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I Am Evelyn Amony: Reclaiming My Life from the Lord's Resistance Army
Abducted at the age of eleven, Evelyn Amony spent nearly eleven years inside the Lord’s Resistance Army, becoming a forced wife to Joseph Kony and mother to his children. She takes the reader into the inner circles of LRA commanders and reveals unprecedented personal and domestic details about Joseph Kony. Her account unflinchingly conveys the moral difficulties of choosing survival in a situation fraught with violence, threat, and death.
Amony was freed following her capture by the Ugandan military. Despite the trauma she endured with the LRA, Amony joined a Ugandan peace delegation to the LRA, trying to convince Kony to end the war that had lasted more than two decades. She recounts those experiences, as well as the stigma she and her children faced when she returned home as an adult.
This extraordinary testimony shatters stereotypes of war-affected women, revealing the complex ways that Amony navigated life inside the LRA and her current work as a human rights advocate to make a better life for her children and other women affected by war.
Best books for public & secondary school libraries from university presses, American Library Association
Amony was freed following her capture by the Ugandan military. Despite the trauma she endured with the LRA, Amony joined a Ugandan peace delegation to the LRA, trying to convince Kony to end the war that had lasted more than two decades. She recounts those experiences, as well as the stigma she and her children faced when she returned home as an adult.
This extraordinary testimony shatters stereotypes of war-affected women, revealing the complex ways that Amony navigated life inside the LRA and her current work as a human rights advocate to make a better life for her children and other women affected by war.
Best books for public & secondary school libraries from university presses, American Library Association
248 pages, Paperback
First published October 20, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 12, 2023
I am Evelyn Amony is an autobiography book that I would recommend to anyone who wishes to know the war experience in a woman’s eyes. It’s a shame that this book isn’t well known in comparison to the other ones, but I hope people will feel encouraged to read it through my review. Personally, I believe this book brings awareness to the cruelty of war that continues to exist even today. Some people believe that the Afghanistan-Taliban war or Russia-Ukraine war suddenly came into existence, but people have suffered from all sorts of wars even before social media acknowledged them.
When it comes to war, the trauma of it can heal through therapy, but the victims would never regain the life they used to have. Evelyn Amony was one of those victims. Like the other children who suffered from the abduction, her childhood was taken away. In a person’s single life, they can only experience their childhood once. Motherhood was not a choice to her, it was her source of living. Yet even her motherhood was different compared to others, and in a constant state of life and death.
I am Evelyn Amony brings forth the topic of morals as the abductees treat Evelyn with both kindness yet cruelness. Within a war, people would label each sides as either good or bad, not recognising there is both good and bad within each side. By defining the whole of one community as bad, it ignores the reality that there are exceptions. Many soldiers are loyal due to the pain that was inflicted upon them, other have no choice but to be loyal. For others, they consider their fellow soldiers as brothers and sisters. Some don’t know how to escape from war so they choose to follow through their orders, hoping it will end. The truth of war is that there is no black and white - morality within war becomes a blurred grey.
While there are some people who might disagree of Evelyn’s actions, this autobiography was never created to show the fairytale view of war, but rather the cold truth. As the abducted became soldiers, many victims turned into the abusers that once inflicted pain onto them. Even Evelyn’s co-wives were not fully right or wrong, their anger was justified in some ways. While they aimed to purposefully violate Evelyn, who was a child when she became a wife, these wives felt used by the man who continued to marry women. I can imagine the wives all suffered from the same manipulation that Kony, the husband, brought onto Evelyn. This emotional abuse may have shifted these wives into an angered and defensive state, which doesn’t help the fact that they’re in the middle of war.
It is interesting to notice the religious importance of the soldiers within the war, despite knowing they were doing against God’s will. Alike the morals of war, their faith becomes blurred in troubled times. As I read the book, countless times I pitied Evelyn for her desperate desire for death, despite giving birth to two children. During the war, these children would be a reminder of the pain from the co-wives and Kony. Her suffering was so severe that she wanted nothing more but to die, yet apart of her continued to pray to God that she might live. I find it admirable how she was suicidal, but did her best to keep moving forward. It is a mindset that everyone should strive to have, or at least try.
