The survivor of a dirty war in starkest Africa recounts his
transition from 12-year-old orphan to killing machine.To emerge
from Sierra Leone's malignant civil conflict and eventually
graduate from college in the U.S. marks Beah as very unusual, if
not unique. His memoir seeks to illuminate the process that
created, and continues to create, one of the most pitiable yet
universally feared products of modern warfare: the boy soldier. It
illustrates how, in African nations under the stress of open civil
war, youthful males cluster in packs for self-protection, fleeing
the military forces of all sides, distrusted and persecuted by
strangers they encounter, until they are killed or commandeered as
recruits. Nearly half the text deals with Beah's life as a fugitive
after marauding rebel troops ravaged his home village. He fled with
several other boys, but they were separated during another attack
and he was forced to spend several weeks alone in the bush; the
loneliness there instilled a craving for human companionship of any
type. The regular military finally snared Beah and some new
companions, telling them they must train as soldiers or die. The
rebels, they were assured, were responsible for killing their
families and destroying their homes; as soldiers, they would exact
manly revenge and serve the nation. Cocaine, marijuana and
painkillers became the boys' mind-numbing daily diet. They were
indoctrinated by practicing mayhem on tethered prisoners and became
willing experts at lying in ambush with their aging AK-47 rifles.
For them, killing human beings had replaced ordinary child's
play.Beah's halting narrative has confusing time shifts, but it's
hideously effective in conveying the essential horror of his
experiences. (Kirkus Reviews)
""My new friends have begun to suspect I haven't told them the full
story of my life.
"Why did you leave Sierra Leone?"
"Because there is a war."
"You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting
each other?"
"Yes, all the time."
"Cool."
I smile a little.
"You should tell us about it sometime."
"Yes, sometime.""
"
This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs
and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In
the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated
that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be
one of them.
What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one
become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been
profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine
their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person
account from someone who came through this hell and survived.
In "A Long Way Gone," Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a
riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels
and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By
thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at
heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible
acts. This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real
literary force and heartbreaking honesty.
General
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