Reviews
This is a 5-star story in a 3-star wrapping. I've averaged the two to 4 stars, reluctantly, because I hate doing so. Beah was a child in Sierra Leone in a time of violence. Not satisfied with visiting his village alone, violence chases Beah as he flees further and further from his home, trying to find safety and to reunite with a family he isn't sure he'll see again. Along the way, he's picked up by the Sierra Leone government, turned into a child soldier, given a gun, training, drugs, and conditioning, and set loose against rebels fighting for their country. Fortunately for Beah and the other child soldiers with him, the UN steps in, separates the children from their group, and rehabilitates them. The last half of the book was easily the best. I had no idea snorting gunpowder and cocaine was a thing (called brown-brown if you're curious; Wikipedia has an article about it), and the things these children normalize while under the rule of these soldiers are horrible. The subsequent rehabilitation and release of Beah back into society was also really interesting, as are the events that happen up until the end of the book. Unfortunately the book just....ends. I think we're missing several story beats that would carry us, the reader, to the end of his refugee story. I also thought (and this feels gross of me to say, given the subject matter) that the first half of the book was longer than it needed to be. I didn't really feel connected with Beah or his friends until halfway through the book, because everything felt...distant and disconnected up until that point. I don't know if it was a product of the storytelling or maybe having disassociated memories from before the kidnapping, but I just didn't feel drawn in immediately. Still, this is a violent, bloody, necessary story that I'm glad to have read.
This isn’t a book I would normally read. Although it was better than I thought it would be.
A powerful and moving story of a boy caught up in the war in Sierra Leone. It is quite sad how quickly a society can disintegrate and move from humanity to the baseness of animals and it is evident in many places around the world not simply in Africa. Ishmael's life is far from pleasant and the images involved quite nasty. But truth is quite nasty many times and I thank him for sharing his story with us. I highly recommend this - I couldn't put the book down and quickly finished it over several short flights.
This book will break your heart, and hopefully encourage you to make a change.
It's a tragic story - and I am assuming it was very therapeutic for Ishmael to write the story of how he became a child soldier. But apart from the "oh my god what a horrible life the poor young man has lived" thoughts that continuously went through my head and the fact that hopefully the more people who know the story of how terrible and tragic war can be - I would have no reason to recommend this book.
I can not even comment on the accounts of what people and children had to endure in Sierra Leone. I need time to process the crimes against humanity highlighted in this book :'(
Ah, amazing book. I've never read a book about child soldiers before, so I was interested to read this one. Ishmael's writing was very fluid and easy to follow and he definitely kept my attention throughout the entire memoir. I think he maybe could've made the book even longer, to explain even more what he went through but still, you for sure understood the horrors and pain that was felt all those childhood years. Many times I found it heartbreaking, because being a child soldier really is just that! I think this book is important to read because it wakes us up to the horrors we like to turn a blind eye to. Yes, Canadian children may probably never have to fight in a war, but it doesn't mean that we should forget about the children in the rest of the world who will, and who do currently. This was a great read.
This is the heart wrenching memoir of a young boy forced to be a child soldier at the age of 12 in war torn Sierra Leone. If I were just rating the emotional & educational appeal of this book, I would give it 4 stars. My 3-star rating is a result of my timing in reading this book and my comparison to a similar book that I absolutely loved (What is the What by Valentino Achak Deng & Dave Eggers). I started this book at the end of a relaxing week in Kauai where I devoured lightweight books while soaking up sun on the beach. Although the writing style of this book is lightweight, the subject matter is definitely not and I just wasn't in the mood to be depressed. The writing style is simple and honest making it perfect for high school students and less seasoned readers. For those like me, who read a significant amount of "literature", it doesn't offer as much over and above the emotional connection to the Ishmael. I'm definitely glad I read this book and it reinforced my desire to do something in my lifetime to help contribute to the solution to the horrific dilemma of genocide in Africa.