Although Evelyn Amony’s autobiography inspired me, I found the plain writing style to be lack lustre. I believe the editors could have written the book slightly better by detailing the information of her events. After the events of the war, I was disappointed that there was no discussion about Evelyn’s feelings of the past. I would have rated it more, if it weren’t for the quality of the writing. There wasn’t much elaboration, which I wish it had.
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Everything that I do, people say that I am Kony's wife, Kony's wife, Kony's wife. Why do they look at me? Why do they talk so much about me? Who am I? I think of it, yet I know such thoughts will not take me anywhere. Even if I take my own life, I will not have done a good thing because I will have left my children orphaned. I should wait for God to decide when I die. Console me.
When it comes to war, the trauma of it can heal through therapy, but the victims would never regain the life they used to have. Evelyn Amony was one of those victims. Like the other children who suffered from the abduction, her childhood was taken away. In a person’s single life, they can only experience their childhood once. Motherhood was not a choice to her, it was her source of living. Yet even her motherhood was different compared to others, and in a constant state of life and death.
I am Evelyn Amony brings forth the topic of morals as the abductees treat Evelyn with both kindness yet cruelness. Within a war, people would label each sides as either good or bad, not recognising there is both good and bad within each side. By defining the whole of one community as bad, it ignores the reality that there are exceptions. Many soldiers are loyal due to the pain that was inflicted upon them, other have no choice but to be loyal. For others, they consider their fellow soldiers as brothers and sisters. Some don’t know how to escape from war so they choose to follow through their orders, hoping it will end. The truth of war is that there is no black and white - morality within war becomes a blurred grey.
While there are some people who might disagree of Evelyn’s actions, this autobiography was never created to show the fairytale view of war, but rather the cold truth. As the abducted became soldiers, many victims turned into the abusers that once inflicted pain onto them. Even Evelyn’s co-wives were not fully right or wrong, their anger was justified in some ways. While they aimed to purposefully violate Evelyn, who was a child when she became a wife, these wives felt used by the man who continued to marry women. I can imagine the wives all suffered from the same manipulation that Kony, the husband, brought onto Evelyn. This emotional abuse may have shifted these wives into an angered and defensive state, which doesn’t help the fact that they’re in the middle of war.
It is interesting to notice the religious importance of the soldiers within the war, despite knowing they were doing against God’s will. Alike the morals of war, their faith becomes blurred in troubled times. As I read the book, countless times I pitied Evelyn for her desperate desire for death, despite giving birth to two children. During the war, these children would be a reminder of the pain from the co-wives and Kony. Her suffering was so severe that she wanted nothing more but to die, yet apart of her continued to pray to God that she might live. I find it admirable how she was suicidal, but did her best to keep moving forward. It is a mindset that everyone should strive to have, or at least try.
Although Evelyn Amony’s autobiography inspired me, I found the plain writing style to be lack lustre. I believe the editors could have written the book slightly better by detailing the information of her events. After the events of the war, I was disappointed that there was no discussion about Evelyn’s feelings of the past. I would have rated it more, if it weren’t for the quality of the writing. There wasn’t much elaboration, which I wish it had.
-
Everything that I do, people say that I am Kony's wife, Kony's wife, Kony's wife. Why do they look at me? Why do they talk so much about me? Who am I? I think of it, yet I know such thoughts will not take me anywhere. Even if I take my own life, I will not have done a good thing because I will have left my children orphaned. I should wait for God to decide when I die. Console me.
February 26, 2017
It is possible you haven’t heard about the conflict in Uganda at all. If you did, it was most likely as the result of watching KONY 2012, a 30-min viral video spread in March of that year to raise awareness about the children abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and its leader Joseph Kony, whose name is repeated 45 times. During 26 years he abducted thousands of women and children to make them part of his army. Evelyn was one of them. That’s not her story.
