I found the book to be very interesting and revealing of what young boys who are forced to kill others must do to survive. I had never realized what they go through and the rehabilitation they need to cope with their feelings afterward. To lose their parents first and then experience the need to run for their lives gives us as free citizens the appreciation of the freedoms we enjoy.

Fair warning, this story will make you shiver. Emerging from the pages like an inverted Mark Twain novel, it reveals the tale of a young boy named Ishmael Beah and his horrific journey through early adolescence in war ravaged Sierra Leone in the 1990s. It's not the high octane carnage, sadistic ingenuity, or pervasive sense of evil that render this book more terrifying than a Stephen King/Dean Koontz collaboration. It's the fact that it's real, the candid recollections of an innocent kid caught in the vise of hell and abandoned there. This, the narrative illustrates with chilling authenticity, is how demons are made.

Beah's transformation from a hip hop loving twelve year old with low slung pants into brutal, bloodthirsty automaton takes place in stages, after his village is attacked and brutalized by rebel forces battling Sierra's Leone's military government. Stripped of his family, his possessions, and through hunger, terror, and exhaustion, of all hope for escape, Beah strips himself down to an essential survivalist core. In the process, the most basic empathies that define a human being peel away, and the stark dictum of kill or be killed becomes the only rule that matters.

Co opted by the guerilla forces ravaging the countryside, Beah and his young friends become soldiers, outdoing each other in acts of violence the way most twelve year olds compete at baseball. Fueled by drugs and the adrenaline of survival, they bond with their overseers with the fervor of a championship high school football team. Their banter with each other becomes ever more obscene, still peppered as it is with the playful ripostes of youthful rivalry. But though the narrative style of simple declarative sentences and innocent exclamations remains consistent throughout, we observe changes in these children that makes us fear them, even at the remove of ink on page. They become monsters.

Only once removed from the situation by a UN sponsored NGO does the depth of the damage done to these young souls reveal itself in unvarnished form. Contemptuous of humanity, seriously addicted now to amphetamines and to their commanders' approval, they're dangerous to each other and anyone who comes in contact with them, including their naive rescuers. Months pass before even the most rudimentary chinks can be observed in their armor of callous cruelty. In time, change happens. But we have no way of knowing how deep the scars will go.

One of the most frightening aspects of this book, aside from its unflinching authenticity, is that fact that there are no good guys. The conflicts destroying Sierra Leone are like a jumbled chess set of all one color, with no sense at all of who carries the banner of morality, or even simple humanity. One hopes that Ishmael Beah has banished the last of his nightmares with the publication of his book. But it's more likely that he's just passed them all along to us, and that the monsters live on.

The power of the human being to survive even the harshest of environments! This book talks about how kindness can bring us back from the brink of hell. An amazing story. I wish it was not true.

The courage of this boy and his experiences will live in your heart and mind. He describes his life as a boy soldier in such a detailed and eloquent style that you can read the horrors of his life without feeling an insult to your sensitivities. He lays his emotions bare and you love him. I had no idea these conditions existed for children. I am always amazed at the strength and tenacity of human beings. This book adds to that store of amazement. Read it, it does not disappoint.

This book is a good read. It is a an eye opener to read about these kids in Africa.

I finished this book in 2 days. It is a must read for anyone. I definately have a richer appreciation for life. There is always someone, somewhere who has it tougher than we do.

I loved this book. The author gives a very vivid description of his experiences in war. It was a big reminder of the consequences of war and terrorism. The last half of the book was a little slow and didnt keep my interest as much as the first half.

Unbelievable story told through the eyes of a 12 year old boy. I read some of the negative reviews posted on this website related to this book. The reviewers felt his (the author) facts weren't true and some things were impossible to have happened. I want to dispell any commentary surrounding this. Remember, this is being told from a 12 year old child's perspective. It brings awareness to the despicable acts humans place upon each other. And, as always, the most central question remains: What will we do about it? Probably nothing. At the very least, read the book. Then, watch Blood Diamonds. The scenes in which boy soldiers are shown are based on the fact presented in this book.

