A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier Summary and Reviews

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

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
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Book Summary Information

Author: Ishmael Beah
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-08-05
ISBN: 0374531269
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Book Reviews of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

Book Review: Powerful account
Summary: 5 Stars

This is an account by the author of his experiences as a boy soldier during Sierra Leone's civil war in the 1990s. The story only gives a glimpse of the normal carefree life Beah led before the conflict. He sees many gut-wrenching scenes like a woman hold her bullet-ridden baby in the early pages. Beah flees the rebels only to be snatched up by the army who used child soldiers in their battle. On drugs and indoctrinated with rage, he loses his innocent childhood and becomes an effective killer.

"Long Way Gone" is a stark look at war. Its violence becomes disturbing when you realize the violence is being perpetrated by kids barely in their teens.

I really liked this book but was glad to balance its graphic message with a spiritual novel about transformation called "Nexus" by Singh & Morrison. It's a dramatic story about love, hope and compassion.

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