Evelyn refuses to be defined by the acts she was a victim of, by decisions forced upon her and by the narratives that we find convenient to enforce a political agenda or promote human rights. Yes, she was one of Kony’s wives and yes, she learned how to shoot and defend herself. When confronted with her past, her answer is not a “yes I’m that person”but one more insightful. “That’s what happened.”
In I am Evelyn Amony one will learn about Evelyn’s childhood, her family and expectations for the future, her life with the LRA and horrific stories about war and the struggle for reintegration. As you can imagine not all of these are beautiful images, some of them are simply crude. One can listen to this stories and be surprised or moved. Sadly, as we approach reality, we soon realize that war and violence in general are a common occurrence where the most horrible acts are normalized. The words of Evelyn are a true testimony to this. “A bomb exploded”, “we could see the flesh spread on the three,” “they shot at me,” as if each one of these actions did not deserve a three-page narrative on the profound emotional and historical complexities that surrounded them.
"That was the point I started calling the gun Margaret, my mum's name, because I felt my gun was like my mum. The only thing is that the gun doesn't tell you stories." Maybe that’s why.
Evelyn is a very sweet and strong woman who dealt with Kony even when everyone else was terrified, she was beaten and mistreated by multiple people during her entire life and yet managed to comfort others who suffered at her side. Evelyn raised her children during war and found a profession afterwards. We learn the most about her aspirations when on March 8, 2010 —the day she learned Women have a Day—, she tells us about what it is to be an Acioli woman and the dignity she finds in carrying simple tasks: to clean, to cook a traditional dish, to understand women have rights and a future, even those who carried a gun.
It is really hard to put it all together. Sometimes one can read this as fiction and find beauty on another person’s suffering. That happened to me. However, the final chapter was not closure for me. There was something else I wanted to know.
I searched her name on Facebook and found her through a friend in common. She is real. She is right there. Evelyn Amony has being tagged in pictures just like any of us. She smiles. She is my sister’s age
Evelyn refuses to be defined by the acts she was a victim of, by decisions forced upon her and by the narratives that we find convenient to enforce a political agenda or promote human rights. Yes, she was one of Kony’s wives and yes, she learned how to shoot and defend herself. When confronted with her past, her answer is not a “yes I’m that person”but one more insightful. “That’s what happened.”
In I am Evelyn Amony one will learn about Evelyn’s childhood, her family and expectations for the future, her life with the LRA and horrific stories about war and the struggle for reintegration. As you can imagine not all of these are beautiful images, some of them are simply crude. One can listen to this stories and be surprised or moved. Sadly, as we approach reality, we soon realize that war and violence in general are a common occurrence where the most horrible acts are normalized. The words of Evelyn are a true testimony to this. “A bomb exploded”, “we could see the flesh spread on the three,” “they shot at me,” as if each one of these actions did not deserve a three-page narrative on the profound emotional and historical complexities that surrounded them.
"That was the point I started calling the gun Margaret, my mum's name, because I felt my gun was like my mum. The only thing is that the gun doesn't tell you stories." Maybe that’s why.
Evelyn is a very sweet and strong woman who dealt with Kony even when everyone else was terrified, she was beaten and mistreated by multiple people during her entire life and yet managed to comfort others who suffered at her side. Evelyn raised her children during war and found a profession afterwards. We learn the most about her aspirations when on March 8, 2010 —the day she learned Women have a Day—, she tells us about what it is to be an Acioli woman and the dignity she finds in carrying simple tasks: to clean, to cook a traditional dish, to understand women have rights and a future, even those who carried a gun.
It is really hard to put it all together. Sometimes one can read this as fiction and find beauty on another person’s suffering. That happened to me. However, the final chapter was not closure for me. There was something else I wanted to know.
I searched her name on Facebook and found her through a friend in common. She is real. She is right there. Evelyn Amony has being tagged in pictures just like any of us. She smiles. She is my sister’s age
October 7, 2017
I had such high hopes for this book, but I was disappointed.
When you have a memoir written by a person that doesn't speak English as their first language, usually you can rely on the editor to make it flow well. I felt like I was reading a book report from an eight year old.
