Ishmael Beah grew up in Sierra Leone, a country on the west coast of Africa. In 1993, at the age of twelve, Sierra Leone’s civil war reached Ishmael and destroyed his village, family, friends and his childhood. Young boys were the soldiers who fought the war. They were given food, shelter and drugs and no where else to turn since their families were dead and they would be as well if they were on their own. Ishmael was turned into one of these boy soldiers and he was one of the lucky few to get out alive. His story is a scary and awakening reality to the evils that exist in our world. Ishmael’s story is one that needs to be heard as he has to live with it for the rest of his life. In his own words, what I have learned from my experiences is that revenge is not good. I joined the army to avenge the deaths of my family and to survive but I’ve come to learn that if I am going to take revenge, in that process I will kill another person whose family will want revenge; then revenge and revenge and revenge will never come to an end . . .
This book is written as a memoir and has an extremely powerful message. It is very detailed and it is remarkable how clearly Ishmael is able to recall his life and experiences during the war. Everything is written chronologically along with relevant thoughts, emotions and flashbacks that put the reader in Ishmael’s shoes. I have nothing to critique the book about; it was extremely well written, powerful and very sincere. A long Way Gone is Ishmael’s only book and he wrote it because there were all kinds of stories told about the war that made it sound as if it was happening in a faraway and different land.
Jonathan
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