A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is a memoir written by Ishmael Beah. The story starts while he is living with his father, stepmother and brother. The book starts with Ishmael Beah, his older brother Junior, and their friend Talloi traveling from their village of Mogbwemo to Mattru Jong in order to perform in a talent show. Ishmael, Junior, and their friend love rap music and sing and dance to it.  

While away on their trip their village is attacked by rebels and at the age of 12, he is left on his own separated from his family. The think that their parents fled to a small village on the Sierra Leone coast and they try to try to go there. They don’t find their parents but are forced to join an army unit where is given plenty of drugs and brainwashing and trained to kill. Ishmael lives this life of a boy soldier until he is 16 when UNICEF gets him released from the army to be put in a rehabilitation program.

The process of making a young boy capable and able to be a ruthless killer is something this book will likely cause many to never forget. Also, the goodness and needs of the boy as he is rehabilitated and eventually finds a place that he can consider his family is also well done.

An important book, well done.

Quotes

“In the sky there are always answers and explanations for everything: every pain, every suffering, joy and confusion.” ...

“When I was young, my father used to say, 'If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen.“

“Some nights the sky wept stars that quickly floated and disappeared into the darkness before our wishes could meet them. ”

“...children have the resilience to outlive their sufferings, if given a chance.”

“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...”