A heart wrenching story told in a simple yet elegant way.Ishmael really proved that "Children can outlive their sufferings, if given a chance".I wonder how many more Ishmael's are yet to be discovered from countries like Sierra Leone. A must read book.

very hard to put this book down, heart wrenching and difficult to read at times, but worth every minute of it. Very well written

Rarely has a book had such an impact on me. Ismael Beah's epic journey from carefree childhood to inhuman adolescence to enlightened adulthood tells the story of hope for mankind. As Beah has said, it puts a human voice to the war and violence in his country of Sierra Leone, and, in the larger perspective, to all violence, war and hatred around the world. I heard Ismael Beah speak in person yesterday at Florida Gulf Coast University where he addressed the incoming freshmen with his message of love and hope. In the tradition of his people, he is a true storyteller and he tells his story with conviction. If ever a book should be read by everyone living in today's world, this is it.

I have no doubt that Beah experienced things that I can't imagine and that no child should see, but he writes it poorly. I am all for stories, which is why I read, but think they need to be told well. A given medium needs to be done properly to be most effective. Beah does it poorly. I'd give his book a D. He tells his story so badly that the reader has no idea the point, plot, relevance, or validity of the story. In no way do I want to make light of what he experienced, but he did it so poorly that he did a disservice to all books. This was a waste of the paper it was printed on.

Never in my life have I been so involved in a book as this one. For one person to have actually lived this life it is amazing to me. A wonderfully written book.

This book should be read by every teenager in the United States and there parents. Our children of today think life is so hard on them. If they read this book as written by someone who had life turned upside down on them and came out with a purpose they would know that they have a pretty good life in the USA. He will never be able to get his childhood back but can now recover from the things no child should have to see or go through.

I really enjoyed this book he made you think that he was a "storyteller of his village". I do wish that he had added a couple of chapters at the end on how he is doing today and what he is going to do next.

I really liked the book. Its a story that needs to be told and Mr Beah does a great job of relating his experiences as a solider in Sierra Leone. Enlightening and heartbreaking. Highly recommended

A Long Way Gone chronicles the life of a young teen in Sierra Leone who is fleeing the Rebels who are wreaking havoc in villages throughout the region. He falls in with a group of boys trying to survive, but since everyone is suspicious of groups of boys, they live a hard life. Eventually they, between the ages of 14 and 17, are conscripted into the Army to fight the Rebels.

The book is very well written. It is intense, gripping and honest. You will be amazed what was transpiring in Sierra Leone less than a decade ago. This, like so many tragedies in Africa, didn't get a lot of press until after the fact.

If you ever think you have a lot of problems or find yourself complaining a lot, you will gain a lot of perspective from this book. It is a short book (about 250 pages) and so engrossing that you will probably finish in just a few sittings. I haven't read a book this good in quite a while. Highly recommended.

Caveat: this book is not for the faint of heart. If books got ratings like movies, this would easily get an "R" rating - the war it describes is not pretty. However, I felt the book was well done and does not unnecessarily dwell on anything unpleasant.

Surprisingly well written for someone with a background of being a civil
war soldier at such a young age. His intelligence shines through. What this boy has lived through, and the ways he tries to overcome adversity, should be an inspiring story to anyone. Once I started this book I never put it down.

CONTROVERSY

This is an important, gripping work that brings attention to some of what's happening in other parts of the world.

However ....

... if you read-up on this author, you'll find out about the ongoing controversy over the accuracy of events that occur in the book. (Look for articles in Slate, the New York times, among others.)

As a result, several salient points emerge:

1) Some of the work appears to have been written originally as _fiction_ with the aid of his Oberlin University Creative Writing teacher Dan Chaon, which was then changed to non-fiction.

2) Having said that, the author probably *did* experience some of what was written about in Memoirs, although to a different degree than described. How much, unfortunately we'll never know.

