A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

A Long Way Gone Review

“Perhaps it was necessary that he cling to false hopes,since they kept him running away from harm.” The book Long Way Gone was written as a memoir by Ishmael Beah, the main character. This is his story about a civil war in Sierra Leone running away from a rebel group known as the Revolutionary United Front or (RUF) for short.
The story takes in Ishmael’s younger years in 1996-1998 in his home village in the country and later to NewYork, America. He runs through undname destroyed villages running away with a group of friends or just alone in the middle of nowhere. He later becomes becoming a boy soldier in the second half to fight the rebels that caused all his troubles. He later past his hard life and moved back

to New york to go to college then later wrote Two books book. But the reasons why he moved back so suddenly is something you should find out.
My personal opinion about the book is that it is an emotional rollercoaster of feelings for Ishmael becoming a fun loving child to merciless child soldier who kills for revenge. The book is very gory and realistic, it shows why we are so privileged to live in a world where people get justice for causing these crimes but also blinded that we don’t have people shooting at civilians for barely a legitimate reason and that is the reason why I love this book. I believe that the intended audience for this book is everyone that is able to handle the gory parts of the book, or the same people that liked blood diamond which is based in the same war.