Robbiemcqueeney’s Reviews > A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier > Status Update

Men from the UN allow Ishmael to come to the UN in NYC and tell his story, he does so and be-friends a story teller Laura Simms. He is then returned back to Sierra Leone where he is re-encountered with war, his uncle who has been watching over him dies and he decides he has to leave now or he'll fall back into the grasp of war. He calls Laura, and he is brought to the embassy where is brought to NYC to live.

The boys are taken by UNICEF soldiers, where they bring them to a rehibiliation center to return them to a regular mental state. The boys fight and attack each other since they're bascially animals. After one night of brawling and stealing, Ishmael begins bleeding badly, and is brought to the hospital. Ishmael finially begins returning to normality, through kindness and AAA like circle chats with other soldiers.

Ishmael has turned into a killing machine. The army raids rebels and civilians for supplies. To stay amped for the raids, Ishmeal begins doing drugs, like smoking weed, snorting cocaine, heroin, and more white tablets. He is selected to particpate in a "throat slitting competition". He wins by slitting his prisoners throats in a zig zag shape. He now only finds happiness in his drugs and action movies.

The group is then captured by the military, they're given easy jobs until told that they're surrounded by rebels. They are trained on how to fight, and then thrown into battle, Ishmeal is given some "white tablets" to ease his headaches and amp him up to fight. He kills a few men, and watches some of his friends die. He returns to the camp were he is scared and is given more drugs to calm him. He goes to fight more.

The group goes to the village where Junior is said to be, they run into a old friend of Ishmeal, Gasemu, who runs a banana farm. They help carry some of the bananas to the village, but as they approach it figure out its under attack, they hide and wait for the invasion to end. They then go into the hut that is said to have had Ishmael's family in it, theirs no one, but also no bodies. This pisses Ishmael off.

Ishmael is now by himself, he is walking through the farm/village area after the raid and see's the destruction. He then goes into a forest where he is chased out by a pack of wild pigs. He then runs into a group of boys, some of which he remembers from before the rebels attacked. They go to a town were once again they are believed to be soldiers, however they are soon found to be just a group of innocent boys.

Really had to marathon read the rest of it to finish it up. The boys are able to escape being captured, but are captured by a group of guards, since they are believed to be rebels since they travel as a group, but an old friend reveals their not rebels. They then go to work at a nearby farm, where the group is seperated during a raid, Ishmael is seperated from his brother (never sees him again). (Rest on

So at this point the group has been traveling for quite some time, they're exhausted and hungry. They try to mug a little kid of his corn, but the kids parents come out, and actually understand their struggle and offer them some food. That held them for a bit, but they need more and head to a nearby town, but they end up getting caught by a bunch of rebels are are forced into a group by gun point.

Now, it goes back to the group simpley wondering around, curious if their family and friends are okay, and scared about what could happen next. They are approached by a messanger with a mark carved into the him with a bayonet. He warns that the soldiers who did that will be heading this way soon, and plan on snatching a few kids to serve for them. Soon they do attack, but they are able to evade the rebels.

Ishmael has now started having a nightmare, of which he wakes up form, to for the first time, has him be in NYC instead of Africa. Although it quickly goes back to him in a village, now a child soldier. They attack a village for supplies, they massacure the remaining villagers, and shocking of most, are celebrating by eating the stolen food and such while sitting on the people they've killed.