Response to A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is a very powerful memoir and book about the Sierra Leone Civil War and the children forced into becoming soldiers during it. Honestly, this book was very difficult to read because there is so much violence, blood, and death throughout it. It’s overwhelming to imagine having to witness and experience something as terrible and frightening as the Sierra Leone Civil War at any age, not to mention being as young as twelve like Beah was when it began. Similar events, such as those that occurred throughout A Long Way Gone, happen in countries all around the world and people of all ages witness and are affected by it. It’s a sad reality, but reality nonetheless.

There were quite a few things within this book that I found both surprising and not so surprising. One is how the people of different towns were afraid of a group of traveling boys. This was surprising because they’re just kids! However, I can also understand that with the knowledge of children being forced into becoming soldiers, families and communities would become weary of them. Another thing that was shocking to me, and also not shocking at all, was the RUF’s ability to brainwash these kids into believing they were the good guys. It’s shocking because as I read through this portion of the book there were things I recognized hinting that something was off. But it’s also not surprising that the children believed them because of the lies the RUF fed them about the deaths of their families. It’s still a scary thought though, to realize how easily children and even adults are brainwashed and mislead to believe things that aren’t true. Even so, history shows that this has happened many times and continues to happen all over the world no matter how large or small the issues are.

I think reading about events such as the Sierra Leone Civil War through a firsthand account of someone who actually experienced, witnessed, and possibly even became involved in it, is very important for readers to be exposed to. True, it may be uncomfortable, but it’s necessary for readers to understand exactly what these people went through rather than having it retold by someone removed from the situation. When a story is told by someone who experienced such horrors firsthand, there is no sugarcoating what happened. That’s what I loved about this memoir. Despite its gruesome and uncomfortable telling of war and death, Ishmael Beah told the readers exactly what happened, the way it happened. In all honesty, it got a bit repetitive at times but that’s because the situations and events that occurred were repetitive. These violent acts happened over and over again and the responses to these acts were almost always the same. Because this story was told through the firsthand experience of Beah it felt authentic and I knew that I was being lead through a true event by a reliable narrator. It made the story much more interesting to read and the emotional response I had was greater because it was a memoir rather than a book of fiction based on true events.