This means that:

3) The book contains BOTH FICTIVE AND NON-FICTIVE ELEMENTS, the fictive elements (in the Creative Writing teacher's own words, captured on tape by an Australian journalist) added as "poetic license."

And here is where I take umbrage.

FACT VS. FICTION: WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

With the relatively-recent publication and retraction of fake biographies (such as "Love and Consequences," a fake memoir of growing up in an L.A. gang, since discredited and pulled by the publisher), I think the blowback against this book is reasonable.

There's a REASON we have categories such as "fiction" and "non-fiction," and why we keep them separate.

Fact is the opportunity to examine the nuances of history and its consequences, and learn something from the net result. Fiction is highly subjective, one person (or group's) untested ideas of what might be (even if the fictive work is set in the past). To blur the line is to cheapen the lessons of history.

SAY NO TO FACT-ION

Faction has become a bit too rampant nowadays, from "historical movies" that invent unsubstantiated love affairs (think Truman Capote kissing Perry Smith in "Infamous," or Queen Elizabeth having an historically unsubstantiated affair with Sir Walter Raleigh in "Elizabeth: The Golden Years,") to books like "Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan," which blessedly received the ridicule it deserved.

And perhaps it's true that it's the publishing houses -- or even the public's taste for only the most sensationalistic -- that are to blame, putting pressure on well-intentioned authors such as Ishmael Beah to color stories that are already horrific enough, for the sake of maximum marketability.

By all means, read and absorb Ishmael Beah's tragic story.

You can be sure some of these things happened to him, and certainly to others.

COMMERCE ABOVE ALL?

But let's start thinking about saying "no" to another machine, although one less horrific than the one Beah had to endure: the machine of sensationalism-over-truth, which encourages writers and publishers to color facts to maximize sales, thus potentially discrediting what is an important core message.

CONTROVERSY

This is an important, gripping work that brings attention to some of what's happening in other parts of the world.

However ....

... if you read-up on this author, you'll find out about the ongoing controversy over the accuracy of events that occur in the book. (Look for articles in Slate, the New York times, among others.)

As a result, several salient points emerge:

1) First and foremost, the author probably *did* experience some of what was written about in Memoirs, although to a different degree than described

2) Much of this was written originally as _fiction_ with the aid of his Oberlin Creative Writing teacher Dan Chaon, which was then changed to non-fiction.

This means that:

3) The book contains BOTH FICTIVE AND NON-FICTIVE ELEMENTS, the fictive elements (in the Creative Writing teacher's own words, captured on tape by an Australian journalist) added as "poetic license."

And here is where I take umbrage.

With the relatively-recent publication and retraction of fake biographies (such as "Love and Consequences," a fake memoir of growing up in an L.A. gang, since discredited and pulled by the publisher), I think the blowback against this book is reasonable.

SAY NO TO FACT-ION

Faction has become a bit too rampant nowadays, from "historical movies" that invent unsubstantiated love affairs (think Truman Capote kissing Perry Smith in "Infamous," or Queen Elizabeth having an historically unsubstantiated affair with Sir Walter Raleigh in "Elizabeth: The Golden Years,") to books like "Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan," which blessedly received the ridicule it deserved.

And perhaps it's true that it's the publishing houses -- or even the public's taste for only the most sensationalistic -- that are to blame, putting pressure on well-intentioned authors such as Ishmael Beah to color stories that are already horrific enough, for the sake of maximum marketability.

By all means, read and absorb Ishmael Beah's tragic story.

You can be sure some of these things happened to him, and certainly to others.

But let's start thinking about saying "no" to another machine, although one less horrific than the one Beah had to endure: the machine of sensationalism-over-truth, which encourages writers and publishers to color facts to maximize sales, thus potentially discrediting what is an important core message.

