A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

     The book A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is a very powerful, almost depressing memoir about Beah's childhood as a boy soldier. He was separated from his parents at twelve, and became a child soldier until he was rescued by UNICEF at age sixteen. Throughout the book, Beah lets the reader see how his childhood was stolen from him through descriptions and language.
     In the beginning, Beah states how his life was good, he had a rap group with his friends in school, a family, and overall a good life. But when the Rebels invaded his town, he saw dying families, people being shot, and a messy, bloody scene of gore and terror. "Each gunshot seemed to cling to the beat of my heart."
     Beah and his friends traveled across brutal deserts and beaches, encountering savage villagers who let him pass only for his rap skills. It is so absurd that it almost sounds fictional. The seven boys had the bottoms of their feet literally burned off from the 120 degree sand; listened to their friends tell the stories of how the rebels raped their sisters and killed their parents, and starved in the sweltering Africa heat.
     Death is something nobody, let alone a child, should have to see. However, for almost five years of his life, Beah does, and some of those deaths he caused. Once he joined the army, they drugged him, gave him weapons, and trained him to be a ruthless, violent killer. "Killing became as easy as drinking water," he says. After a day of brutal murder and war, he would go back to the base with his troops, sniff cocaine, smoke marijuana, and watch war movies in a tent with other young soldiers.
     When he was rescued by UNICEF, he behaved like the changed person he was, cruel and mean to those who want to help him, starting fights with other refugees, bullying staff, and overall behaving badly. He behaved like someone who has been badly damaged, and needs fixing. I have not finished the book yet, but I am sure that he will change once again, shaking off the demonic personality that the war has forced on him.
     I think that Beah wrote this memoir to show people not just how unbelievably terrifying being a child soldier could be, but also how it can change a person, and rob their childhood away from them. Beah moved to New York and graduated from college because he was changed from the person war turned him into, with help from UNICEF.