within the last decade.