A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
Ishmael Beah’s memoir, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, is a clear-eyed and haunting firsthand account of a child’s abduction into the horrors of the Sierra Leonean Civil War. The narrative begins in 1993, when twelve-year-old Ishmael, his older brother Junior, and their friend Talloi leave their home in Mogbwemo for a talent show in Mattru Jong. They carry only backpacks filled with rap cassettes and extra clothes, unaware that they will never return to their childhood as they knew it. While they are away, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) attacks their village, causing total chaos and separating families. Ishmael visualizes his father running from work and his mother weeping for his little brother, Ibrahim, as the war transforms his peaceful world into a landscape of blood and fire. The boys initially believe the “madness” will last only a few months, but the reality of the war quickly settles in as they witness refugees passing through with horrific stories of relatives killed and houses burned. At the wharf in Mattru Jong, they wait for news of their families, but the stream of refugees eventually dries up. They decide to return toward Mogbwemo but find the path blocked …