This is a compelling true story. A boy named Ishmael leaves his comfortable life in an African village to attend a rap music event with his brother and a few friends. While he is gone, rebel forces attack his village destroying his home and family life. He, his brother, Junior, and his friends then wander the countryside of Sierra Leone trying to survive and avoid both the rebel and government troops. Identifying the enemy is difficult in a country rich in resources and awash with government corruption. Ishmael is separated from his group and eventually attaches himself to another group of teenage boys all under 16. Eventually, the war catches up with him and he and his little band are conscripted into the government troops. For the next two or more years and armed with an AK 47 and RPG's, he kills, maims, and robs in the name of the government. These boy soldiers take many drugs to dull their feelings and allow themselves to participate in the inhumane slaughter. Finally, aid workers either buy the boys' freedom or settle with their army leader and obtain their release. They are taken into the custody of rehabilitation counselors where they are given an opportunity for redemption. Ishmael clearly a natural leader is selected to travel to New York to attend a U.N. conference on child soldiers. While there he makes many friends. I understand that he was taken in by one of them and that he subsequently attended Oberlin college.

I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5, because it drags a bit during the years of army participation and killing. Further, Ishmael's parents are divorced, but he lives with his father. His family is Muslim and that may be why the father retained custody. Very telling in the book was a description on pg. 77 (hardback) of his formal naming ceremony. A huge feast is prepared. First the elders eat their fill, then the men, then the boys and lastly the women and children. I presume that if there isn't enough to share, the women and children starve. I don't know if the author realized what he revealed about his culture by this telling description. However, we never learn the basis of the divorce or why his father retained custody. Living conditions were somewhat primative. The houses were made of concrete brick or mud and they had tin roofs which were particularly noisy when it rained. Their diet was complete though not luxurious, and they were not hungry. However, they walked for miles to save bus fare and did not have electricity or telephones in their homes. Sierra leone sounds like a terrible place. The film, Blood Diamond, was about a similar subject.

I really don't know if there is a solution when countrymen kill one another over money, resources, and power. However, perhaps, this book and the film, Blood diamond, will be the stimulus for a resolution.

This book was worth reading, and I recommend it.

Incredible memoir...
Easy to read, difficult to believe. Sometimes I wanted to stop because it was so painful, but I am really glad I pushed through those hard time because it is an amazing story and most important a true one. I feel it is vital to be aware of such atrocities to be both educated and balanced as a person. It is a story that really needs to be known. I deeply hope it is put into film so a wider audience knows of it.
Wherever Ishmael is now I hope he is at peace and finding joy in his life. I want to hug him and shake his hand and tell him he is amazing.

I found the book spellbounding and depressing. I could not put it down for the first two third's of the book. I gave it to my daughter who thought it was just as good.

I heard his story as he did an interview on NPR. I raced to the bookstore to pick up my copy. The book took me through every emotion. I sat in my living room wondering how a kid could go through such a life like his.
This book was well writting and I'm proud to know a young man can make positive changes in his life despite the past. Every person need to read this book. I can change your life.

One of the few books that ever gave me nightmares. More politicians should read this book. It gives a harrowing description of just what horrors lie in store for children born into military and other revolutions. A definite worthwhile read for anyone interested in just what really happens when countries go to war and bring the children into it.

Beah's memoir about his time as a child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone is vividly written. He does a remarkable job of putting the reader with him as he first flees the fighting and violence before he is caught up and participates in it. His accounts are brutal, graphic and especially tragic when one considers he was only 14 when pressed into service.

However, I give it three stars because there was so little about his healing and "de-programming" compared to the specific details he gives of his attempts at escaping and participation in the war. Certainly he talks about his meetings with Esther, his "counselor" (for lack of a better term) but I was left wanting more - given the amount of attention that was given to the making of a boy soldier, I had expected at least as much about his healing. Being given song lyrics and told that "its not your fault" fell flat for me, and frankly didn't seem as genuine as his experiences prior to his being sent to the nuns.

