Define Books During A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
| Original Title: | A Long Way Gone. Memoirs of a Boy Soldier |
| ISBN: | 0374105235 (ISBN13: 9780374105235) |
| Edition Language: | English URL http://us.macmillan.com/alongwaygone/IshmaelBeah |
| Characters: | Ishmael Beah, Musa, Esther, "Junior" Beah, Talloi, Kanei, Alhaji, Jumah, Moriba, Saidu, Khalilou |
| Setting: | Sierra Leone New York City, New York(United States) |
| Literary Awards: | ALA Alex Award (2008), Lincoln Award Nominee (2010), NAIBA Book of the Year for Nonfiction (2007), Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award Nominee (2008) |
Ishmael Beah
Hardcover | Pages: 229 pages Rating: 4.16 | 156226 Users | 10428 Reviews
Narrative Conducive To Books A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
The devastating story of war through the eyes of a child soldier. Beah tells 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 became a soldier. 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.
Identify Appertaining To Books A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
| Title | : | A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier |
| Author | : | Ishmael Beah |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 229 pages |
| Published | : | February 13th 2007 by Sarah Crichton Books |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. Autobiography. Memoir. Cultural. Africa. Biography. War |
Rating Appertaining To Books A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Ratings: 4.16 From 156226 Users | 10428 ReviewsJudgment Appertaining To Books A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Good book- short, simple, he describes his experience as a child soldier. Pretty amazing, bc you figure not that many of those child soldiers have the opportunity or inkling to write about it. I do wish the book had a clearer timeline and sense of the history and politics surrounding his personal experience in the conflict, but hey- the guy is not a historian, so I am not gonna bitch about that.The topic of the Sierra Leone conflict though is FASCINATING, not to mention disgusting when you seeThis is a very important book, though not an easy one to read. Ishmael's style leaves a lot to be desired, and he is especially weak, I feel, when he tries to be philosophical. But he makes up for that with the descriptions of war, to the depravity which human beings can descend to. The fact that he does this with a child's candour, unemotionally, makes it even more disturbing.Children can be easily moulded. And cruelty comes easily to children, because they do not think of it as "cruel" in the
"If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen."This is an amazing memoir about a child soldier in Sierra Leone. In 1993, when Ishmael was 12, rebels attacked his village and he fled, never to see his parents again. After weeks of walking and scrounging for food, he was picked up by the government military, given an AK-47 and was trained how to fight. The boys were given drugs, including cocaine and amphetamines, and sent into battle. Ishmael spent years fighting
A glimpse into the world of the child soldier. For two years as a young teenager, the author was forcibly recruited into a Sierra Leonean rebel army which exploited children for use as soldiers. Under age, under equipped and under trained, placed into situations young teenagers should never be placed into, their lives were frequently cut short. Those that survived this brutal and violent universe live with the trauma for the rest of their lives. This important memoir shows the appalling depths
For anyone out there who thinks war is "exciting" or "cool", that it's like a videogame or a film, this harrowing account from a former child soldier will make you think twice, no doubt about it. As he recalls the fear, grief and horror of the situation, his story becomes really powerful and one that hopefully people will remember for a long time.
I will never. Never. Complain about my childhood again.Okay, that's not true. I will. But when I let out a sad sigh of remorse that I didn't figure out exactly why I really wanted to be friends with that one guy in band in high school until it was way too late to do anything about it, I will at least think, "At least I wasn't killing people and snorting gunpowder."Like most of you reading this, I knew absolutely nothing about what was happening in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. I didn't know there
What an incredibly sad story. This book went full circle as it covered the life of a little boy in war-torn Sierra Leone. It starts out with him happily tucked between two families that love him, then he is ripped out of that little piece of reality . This story covers how the limits one sets for himself in life can be eroded away by life experiences that pick away at that line, blurring it, especially when survival and safety are on the line. Such tragedy.
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