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 A disturbing, but fascinating, look into Africa July 17, 2008
A Long Way Gone chronicles the life of a young teen in Sierra Leone who is fleeing the Rebels who are wreaking havoc in villages throughout the region. He falls in with a group of boys trying to survive, but since everyone is suspicious of groups of boys, they live a hard life. Eventually they, between the ages of 14 and 17, are conscripted into the Army to fight the Rebels.
The book is very well written. It is intense, gripping and honest. You will be amazed what was transpiring in Sierra Leone less than a decade ago. This, like so many tragedies in Africa, didn't get a lot of press until after the fact.
If you ever think you have a lot of problems or find yourself complaining a lot, you will gain a lot of perspective from this book. It is a short book (about 250 pages) and so engrossing that you will probably finish in just a few sittings. I haven't read a book this good in quite a while. Highly recommended.
Caveat: this book is not for the faint of heart. If books got ratings like movies, this would easily get an "R" rating - the war it describes is not pretty. However, I felt the book was well done and does not unnecessarily dwell on anything unpleasant.
A Long Way Gone July 13, 2008
Surprisingly well written for someone with a background of being a civil
war soldier at such a young age. His intelligence shines through. What this boy has lived through, and the ways he tries to overcome adversity, should be an inspiring story to anyone. Once I started this book I never put it down.
 Fact Vs. Fiction - Say "NO" to "poetic license" July 5, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
FACT OR FICTION
Do a background check on the author and you'll see articles in SLATE, the NY TIMES and others in which the author's veracity is, tragically, in question.
Please don't shoot the messenger when you find some disturbing questions, and just as importantly, don't shoot the _message_.
After all, these events did take place, and it's important that we recognize and absorb them, so we can act quickly to help when they happen. (Think the Rwandan genocide, when the international community sat on the sidelines as 1,000,000 people were killed over 100 days.)
IF, however you are interested in the controversy surrounding this particular book and my take on it, read on:
CONTROVERSY
This is an important, gripping work that brings attention to some of what's happening in other parts of the world.
However ....
... if you read-up on this author, you'll find out about the ongoing controversy over the accuracy of events that occur in the book. (Look for articles in Slate, the New York times, among others.)
As a result, several salient points emerge:
1) Some of the work appears to have been written originally as _fiction_ with the aid of his Oberlin University Creative Writing teacher Dan Chaon, which was then changed to non-fiction.
2) Having said that, the author probably *did* experience some of what was written about in Memoirs, although to a different degree than described. How much, unfortunately we'll never know.
This means that:
3) The book contains BOTH FICTIVE AND NON-FICTIVE ELEMENTS, the fictive elements (in the Creative Writing teacher's own words, captured on tape by an Australian journalist) added as "poetic license."
And here is where I take umbrage.
FACT VS. FICTION: WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
With the relatively-recent publication and retraction of fake biographies (such as "Love and Consequences," a fake memoir of growing up in an L.A. gang, since discredited and pulled by the publisher), I think the blowback against this book is reasonable.
There's a REASON we have categories such as "fiction" and "non-fiction," and why we keep them separate.
Fact is the opportunity to examine the nuances of history and its consequences, and learn something from the net result. Fiction is highly subjective, one person (or group's) untested ideas of what might be (even if the fictive work is set in the past). To blur the line is to cheapen the lessons of history.
SAY NO TO FACT-ION
Faction has become a bit too rampant nowadays, from "historical movies" that invent unsubstantiated love affairs (think Truman Capote kissing Perry Smith in "Infamous," or Queen Elizabeth having an historically unsubstantiated affair with Sir Walter Raleigh in "Elizabeth: The Golden Years,") to books like "Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan," which blessedly received the ridicule it deserved.
And perhaps it's true that it's the publishing houses -- or even the public's taste for only the most sensationalistic -- that are to blame, putting pressure on well-intentioned authors such as Ishmael Beah to color stories that are already horrific enough, for the sake of maximum marketability.
By all means, read and absorb Ishmael Beah's tragic story.
You can be sure some of these things happened to him, and certainly to others.
COMMERCE ABOVE ALL?
But let's start thinking about saying "no" to another machine, although one less horrific than the one Beah had to endure: the machine of sensationalism-over-truth, which encourages writers and publishers to color facts to maximize sales, thus potentially discrediting what is an important core message.
 Compelling July 4, 2008
This is a compelling true story. A boy named Ishmael leaves his comfortable life in an African village to attend a rap music event with his brother and a few friends. While he is gone, rebel forces attack his village destroying his home and family life. He, his brother, Junior, and his friends then wander the countryside of Sierra Leone trying to survive and avoid both the rebel and government troops. Identifying the enemy is difficult in a country rich in resources and awash with government corruption. Ishmael is separated from his group and eventually attaches himself to another group of teenage boys all under 16. Eventually, the war catches up with him and he and his little band are conscripted into the government troops. For the next two or more years and armed with an AK 47 and RPG's, he kills, maims, and robs in the name of the government. These boy soldiers take many drugs to dull their feelings and allow themselves to participate in the inhumane slaughter. Finally, aid workers either buy the boys' freedom or settle with their army leader and obtain their release. They are taken into the custody of rehabilitation counselors where they are given an opportunity for redemption. Ishmael clearly a natural leader is selected to travel to New York to attend a U.N. conference on child soldiers. While there he makes many friends. I understand that he was taken in by one of them and that he subsequently attended Oberlin college.
I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5, because it drags a bit during the years of army participation and killing. Further, Ishmael's parents are divorced, but he lives with his father. His family is Muslim and that may be why the father retained custody. Very telling in the book was a description on pg. 77 (hardback) of his formal naming ceremony. A huge feast is prepared. First the elders eat their fill, then the men, then the boys and lastly the women and children. I presume that if there isn't enough to share, the women and children starve. I don't know if the author realized what he revealed about his culture by this telling description. However, we never learn the basis of the divorce or why his father retained custody. Living conditions were somewhat primative. The houses were made of concrete brick or mud and they had tin roofs which were particularly noisy when it rained. Their diet was complete though not luxurious, and they were not hungry. However, they walked for miles to save bus fare and did not have electricity or telephones in their homes. Sierra leone sounds like a terrible place. The film, Blood Diamond, was about a similar subject.
I really don't know if there is a solution when countrymen kill one another over money, resources, and power. However, perhaps, this book and the film, Blood diamond, will be the stimulus for a resolution.
This book was worth reading, and I recommend it.
Intense, heartwrenching, difficult -- important. June 30, 2008
Incredible memoir...
Easy to read, difficult to believe. Sometimes I wanted to stop because it was so painful, but I am really glad I pushed through those hard time because it is an amazing story and most important a true one. I feel it is vital to be aware of such atrocities to be both educated and balanced as a person. It is a story that really needs to be known. I deeply hope it is put into film so a wider audience knows of it.
Wherever Ishmael is now I hope he is at peace and finding joy in his life. I want to hug him and shake his hand and tell him he is amazing.
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