In a smiliar vein, I had expected and hoped that Beah would have written more detail about his public apperacnces and especially about results of his work with the UN and NGOs. For me, this is equally interesting as his recounting being in firefights with the RUF and the violence he visited on civilians.

It is a moving story, relevent and certainly is one that needs to be told - child soldiers are a travesty. Given that, wish a stronger conclusion about how one who was a child soldier is made whole again, and can, is - or is not - being done to prevent this from happening.

Ishmael Beah makes no plea for forgiveness nor does he beg a place in this world. Yet this memoir earns him both. The horrible atrocities that Beah was both victim and perpetrator of are described with a sort of detached sensitivity that makes this readable to those of us living outside of the tragic, war torn reality that was Beah's. I applaud Beah's redemptive work as I wish him peace and happiness for the remainder of his time here.

This book was very interesting and I could not put it down. It is no fantastically written piece of literature, but the story draws you in and will not let you go.

A Long Way Gone, a Sarah Crichton Book published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, is a gut wrenching memoir of a child soldier, caught in the violence of Sierra Leone's civil war in 1992. Author Ishmael Beah's personal experiences in this conflict, coupled with his ability to tell his story with great insight and emotion, will capture most readers from the very first paragraph.

Even the book's title has interesting multiple meanings. The child Ishmael is a long way gone from home and all that is familiar; a long way gone from normal civilized behavior as part of the drug and violence induced madness of army life and a long way gone from where he ended as a soldier and penned this book.

Stripped of his family, home and friends by the ever encroaching war, Ishmael struggles to escape and survive the war that eventually draws him into its web spun with threads of fear, violence, death, and destruction. Once trapped, he embraces the insanity of drugs and the unchecked cruelty that stokes the war's fires.

The book is not a detailed chronology, but a dramatic and perceptive retrospective of events through the lens of a child, explaining how that child can be transformed into a blood thirsty soldier intent on killing for killing's sake. Beah is able to weave touching moments and memories throughout the violence that both help and hinder Ishmael's ability to withstand the mental anguish that war inflicts.
Beah relates the dramatically harrowing story of being swept up into the raging civil war with raw emotion, but in an emotionally detached style that evokes the psychological detachment needed to be a child, especially a child soldier, able to survive the experience. Proving himself to be a masterful storyteller, Beah`s book is filled with tales, fables, adventures, insights and dialogue both frightening and tender.

The author's ability to look back at his life reflectively with an understanding sadness of what he was forced to do in order to live and survive makes this book a compelling read. Beah takes great care in painting the picture of innocence lost, day by day and piece by piece to the death, devastation and terror of war. He states, "These days I live in three worlds: my dreams, and the experiences of my new life, which trigger memories from the past."

Beah is able to convey that the love of family, the value of friendship and the resilience of human spirit can transcend and survive the unimaginable chaos and fear that war brings in its wake. However, he takes great care to demonstrate that chance plays a large role in determining who and what survives.

This book is highly recommended reading, even for the younger reader, as the story possesses some great lessons of value. Although some might feel that this book is too bloody, vivid and real for the younger reader, those twelve and older should be able to handle the material. At least they aren't facing the dilemma that young boys of twelve faced in Sierra Leone in the Nineteen-Nineties: to run for your life, to fight to stay alive or to die simply because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I loved this book from beginning to end. Its tough to take in..but very worthwhile.

A heartbreaking story but definitely recommended.

Everyone needs to read this book. Beah speaks with an honesty that is rarely seen and a conversational manner that takes readers into his world. I am an English teacher and I would like every single student to read this book.

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is one of the most awesome and moving stories I have ever read. I knew it would be even before I bought the book. I could hardly put it down. I would recommend it to anyone who has compassion for the human race in their heart and soul

This book tells a story that the world has not heard about the life of a child soldier. Some of it is shocking to say the least, but it needs to be read and understood. Get a box of tissues and settle in on a wet day.

We are so sheltered in the US -- it's amazing what this young man had to endure and that he was able to rise above all the horrible things and really make something of his life.

When reading this book, one must keep some distance between oneself and the narrative, to not be overwhelmed by the horrors that are described. Fortunately, the writing style helps the reader maintain this distance. Writing in a very matter of fact style, perhaps even too matter of factly, Beah describes his efforts to avoid getting pulled into the civil war in Sierra Leone and his actions when he is eventually "recruited" to join the army.

The bulk of this book is quite bleak, by necessity. But Beah shows a talent for story-telling throughout, especially in the more hopeful sections of the book, when he describes his life before the civil war struck his village and after his "rehabilitation".

This book was an eye opening dipiction of the life of a child soldier in Sierra Leone. Beah's novel shows the journey that this young man took from being forced to fight in a war that robbed him of his innocence to his ultimate rehabilitation. It is a must read and should be required reading for high school students.

If you don't feel moved to activism at the reading of this book, you must be dead. Beah tells his story with gripping truth that will hold you to the pages and leave you with a terrible sense of sorrow for the lost children. I'm a teacher and THIS ONE goes on my "must read" list for my students.

Great read. We all need to be made aware of the atrocities that war brings, especially in the eyes of children, our most precious assets.

"A Long Way Gone" is an extremely interesting book written by Ishmael Beah a former child solider that fought in the war in Sierra Leone. The book follows Ishmael through his life at the beginning of the war depicting the terrible things that were done to innocent civilians and how he was forced to witness the dreadful things happening around him. During the war Ishmael would lose everything, his family, his friends, his childhood and even his mind. He would fight in the ranks of the Sierra Leone Army as a child solider at the age of 13. He would witness terrible things happening to men and then do the same terrible things himself. He would do things with his own two hands that even seem horrible for grown men to do. "A Long Way Gone" is an extremely important book because it helps remind us that there are other things going out there in the world beyond our safe homes and living rooms with our 52 inch Plasma TVs.

Kacper, a student at Prospect High School

A Long Way Gone is a tragic story about a child who was forced to kill or be killed during the conflict in Sierra Leone. Fortunately, this story does have a happier ending than most.

I don't think this will spoil the ending, but Ishmael Beah, the author and main character of the story survived the war and was able to flee to the United States. It wasn't an easy journey but you will experience it with him and feel his pain and heartache as you travel across the country and world.

In simple prose you can easily follow along the story and at times feel you are with Beah being shot at and killing Rambo style. The human spirit is amazing. Ishmael is my age - but our stories have no similarities, nothing I have experienced compares to his. I could not put down his memoir once I started reading.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
By: Ishmael Beah

