A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier in Read a book from each country

Jun 24, 2025 Daren rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bio-memoir, non-fiction, military, sierra-leone, africa-west, sierra-leonean-author

Picked up for a couple of dollars at a book sale, this turned out to be an excellent read. Sierra Leonean
Ishmael Beah shares the story of his life from age 12, when he was separated from his parents when rebels attacked the village he lived in. With his brother and two friends they moved about staying clear of the clashes of the rebels and the soldiers, and trying to find a safe place and relocate his family, feared dead.

As you might expect, it would be a terrifying prospect for any 12 year-old Picked up for a couple of dollars at a book sale, this turned out to be an excellent read. Sierra Leonean
Ishmael Beah shares the story of his life from age 12, when he was separated from his parents when rebels attacked the village he lived in. With his brother and two friends they moved about staying clear of the clashes of the rebels and the soldiers, and trying to find a safe place and relocate his family, feared dead.

As you might expect, it would be a terrifying prospect for any 12 year-old. Rural Sierra Leone at that time (and probably as it remains) was made up of very small villages, not particularly close together. The zone of war, where the rebels and soldiers were fighting started out quite contained, but was liable to spill out in any direction, and over time villages were attacked, looted and destroyed by both sides whose paranoia meant they trusted no civilians.

Likewise villagers trusted no outsiders, especially groups of youths, who many villagers thought could be spies for the rebels. They were regularly run out of town or threated, but occasionally found sympathy for short periods. Over this period the boys became separated, and Ishmael carried on alone before joining another group of boys, a couple of whom were from his village and he knew from school.

As the situation in Sierra Leone deteriorated, and the warzone expanded the boys found themselves in a village that had been fortified by the soldiers, and used as a base. Here they were safe until the soldiers lost many men and could not maintain their resistance to attack. At this point the villagers were told that they all needed to contribute to the war effort. There were sufficient women to cook, so all the boys had to join the army, or leave the village.

It was at this point that Ishmael became a child soldier, and became indoctrinated into the war effort. Ishmael did a good job of describing this period of his life. The soldiers were provided with drugs - heroin and cocaine mixed with gunpowder (which they snorted) both of which them energy to fight, and marijuana to help them relax. The boys either failed and were quickly killed in the conflict, or became efficient at handling their weapons, and became efficient killers. Their days were filled with fighting rebels and looting villages for food, ammunition and petrol (for generators).

Against the run of events, suddenly the youngest soldiers are relieved from duty, and are ordered to go with a group of UNICEF civilians (and Military Police). They are taken to a camp for rehabilitation, which of course the boys resist.

Again Ishmael describes this process well. The boys don't understand why the military, who are their family and support network now suddenly don't want them. They fight, using violence as a defense. They act out, resist, sell things provided for them to get money for drugs and generally run amok. It is along and slow process that is successful for some boys but not others. Luckily for Ishmael, he finds people he can trust to help him.

There are many twists and turns I have not shared, and much more to the end of this story that I won't mention, so there is much more to be gained from reading this book.

It is not a complex read, really quite quick. While it had some shocking violence, I didn't find it particularly hard to read, as it is well written to provide shock but not sustained impact. Other reviewers didn't necessarily feel this way. I thought is a well considered decision by the author not to sensationalise this story by including more descriptive violence.

On reflection, this is the story of the experiences of Ishmael Beah. It is not the story of many Sierra Leonean boys; it is absolutely the exception, not the rule. You would have to think for every successfully rehabilitated boy there must be a hundred, 300 hundred, maybe 500, who did not survive escaping, or soldiering, or rehabilitation. Many of the boys 'escaped' and returned to the front line. It is incredibly sad; but Ishmael Beah is an inspiration in the way he was able to move his life forward.

This was far better than I expected, and lived up to the high ratings it has received on this site. another book which clearly demonstrates that there are no winners in a civil war. While there were some unresolved threads to the story, they were not the important things to me as a reader.

4 stars ...more

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