A Long Way Gone Review

Title of the Book: A Long Way Gone: Memoir of a boy soldier
Author: Ishmael Beah
Number of Pages: 218
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Review: Have you ever be so scared that you couldn't move even when it was the only thing that would keep you alive? That is the fear that Ishmael Beah felt and why his life change forever. The book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldiers focuses on the life as Beah as he grows up in the face of war. The book starts off with Beah at the age of 12 and his friends leaving their hometown for a show, which would end up getting attacked while they were away. The story then follows Beah and a group of boys trying to survive as they travel from village to village running away from war. As they run for their lives they are followed by death, war, and fear due to the distrust that has come over the land. Once they think they have finally found safety Beah realizes that they are soon going to be put back into the war. The story then follows his life as a soldier for the army against the rebels where he loses his childhood and had to face more gruesomeness than you could imagine. Luckily he would end up getting saved and sent to a rehabilitation center where he learned to live a normal life after the war, but it would follow him until he would finally move to the united states.

What makes this book unique is that it is the story of a kid being a soldier. Most of the time war stories are told by adults when they were at war but this is a different kind of story. We are able to see a kids viewpoint and how they recognized and comprehend different situations. It's also unique because their are not many kids that have ever lived through an experience like this and are able to tell the story so it is an important book that made us aware of something we might not have known was happening. Another thing is that you were able to see how Beah went from a child to an adult because of the situations he was put in. The tone throughout the book is really serious due to all the different horrifying moments that are encountered throughout.The writing style throughout this book seems like he is looking back at everything he did in his life while he was young and wishing the circumstances were different because he regretted many of his decisions.

Many of the memorable moment from the book were when they were or would get chased out of villages because they people were so scared, but the one that I think of was when they made it to the beach village and were chased but they ended up getting helped by one of the villagers when they were in serious need. I would recommend this book to people who like to get really engaged with a book but someone who is able to comprehend and is ok with reading a book that may be troubling to them.It engages you and makes people realize that they don't have a bad life compared to the book but also because we don't usually hear about these types of war stories through the news. It would also be a smart read for people that like to read war story books like The Lone Survivor or American Sniper due to the fact that they are also memoirs and a good view of what might be happening on the other side of the world.