Book Review: "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah

 It has been about twenty years since I first read this book. I remember picking it up at a Starbucks and reading it during my first year of substitute teaching. It was intriguing and eye opening twenty years ago and now the last couple years I saw students reading it as a choice book in one of their English classes a few years ago I felt it was worth reading it again.

Once again I enjoyed reading the book, while also feeling sadness for the experiences. The book is a nonfiction account by the author, Ishmael Beah, who grew up in Sierra Leone at the start of a Civil War that took place in his country. After his village was attacked and he spent months running through the jungle of west Africa for safety he was finally recruited by the army to become a child soldier. Through his stories of training, war and drug addiction you get a view of life for child soldiers. As a teacher (and from the view of a student) it is alarming to think he was the age of an eighth grader or freshman when forced into the war. Considering this is the age of students I work with (and the age of students who may read this book) it gives a lot to reflect on, even if we can't identify with the events that take place.

Thankfully the book continues after Ishmael is removed from the war and goes through rehabilitation where the reader is able to identify the challenges of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that he has to struggle with while trying to reenter society  Ishmael is able to connect with some family before fleeing the country as a refugee. I appreciated the fact that the book wasn't just a collection of war stories, so you could actually see how Ishmael was affected and changed from his life before, during and after the war.

My final reflection is a good reminder that while these events took place in the early 1990's (I was often thinking of my life in middle school while the author, only three years older than I was fighting for his life in this war), this is a historical event. Last year (2024) we had an exchange student from Sierra Leone at MHS. While he shared stories of his home country with peers at the school, and presented in my geography class, he had very little to say about the history of the Civil War. But he had a lot of pictures and stories of how wonderful the country is today and why we should consider visiting. This was a good reminder that this story, along with many books that are read in the Global Scholars Program may provide good insight into a specific place and a specific time, but we cannot assume that the experience we read is representative of the current day.  Keeping the historical time frame in mind is important so it can help us understand different places historically and today. While the plight of child soldiers may be over in Sierra Leone, it is still active in over 15 countries today which provides another thought for consideration and learning while reading this book.

Ishmael Beah has continued to write and is a spokesperson for UNICEF advocating for children in conflict areas around the world. Below is a brief video from the UNICEF website about Ishmael's story and what he is doing today.