I thought this woman would be a champion and advocate for women's rights, considering what she had been through, but I just found her ignorant, sexist, and even if Uganda has a different culture, I cannot get behind a woman who beats her sick children. (Page 157, "I got a stick and beat Grace. I asked her if she thinks going to school is not important. I told her to go to school. She told me, "Mum, my ears cannot hear anything." I told her, "If your ears do not hear, then your backside will.")
She seems to have a severe lack of understanding, and put forth no effort to educate herself since coming back from the bush. I don't know how she can speak for peace and equality for women when it seems she thinks women deserve to be beat (Page 155, "She said her husband should be the one to cook. Her husband was annoyed. He did not even beat her. In most cases people think that if you beat your wife today you will be handled with the law. The way I see it, I find that the woman did something wrong."
By the time I reached the epilogue I was so tired of the book that I just skimmed it, I didn't feel it was worth any effort to read it.
The only reason I gave this book two stars is because the events are tragic, and heartbreaking, but I'm glad they are brought to light. The beginning is better than the rest of the book, I just wish someone qualified had written it.
When you have a memoir written by a person that doesn't speak English as their first language, usually you can rely on the editor to make it flow well. I felt like I was reading a book report from an eight year old.
I thought this woman would be a champion and advocate for women's rights, considering what she had been through, but I just found her ignorant, sexist, and even if Uganda has a different culture, I cannot get behind a woman who beats her sick children. (Page 157, "I got a stick and beat Grace. I asked her if she thinks going to school is not important. I told her to go to school. She told me, "Mum, my ears cannot hear anything." I told her, "If your ears do not hear, then your backside will.")
She seems to have a severe lack of understanding, and put forth no effort to educate herself since coming back from the bush. I don't know how she can speak for peace and equality for women when it seems she thinks women deserve to be beat (Page 155, "She said her husband should be the one to cook. Her husband was annoyed. He did not even beat her. In most cases people think that if you beat your wife today you will be handled with the law. The way I see it, I find that the woman did something wrong."
By the time I reached the epilogue I was so tired of the book that I just skimmed it, I didn't feel it was worth any effort to read it.
The only reason I gave this book two stars is because the events are tragic, and heartbreaking, but I'm glad they are brought to light. The beginning is better than the rest of the book, I just wish someone qualified had written it.
May 30, 2018
This book tells the story of a girl named Evelyn who was abducted by Joseph Kony, one of the warlords of the Lords Resistance Army. Evelyn became one of Kony's many wives and ended up giving birth to his children. Evelyn eventually escaped the war with one of her children because the other died during the war. Evelyn talks about little everyday things that trigger memories from the war and make her and her daughter upset.
May 7, 2017
This feels like an honest account that humanises the "bodies" behind the Joseph Kony led rebel army. Questions around children raised in these situations and girls forced in to militia marriages can be harrowing to conceive without the guidance of such insight as provided by Evelyn. Still harrowing but easier to conceive
February 11, 2018
An intimate glimpse into a dark world, this well written memoire is brave beyond measure. Her struggle and commitment to helping others is an inspiration.
October 17, 2019
So sad but true.
The story is there, the writing leaves a bit to be desired.
The story is there, the writing leaves a bit to be desired.
January 24, 2023
Eye opening and a testament to the strength and endurance of women.
November 30, 2025
Have had this for so long and finally read it cover to cover. It’s all Evelyns voice and stories. It doesn’t feel heavy handed I editing at all. That said, it’s not as flowery as a typical memoir. I appreciated that.
October 16, 2016
This is a difficult book to read. The life of Evelyn Amony has been brutal. She was abducted as a child, forced to marry the notorious Joseph Kony at 14, moved through "the bush" with the Lord Resistance Army, trying to keep herself and her children alive and was ostracized 12 years later when she was allowed to return home. Her story is told through a cultural lens unique to Uganda--eye opening for western readers who might not even be able to locate Uganda on a map easily. My takeaway--we need to support organizations like Just Like My Child who promote health initiatives and education for young women in Uganda.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews