1 rating (4.00 avg)
1 review

Niall Durkan

Add friend

Niall’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (0)

currently-reading‎ (1)

read‎ (0)

Stats | More…

Niall is Currently Reading

Niall Durkan rated a book really liked it

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

by Ishmael Beah

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Niall Durkan said: " #3) This text has contributed to my knowledge of foreign cultures. I have been able to understand in a kids point of view that had actually witnessed all of the brutal, inhumane acts that were performed on women, children, boys, and men. It is astoni #3) This text has contributed to my knowledge of foreign cultures. I have been able to understand in a kids point of view that had actually witnessed all of the brutal, inhumane acts that were performed on women, children, boys, and men. It is astonishing to think of what happened and is currently happening in Sierra Leone, let alone being there and living through it all. I realize how much is taken for granted in our country. We have such an abundance of resources and a stable government. The character in A Long Way Gone has to strive to survive every day and no body trusts anyone. At one point in the book Ishmael and some six other boys showed up at a village and the village people were so chary (vocab word) that they kicked them out with the blades of machetes and their shoes were taken as well. The villagers couldn't just kick them out, they had to hurt them in some way. The boys didnt know it at the time but the villagers had taken their shoes for a reason. The sand on the beach was endless and the sun made it like a frying pan to whatever was in contact with it. By the time the boys had found shelter, the bottoms of their feet looked like they had been skinned. There was no spot on the bottom of their feet that did not have exposed flesh.

I find Ishmael Beah's story very motivational. He was a very young boy when this had happened and at the prime age for the R.U.F. to recruit him. His friends and Ishmael were especially not trusted because of their age as well. To have the rebels against you, hunger, the forest, nature, and your own country men all against you is very disheartening. I credit Ishmael with insane amounts of courage for going through what he did and surviving it in tact both physically and mentally. That is another huge factor, the amount of emotional damage that war has on people is unimaginable. At one point he had lost his friends and his brother in a scramble while the R.U.F. was attacking a village they were in. Afterwards he just kept on walking and running away from literally everything. He at was chased by wild boars in the forest and is threatened by unknown food he eats. While he was in the forest he was alone with his thoughts for quite a while. He was fighting with himself the entire time to try and not think of all of the gruesome and scaring memories that had taken place directly in front of his eyes. The amounts of things he sees is unbearable to think about.

#4) This text does not compare too much to any of the novels we have read this year. After reading this book and already have read the other novels, they seem flimsy and irrelevant. I get engulfed in this book when I am reading. It surrounds me with noise cancelling walls while I read so all I have to focus on is the book. The characters' dreams are just to survive. Their goal throughout the novel is to avoid the R.U.F. and not die of hunger. It's as if they are hiding from everything. They have to hide from the rebels, the villages that are suspicious of them, the animals in the jungle, and their own thoughts. I can say it would be accurate to say that their only goal would be to see another day.

The characters are evasive and cautious in their travels. They make sure they are very careful while going from village to village. Some things are inevitable and other conflicts can be avoided but emotions and the mental and physical toll the war has on the children can complicate things. They somehow keep going on because of their hope and support they have on eachother. The things they have seen and been through together, bring them closer. This is what holds them together for the most part, ill have to find out how it ends later. ...more "

May 14, 2012 04:23PM · see review