Starred Review.   “This absorbing account by a young man who, as a boy of 12, gets swept up in Sierra Leone 's civil war goes beyond even the best journalistic efforts in revealing the life and mind of a child abducted into the horrors of warfare. Told in clear, accessible language by a young writer with a gifted literary voice , this memoir seems destined to become a classic firsthand account of war and the ongoing plight of child soldiers in conflicts worldwide.” — Publishers Weekly Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. “ I have rarely read a book that makes my heart hurt, but this one does...It's the most moving and remarkable story” —Jon Stewart “ Everyone in the world should read this book . Not just because it contains an amazing story, or because it’s our moral, bleeding-heart duty, or because it’s clearly written. We should read it to learn about the world and about what it means to be human .”  — Washington Post “ A breathtaking and unselfpitying account of how a gentle spirit survives a childhood from which all innocence has suddenly been sucked out.  It's a truly riveting memoir .”  —Time Magazine “ Beah is a gifted writer … Read his memoir and you will be haunted … It’s a high price to pay, but it’s worth it.” — Newsweek.com “ Deeply moving, even uplifting …Beah' s story, with its clear-eyed reporting and literate particularity—whether he's dancing to rap, eating a coconut or running toward the burning village where his family is trapped— demands to be read .” (Critic’s Choice, Four stars)  — People Magazine   “Beah’s memoir, A Long Way Gone is unforgettable testimony that Africa’s children—millions of them dying and orphaned by preventable diseases, hundreds of thousands of them forced into battle—have eyes to see and voices to tell what has happened. And what voices! How is it possible that 26-year-old Beah , a nonnative English speaker, separated from his family at age 12, taught to maim and to kill at 13, can sound such notes of ­family happiness, of friendship under duress, of quiet horror? No outsider could have written this book, and it’s hard to imagine that many ­insiders could do so with such acute vision, stark language, and tenderness. It is a heart-rending achievement .” — Elle Magazine “When Beah is finally approached about the possibility of serving as a spokesperson on the issue of child soldiers, he knows exactly what he wants to tell the world: “I would always tell people that I believe children have the resilience to outlive their sufferings, if given a chance.” Others may make the same assertions, but Beah has the advantage of stating them in the first person. That makes A Long Way Gone all the more gripping .”  —Christian Science Monitor “Beah speaks in a distinctive voice , and he tells an important story.”    — The Wall Street Journal   “Hideously effective in conveying the essential horror of his experiences.”   — Kirkus Reviews     “ Extraordinary . . . A ferocious and desolate account of how ordinary children were turned into professional killers.”  — The Guardian UK