A Long Way Gone

May 28, 2007
Beah’s harrowing story of a boy caught up in the civil strife in Sierra Leone is not an audio to curl up with before bedtime. Beah’s even-toned narrative is particularly disturbing because it’s almost exactly the same whether he is enjoying the company of a newly found uncle or busy shooting and maiming rebels and even burying them alive. His monotone works particularly well when he is recounting his dreams, for he cannot distinguish his nightmares from his waking life. Beah speaks with a thick accent that omits “th” sounds. Many words are understandable in their context, but a few are not. He also stumbles over some longer and more complex words. Despite these drawbacks, Beah’s tale is a riveting snapshot of childhoods stolen from all too many, not just in Sierra Leone but in Somalia, Iraq, Palestine and other places ravaged by civil wars. Simultaneous release with the FSG hardcover (Reviews, Dec. 18).

Ishmael Beah was just 11 when civil war ripped apart Sierra Leone and killed his parents and brothers. He became one of tens of thousands of child soldiers in that conflict, and in this disturbing memoir he describes how he survived almost three years of hell. He killed countless people, both in battle and by execution, all before he turned 16. He tells his story without self-pity or apology as he explains how he eventually came to understand that what happened was not his fault. Beah is not a trained narrator, and his accent is occasionally difficult to understand, but it's impossible to imagine how anyone else could read this intensely personal story with more power than he does. D.B. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine