One of the best books I´ve read so far!
A true and tragic story about a boy, born in Sierra Leone, whose childhood ended abruptly as the civil war reached his home. He lost his childhood, livelihood, family and friends...just all he once had. Since running away and surviving in the bush got difficult for a young boy, it´s only understandable that he found safety in the army, who provided shelter and food. All of a sudden he found himself being a boy soldier taking drugs, killing people, because that´s what he was told to do. After years on the front, he was rescued to experience rehabilitation and education which finally made him end up living in New York City. The end of the book seemed too sudden for me first, because it doesn´t tell how Beah´s life goes on in New York. But this way it made me research the internet for Beah, boy soldiers and children in war...what made me learn even more about it.

I´ve seen this book in the shelf so many times, read the back of it all so often, but often chose for another one, because reading about a child experiencing war with all it´s violence, madness and cruelty seemed alienating to me. But it also made me realize how little I knew about war and boy soldiers, and I was curious to learn more. So who else in the world could tell a boy soldier´s story more authentic than a former boy soldier itself.

I started reading and soon found myself caught in the awful world of Ishmael Beah and could barely stop until the last page. Beah is not reserved talking about the cruelty or taking drugs, he just tells it the way he experienced war...honest and frankly. The way he tells the story of the long way he had gone, the reader can almost picture the area, feeling like always running a step behind him, hiding, watching what happens. Sometimes the reader want´s to forget that it´s a child telling this awful story, because nobody would want a child to face all this violence and we can´t imagine or believe a child to experience war (we all know it happens, though) and act like an adult that young age only to survive. But all so often Ishmael Beah´s childlike thoughts remind us of his young age, in which his childhood stopped so abruptly.

This book really opened my eyes and heart and gave me a better understanding of children suffering from war, and war in general. I truly respect Ishmael Beah for sharing his story with the world so frankly. I will certainly recommend this book, while I believe the world needs to read it, because sometimes the Bad can change to the Good...

“A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” by Ishmael Beah is both tragic and inspiring in telling the life story of a child soldier in war torn Sierra Leone. At Just thirteen years old, Ishmael Beah’s life took a shattering turn from happy village life to being orphaned and forced to commit terrible atrocities under the command of army forces. Through his memoir, Ishmael manages to bring understanding to a situation that most would not even be able to fathom let alone understand. While the situations the book discusses are disturbing, the description of these horrors through the eyes of a teenage boy brings a heartbreaking tone to the book that allows you to consider how ones instinct to survive can push you to new limits. He was rescued by UNISEF at the age of sixteen but that did not bring an end to the suffering, as he went on to experience post-traumatic stress disorder. With so many areas of the world currently in turmoil, this book is an important read for many in the western world who are so far removed from what is taking place throughout the world and in particular, volatile regions of Africa.

My only complaint about the book is that it kept moving back and forth in time. I almost wanted to read all about his experience as a soldier in one lump sum then read his experience in recover in one lump sum, but I get why it was written the way it was. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone!

This book really opened my eyes to conflicts around the world, particularly in Africa. It is an amazing novel which tells the horrific tale of a young boy named Ishmael Beah who's trying desperately to run from the war, the rebels, the rotting bodies, and the smell of burning flesh. He loses his family, friends, everything he'd taken for granted in his life. He's so desperate for food, water, clean clothes, or anyone at all, that he joins the rebels. He is taught to run blindly through every village, shooting at everything in his path, and to set fire to all the houses. They tell him that he's getting revenge on the world for all of the hurt he, his family, and his friends have been put through all of their lives. Every time he hears the shrilling scream of a wounded civilian, he feels like he's done good. Finally, UNICEF members take him and his weapons to a rehabilitation center. His journey to rehabilitation is a long, tough one. But soon, he is representing his country in front of other representatives from around the world. He begins a new, peaceful life, leaving his child soldier past behind him.