The book a long way gone is a historical non-fiction book. It is about the author's childhood and his struggle to survive. Ishmael was born in Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa, in 1980. A Long Way Gone is a truly heart wrenching story of a boy who has seen so much hatred and cruelty in his lifetime that it seems unreal. Ishmael Beah lost his family to the war, so he fights along side the countries army against the rebels, those who have been killing civilians and burning villages to the ground. This book is astonishing, thought provoking, disgustingly true, useful, and overall extraordinary.
After Ishmael had been forced to join the army his lieutenant told him these words in a successful attempt to motivate the troops: "the lieutenant went on for almost an hour, describing how rebels had cut off the heads of some people's family members and made them watch. Burned entire villages along with their inhabitants, forced sons to have intercourse with their mothers, hacked newly born babies in half because they cried too much, cut open pregnant women's stomachs, took the babies out, and killed them... "They have lost everything that makes them human. They do not deserve to live. That is why we must kill every single one of them." " (Beah pg. 108) As I read this quote the first time I had to stop half way through because I felt as if I was going to throw up. It didn't even seem true as I read it. This quote is just a taste of how disgusting and iniquitous this book is.
At the age of twelve Ishmael ran away from his village and by thirteen was forced to fight for the government army. Before this time he was friendly. The war had made him do horrible things that just seemed second nature after a while as expressed in this quote: "The idea of death didn't cross my mind at all and killing had become as easy as drinking water." (Beah pg. 122) It is disgusting how if you do something enough, even something as terrible as killing, it becomes normal to you. After fighting in the army so long and at a vulnerable age Ishmael started acting differently also. " The prisoner was simply another rebel who was responsible for the death of my family, as I had come to truly believe. The corporal gave the signal with a pistol shot and I grabbed the man's head and slit his throat in one fluid motion.... His eyes rolled u and they looked me straight in the eye before they suddenly stopped in a frightful glance, as if caught by surprise.... I was proclaimed the winner..." (Beah pg. 125) Killing people had now become a competition or a game for the boys of the army.
This book is not only entertaining but it teaches valuable lessons such as: "If you are alive there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die." (Beah pg. 54) This is a good lesson to be learned and an interesting opinion on life. The lesson being that is you are still alive there is a reason and you must continue on and persevere because there is something worthwhile in your future.
I recommend this book to anyone who is naive or just interested in what is going on currently in Africa and how it impacts the children. This book is also a good book for people that want to learn a little bit about writing an interesting story and how to incorporate dialogue seamlessly because Ishmael Beah is able to do it very well. After or even before this book, if you would like any background information on the topic of child soldiers you should visit the Invisible Children website at www.invisiblechildren.com.

Regardless of what people say is true and false, no doubt this story could be true for hundreds of thousands of young children fighting in war. This wasnt written to give you half the story or 3 quarters. Ishmael Beah explains everything in this disturbing but inspiring story of a childs view of war while taking part in it. Whats so inspiring is how a great person can enter war, kill, come out so messed up, yet still find hope for his past feeling of happiness afterwards. A great read, a great person, and a great story.

Worth reading but I am willing to bet this "memoir" turns out to be "exaggerated" if not all together concocted.

This is a great book. It is important story and relates to the worls biggest issues today. After reading the book I read the article The fog of the Memoir. I found valid points but most of it came across as gossip and misunderstanding. I first was dissapointed that the character I felt sorrow for, and fell in love with never existed but then I thought about american culture and how hard it must be for the average american to picture a world unlike the one they live in. Ishmael had built uo the courage to tell a story and the media attacks him. This is a wonderful book and dont let the media ruin it like it did for so many readers.

Ishmael Beah must be extremely bright and clever. I don't think many children could survive and recover from the horrible experience he endured. The book will never be a world classic but I had a hard time putting it down. It is a good read and eye opening to those of us fortunate enough to be born into relative safety where children are protected.

It is important to bear in mind that the author of this book was a young man from a war torn country with little education in writing so I am giving the writing style a break. Other reviewers who have criticized the author's writing are certainly valid. Nevertheless Beah's story is powerful and readers will learn about this war torn region.

There have been a lot of questions whether this story is true. I cannot shed any more light on these rumors. It is clear that the story cannot be entirely true. For example, the specific quotes from conversations and the dreams are way too specific to be credible. How much is the story embellished? I do not know, but I believe it is important for authors to come completely clean when writing non-fiction. Even if only 1% of a non-fiction book is not true, authors need to disclose their readers. If we, as readers, discover the lack of complete truth of a non-fiction book then how can we possibly trust the facts of any part of the book? I would have liked a discussion or some notes about these issues. A similar book, "What is the What", is sold as fiction even though most of it was in fact true. I applaud the publisher and the authors of that book for not misleading readers. However, even if "A Long Way Gone" is partially true only, it is still an educational book. I was happy that it was a relatively short book and at the same time was disappointed that Beah did not tell us how he finally got to NY.

[...]

It is important to bear in mind that the author of this book was a young man from a war torn country with little education in writing so I am giving the writing style a break. Other reviewers who have criticized the author's writing are certainly valid. Nevertheless Beah's story is powerful and readers will learn about this war torn region.

