Sunday, September 15, 2013

A LONG WAY GONE: MEMOIRS OF A BOY SOLDIER by Ishmael Beah



Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (New York: Sarah Crichton Books; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007).

Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (read by the author; Audio Renaissance, 2007).

Also available on Nook and Kindle.
 

(MEMOIR)

Recommended by Wilda Morris


American rap music saved the life of Ishmael Beah several times. Ishmael was twelve years old when he, his older brother Junior and a friend were going to a neighboring village to perform rap songs from a cassette tape they had purchased. Rebel soldiers attacked Ishmael’s village, killing many residents and scattering the rest. Had he been home, he probably would have been killed or drafted into the rebel army. Later, as he and other youngsters were wandering through Sierra Leone trying to find a safe place, it was the rap music cassettes in his pocket that persuaded village elders that they were not the child soldiers who were attacking and burning villages and shooting people.

Book cover blurbs are often meaningless, but I agree with the words of Walter Isaacson: “A Long Way Gone is a wrenching, beautiful, and mesmerizing tale.” Except for the brief prologue, the story takes place from 1993-1998. For much of this time period, Ishmael is on the run from the chaos of civil war, passing through forests, grasslands, and abandoned villages.

Ishmael talks of times “we were so hungry it hurt to drink water . . . . “ (p. 31). They saw dead bodies. They often traveled at night, to decrease the chance of being captured. They lived in fear, always alert to dangers.

Once, Ishmael and his friends were captured by rebel soldiers. They would have been killed or forced into the rebel army, but fighting broke out nearby and they escaped into the woods. Ishmael was separated from the others (including his brother), and never saw any of them again. He later hooked up with another group of young people. These boys tried, together, to reach the coast, believing they would be out of the war zone,

The boys happened into a village where Junior had come a few days earlier, looking for Ishmael. Shortly thereafter, Ishmael encountered Gasemu —another refugee from Ishmael’s home village. He told Ishmael, “Your parents and brothers will be happy to see you. . . . Your mother cries every day, begging the gods and ancestors to return you to her.” He told Ishmael that his family had taken refuge in a village just over the hill. Imagine his excitement at the prospect of being reunited with his loved ones! But just before Ishmael arrived in that village, it was attacked by rebel soldiers and totally wiped out. Civilians were shot in the back. Homes were set on fire with people locked inside. Ishmael’s first wish was that he had made it into the village in time to die with his family.

Not long after this, Ishmael and his friends were captured by government soldiers. They were taken to Yele, a village under government control, and given space in an unfinished concrete building with other young boys. There were about 30 of them altogether. It seemed that they had finally found safety. That lasted until the rebels came close and the military contingent in Yele got desperate. The boys were offered an option: they could undergo military training and become part of the troop, or they could leave the village. The soldiers repeatedly said that it was the responsibility of the boys to punish the rebels for having killed their families. Between the brain-washing and the obvious fact that they would be no safer wandering in the war zone, there really wasn’t much choice. Ishmael became a child-soldier.

The child soldiers were given drugs to make them feel invulnerable and were shown war movies such as Rambo: First Blood, Rambo II, and Commando in the evenings. Ishmael says, “When we ran out of food, drugs, ammunition, and gasoline to watch war films, we raided rebel camps. . . . We also attacked civilian villages to capture recruits and whatever else we could find” (pp. 121-122). Initially he was forced to participate in atrocities, but they soon became second nature. Beah showed leadership, and when he was critically injured, the troop leaders got medical care for him.

One day a UNICEF truck with four men “dressed in clean blue jeans and white T-shirts” (p. 128) came to the base where Ishmael was stationed. The lieutenant picked 15 boys and told them to go on the truck. None of the boys knew why he had been selected, but they were used to following orders so they obeyed. They were taken to a fenced compound where they were other young boys, all of whom were child soldiers. Those who designed the project of reclaiming the young people from the war were so naĂŻve that they put rebel and government soldiers together, without any preparation. Violence erupted in the compound and some of the boys were killed.

The UNICEF representatives, however, did not give up. The violence was brought under control. The boys were bribed to attend classes by promises that if they did so, they could take field trips into Freetown on weekends. Since virtually all of these boys were from the countryside, they were willing to go to school, though they didn’t take it seriously. They did not know that the easy-going “teachers” were collecting information and feeding it to the military personnel.

Ishmael resisted going to the hospital for check-ups or to see the nurse, despite having migraine headaches and horrific nightmares. However, he passed out several times and was taken to the hospital. In time, Esther, a nurse working with the boys, got through his shell. She purchased rap music and invited him to stop by her office to listen to it. Eventually she was able to get him to tell her about his experiences and to share his dreams. Staff members at the rehabilitation camp constantly told the boys, “It wasn’t your fault.” Initially Ishmael found this annoying, but one day when he heard it again from Esther’s lips, it became a comfort and part of his healing.

Because it discusses such horrific events, A Long Way Gone is a difficult book to read. What makes it possible to get through is that Beal periodically includes flashbacks to happier times, including tribal stories.

There is much more to the story, but I won’t tell it all. Ishmael was more fortunate than thousands of other child soldiers from Sierra Leone. The short biography in the book lets the reader know that Ishmael was finally able to come to the United States to complete high school and college. He has spoken before the United Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. His rap music performances doubtless contributed to the self-confidence that allowed him to be a strong public speaker, the ability which opened the doors for him to escape Sierra Leone when the fighting arrived in Freetown.

As I read this book, it spoke to me of possibilities. If Ishmael Beah could be reclaimed from his role as a drug-addicted child soldier participating in the burning of villages and the torture and murder of innocent people—if he could be healed enough to return to school and to become an upstanding citizen—surely we could reclaim youth who have witnessed and participated in violence in our inner cities if we had the will to do so. Our culture seems more intent on punishment and vengeance than healing. Consequently we perpetuate the cycle of violence. When will we learn?


Thursday, September 5, 2013

1st to Die by James Patterson



James Patterson, 1st to Die (Grand Central Publishing, 2002). Also available on Nook and Kindle and as an audiobook.



(SUSPENSE THRILLER)

Recommended by Matthew Rupe

1st to Die is a really good book!

It is about an inspector that is employed by the San Francisco Police Department. Four women meet once a month at a local bar to try to solve a difficult case before the SFPD identifies the murderer.

James Patterson is one of my favorite authors.

I give it 5 stars. It is a very good read.