I'm not generally a fan of non-fiction stories. You also won't find me reading much fantastical fiction either. I enjoy a story about a person or people that could conceivably happen, but didn't. Which is why I think I enjoyed A Long Way Gone so much; it shouldn't have happened, but unfortunately, it did.
The story, subtitled "Memoirs of a Boy Soldier," by Ishmael Beah, is about Ishmael's trials and experiences during one of the many civil wars in Sierra Leon's bloody history. During the early 1990's, Ishmael's hometown was destroyed by rebel forces and he is forced to flee, in the process losing everything that was his old life: house, friends, family...history. In his wanderings through the once friendly, now distrusting country, he eventually becomes one of many child soldiers the world never hears about. A great injustice to childhood in general, Ishmael is forced to grow up quickly and becomes one of those whom he had previously despised.
Ishmael and I are about the same age and, as I read the book, kept thinking about what I was doing and thinking about when he was hiding in the bush or holding his first AK-47. It also saddens me that I didn't even know there was a war going on in Sierra Leon, let alone the fact that people my age were fighting it. I wonder what would have been different if the general population of the U.S. had read this story, or a similar account, when it was happening instead of 10 years later.
This is definitely a story I would recommend to anyone regardless of their genre preferences. I think it is a good reality-check that the world does not stop at our shores and there are bigger problems than that fender-bender you got into this morning or the number of hours the boss is making you clock.
I wish it hadn't happened, and it did, but I'm glad I am aware of it now.
Sergio del Limónar
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