There have been a lot of questions whether this story is true. I cannot shed any more light on these rumors. It is clear that the story cannot be entirely true. For example, the specific quotes from conversations and the dreams are way too specific to be credible. How much is the story embellished? I do not know, but I believe it is important for authors to come completely clean when writing non-fiction. Even if only 1% of a non-fiction book is not true, authors need to disclose their readers. If we, as readers, discover the lack of complete truth of a non-fiction book then how can we possibly trust the facts of any part of the book? I would have liked a discussion or some notes about these issues. A similar book, "What is the What", is sold as fiction even though most of it was in fact true. I applaud the publisher and the authors of that book for not misleading readers. However, even if "A Long Way Gone" is partially true only, it is still an educational book. I was happy that it was a relatively short book and at the same time was disappointed that Beah did not tell us how he finally got to NY.

It is important to bear in mind that the author of this book was a young man from a war torn country with little education in writing so I am giving the writing style a break. Other reviewers who have criticized the author's writing are certainly valid. Nevertheless Beah's story is powerful and readers will learn about this war torn region.

There have been a lot of questions whether this story is true. I cannot shed any more light on these rumors. It is clear that the story cannot be entirely true. For example, the specific quotes from conversations and the dreams are way too specific to be credible. How much is the story embellished? I do not know, but I believe it is important for authors to come completely clean when writing non-fiction. Even if only 1% of a non-fiction book is not true, authors need to disclose their readers. If we, as readers, discover the lack of complete truth of a non-fiction book then how can we possibly trust the facts of any part of the book? I would have liked a discussion or some notes about these issues. A similar book, "What is the What", is sold as fiction even though most of it was in fact true. I applaud the publisher and the authors of that book for not misleading readers. However, even if "A Long Way Gone" is partially true only, it is still an educational book. I was happy that it was a relatively short book and at the same time was disappointed that Beah did not tell us how he finally got to NY.

For those interested in the controversy regarding the truthfulness of the story, see the following links: (Both sides are represented)

[...]

I was listening to Ishmael Beah's book on my car tape. In fact the voice on the tape is of Ishmael Beah that his childhood took a turn at the age 12 when the war came to his village in Eastern Sierra Leone near the diamond mines. Since then it is a story of survival against nature and human. As he quote his father, "If you loose your hope then you have no life", he kept going from one adventure to another find true friendship, hardship, and happy ending. On the way he lost his family, friends, but kept going with hope in his heart.
Great (true) story

I was very moved by Mr. Beah's life story when he appeared on Jon Stewart. I bought the book and I couldn't put down. However, journalists have now cast serious doubt on whether it really happened. (A very fair article over the controversy "The Fog of Memoir" appeared in Slate on March 6, 2008.) Despite international acclaim of the book, no former child soldier has thus far come forward to corroborate Beah's account. Re-read the story in this context and certain details start to sound too fantastical to be true.

Some will say that accuracy doesn't matter because of a 'greater truth' -- the plight of Africa's child soldiers. I don't buy it. According to The Australian publication that broke the story, Mr. Beah has earned around $1 million from this bestseller. I take no pleasure in criticizing it because the real child soldiers deserve the world's attention. But lies do not further their cause -- in fact, they only hurt it.

I was very moved by Mr. Beah's life story when he appeared on Jon Stewart. I bought the book and I couldn't put down. However, journalists have now cast serious doubt on whether it really happened. (A very fair article over the controversy "The Fog of Memoir" appeared in Slate on March 6, 2008.) Despite international acclaim of the book, no former child soldier has thus far come forward to corroborate Beah's account. Re-read the story in this context and certain details start to sound too fantastical to be true.

Some will say that accuracy doesn't matter because of a 'greater truth' -- the plight and suffering of child soldiers in Africa. I don't buy it. According to the Australian article, Mr. Beah has earned around $1 million from this bestseller. I take no pleasure in criticizing it because the issue of child soldiers is so important. But lies do not further their cause -- in fact, they only hurt it.