Rose Davis
JMC 504
Book Review
March 12, 2008
“A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier”
Author: Ishmael Beah
Sarah Crichton Books, New York
Pages: 229
Price: $22.00
When most people think of their childhood they remember carefree days of smiles and laughter, when the biggest decision you had to make was grilled cheese or peanut butter and jelly. However, for many children in Sierra Leone, Africa, childhood was a much different experience, one full of violence, destruction and fear.
In Ishmael Beah’s book “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier”, Beah tells the story of how he became trapped in a world of violence during the brutal political rebellion in Sierra Leone. This work of non-fiction, which was number two on The New York Times bestseller list, tells the heart-wrenching story of how far a boy will go to survive, and his courageous journey to overcome the terror he is forced to take part in. It is a fantastic book that I would encourage everyone to read.
His story begins when Beah is barely 12 years old fleeing his village after it was destroyed by rebels fighting against the Sierra Leone government. Without knowing whether his family is dead or alive, Beah and several other surviving boys wander the jungle for months searching for help and their families. They eat what little food they can find and travel in fear through the night, praying they won’t be caught by the rebels.
After several months Beah is caught, not by the rebels, but by his own government’s army. The army protects him at first, but when they are surrounded by rebels, all the young men must fight with the army or leave the camp and risk being killed. Beah joins the government’s army and is quickly turned into a heartless killing machine, trained to fight to the death. At 16 Beah is removed from the fighting and brought to a rehabilitation center. There he must to learn how to shed the tough outer layer of a soldier and try to find the kind-hearted young man that remains within.
The civil war in Sierra Leone began in 1991 when a group on men started the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), whose goal was to rid the country of the corrupt government. The RUF used much violence and terror to try and gain control and was faced with intense opposition. For ten years a brutal and horrifying civil war raged in Sierra Leone, until finally in 2001 a peace agreement was signed by the government and the RUF. In January 2002 the civil war is declared officially over. However, there are still other countries in Africa that are experiencing similar political rebellion today. Beah uses his story to spread awareness of what young men and boys went through during Sierra Leone’s civil war, and what many other young men and boys are still experiencing in Africa now.
“A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” is Beah’s first novel. He wrote the short story, “When Good Comes from Bad” in 2000. This short story is basically a summarized version of “A Long Way Gone.” It is well written and moving even though not as detailed as the book.
Like all great non-fiction books, “A Long Way Gone” uses good description and detail so the reader can really put themselves in the story and relate to the author. It takes a lot of strength to write about events as terrible as the ones Beah experienced, and he is showing his ability to face those challenges in order to spread awareness and hopefully encourage change. This non-fiction book is different than others in the fact that it does not present an argument, but rather a social issue that needs to be addressed. It is similar to a biography in the fact that it details Beah’s life. I think that it is great that he is using his story to try to help others who are or were in his situation.
After the book was published there was some controversy regarding whether or not some of the events in the story actually occurred. According to a report by ABC News, a story in The Weekend Australian claimed that Beah's village was destroyed in 1995 rather than 1993, and that because of this, Beah could not have been a soldier for more than a couple of months, rather than for the two years he describes in the book. A reporter from The Weekend Australian went to Beah’s village to ask the locals about the attack and was told that it had occurred in 1995, not 1993. This discovery angered many people who felt that Beah’s book should not have been published as non-fiction. However, the publisher’s claim that they did all of the necessary fact checking and do not believe Beah’s story is false.
I think that it is possible that not all of Beah’s experiences may have occurred exactly as he describes in the book. On the other hand, I don’t know why he would need to make up any of the story because it is obviously a devastating experience, whether it lasted for two years or two months. I think the important thing is the overall message of the story. Although it might not be 100 percent accurate, Beah still is getting his message out and letting the world know what many young men and boys experienced in Sierra Leone.
I really liked Beah’s writing style in this book. It is simple, yet detailed and interesting enough to keep the reader’s attention, which is how a book should be written. He tells the story through the eyes of a child in a way that grabs you and makes you feel for the characters. Because it is a memoir of his life, he is able to put his personality into it, and at the end you are really rooting for him. Beah uses jargon from his African language, with words such as crapes, which is what the boys call sneakers, and brown brown, which is what the soldiers called a mix of gunpowder and cocaine that they would snort. Using this jargon adds to the relationship the reader feels with the characters.
You could see how Beah’s values changed from the beginning of the book, when he was still an innocent child, to the middle of the book, when he became a soldier, and at the end of the book, when he was in the rehabilitation center. He was so innocent and honest at the beginning; it was shocking the change he went through once he became a soldier. As a soldier, he seemed to lose all feelings for others and his only goal was to kill. There is one point in the story where several rebels are taken captive by the government army and tied to posts in the camp. The head of the government army gathers several boys, Beah included, and tells them each to slit the throat of one of the captives. Beah does it without hesitation. This is when you realize that he has lost much of his childhood innocence. He has become cold and almost evil and has no mercy for the man he kills.
Non-fiction books need to have good description where the writer is showing you what he is experiencing rather than just telling. In the scene described in the previous paragraph, Beah talks about his lack of emotion and how it feels to kill a man. He describes it in a way that the reader can picture the grotesque event happening. Also, when he talks about being in the jungle and having to kill or be killed he describes the sights, sounds, and his own emotions to show what a different person he had become. Beah does a great job of showing rather than telling throughout the entire book.
A non-fiction book such as this should be structured in a way that makes sense. There needs to be a definite starting point and then either a major event or a series of events that lead to a definite conclusion. Beah does exactly this in “A Long Way Gone.” The book starts off with little conflict, but the trouble starts quickly and Beah goes through so many emotional and difficult things. He draws the reader in, and it is almost impossible to put the book down.
This was a fantastic book. Beah’s writing style draws the reader in and holds their attention until the very end. Although the story was sad, it had a great message of strength and overcoming hardships. His story is very powerful and made me really appreciate the life I have, especially my childhood. I definitely think he accomplished what he wanted to in writing this book because spreading awareness is the first step in making a change. This is one of the best non-fiction books I have read in a long time and I definitely recommend it.
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