Sounds of machine guns, and the frightening scenery bloody dead corpses, and people running to hide and get away. Child soldiers marching holding guns and machetes. Screams of terror lurk the street, no one is safe, and no one can hide from them. An intense, dramatic non-fictional book, A Long way Gone, written by Ishmael Beah, will lead you to an unforgettable journey of danger and survival.
Sierra Leone is known for the war and blood diamonds, and fighting for your country. They were fighting for the country that turned into mass destruction. Many lives and poverty occurred. Children soldiers from all ages where killing machines. Every child was hooked on cocaine and brown brown. Brown brown was a mixture of gun powder and cocaine that could keep you up for days without sleep. Guns and drugs turned innocent soccer playing kids into miniature Rambo monsters.
The main character is Ishmael, he was a solider, and whose motto was “kill or be killed.” Everything he did was his survival instincts, even though he was killing people who were only trying to get away. He lost his family and got separated from Junior which was his older brother. At the beginning of the book, he never thought that he would become someone that he was afraid of. A solider, who’s best friend was a gun and for fun was killing people. Drugs and guns is what his life had become, he got addicted to the thrill and felt no remorse for anyone.
I enjoyed this book; I recommend it to anyone that is mature enough to handle it. There is so much motion in this book that comes to life. To them it was all about death, drugs and addictions to Rambo movies for many years. Killings were an everyday routine. I guarantee that you would enjoy this book just as my tenth grade class did.