Ishmael Beah tells the story of how, as a boy, he fled attacking rebels in his violent homeland of Sierra Leone, and by the age of thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army and became a child soldier, capable of terrible acts.
Critic Reviews
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Outstanding
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Library Journal James Thorsen
Beah writes with frankness and honesty about his experiences but also with other people in mind; his account of the healing process after the horrors he saw is remarkable. His book, especially relevant in today's world, should be in all high school, public, and academic libraries. [1 Mar 2007, p.58]
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Outstanding
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PopMatters Connie Ogle
Beah’s uncompromising voice is a potent elegy for their suffering, a powerful reminder of the innocent casualties of war.
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Outstanding
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Publishers Weekly
This memoir seems destined to become a classic firsthand account of war and the ongoing plight of child soldiers in conflicts worldwide. [18 Dec 2006, p.55]
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Outstanding
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The New York Times Book Review William Boyd
Beah’s memoir joins an elite class of writing: Africans witnessing African wars…. A Long Way Gone makes you wonder how anyone comes through such unrelenting ghastliness and horror with his humanity and sanity intact. Unusually, the smiling, open face of the author on the book jacket provides welcome and timely reassurance. Ishmael Beah seems to prove it can happen.
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Outstanding
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Washington Post Carolyn See
Everyone in the world should read this book. Not just because it contains an amazing story, or because it's our moral, bleeding-heart duty, or because it's clearly written. We should read it to learn about the world and about what it means to be human.
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Favorable
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Wall Street Journal John Corry
Mr. Beah's recountings are unadorned, believable and unsparing as he tells us about a conflict we never knew much about.
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Favorable
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Chicago Tribune Jeff Rice
[A] compelling and important book.
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Favorable
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Christian Science Monitor Carol Huang
Others may make the same assertions, but Beah has the advantage of stating them in the first person. That makes A Long Way Gone all the more gripping.
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Favorable
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Entertainment Weekly Gilbert Cruz
[A Long Way Gone] is a clear-eyed, undeniably compelling look at wartime violence -- whose viciousness becomes profoundly disturbing when one realizes it's been committed by boys barely in their teens.
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Favorable
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Kirkus Reviews
Beah's halting narrative has confusing time shifts, but it's hideously effective in conveying the essential horror of his experiences. [15 Jan 2007, p.58]
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Mixed
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Booklist Hazel Rochman
One boy's horrific memoir captures the reality of those distant news pictures of kids with guns somewhere in Africa. [15 Nov 2006, p.19]
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