A Long Way Gone

"Such a captivating and emotional memoir. My favorite book of all time (read it at least 7 times and wrote several papers on it). I will forever recommend this book to people wanting to overcome obstacles and growth; though it may not be to this extremity. "

"A heartbreaking true story about a young boy in Sierra Leone forced to be a child soldier. Excellent read!"

"A friend recommended this book to me and it’s become one of my all time favorite memoirs. The author survives a hellacious childhood of war and struggle only to survive and make it to America. Such an amazing story of triumph."

"This should be #1. I still think about it years later. This is a must read. "

"This is definably a very sad and hard book to read. It is about war and what it does to people. It does not shy away from anything. There’s gun violence, gore, rape, brainwashing, blood and death. <br/><br/>It was a story that needed to be told. Just like the author stated this isn’t just his story. This is the story of all people who got caught up in the war in Africa. It was a Civil war government vs the rebels. Both sides were really corrupt. Both normalized violence. <br/><br/>Because it is a nonfiction book we don’t get all the answers we want and sone that are told aren’t satisfying. For an example a character dies and we are never told how he died. That is because not even the person telling the story knows the answer. <br/><br/>The ending was unsatisfying. The author is focused on telling the story of being a soldier boy. That doesn’t mean it starts when he is caught by the rebels or the government. It gives you some background information and begins when the war first hit his village. That’s when the threat of him becoming a soldier starts. The book ends not with him going to the United States, but going to a village that the war hasn’t touched trying to find a way to the U.S. That is when there is no longer a threat of him being a soldier. i wish he would at least ended the book when he got to New York."

"Though I've read this in high school I'll always be shocked they let us read this. A big warning to people who don't like graphic descriptions, this books has a lot of those. Some parts may be hard to read, but I think it's really worth it! "

"This is devastating from pretty much cover to cover and also made me want to join a non-profit"

"Vivid depictions, harrowing eyewitness accounts and a riveting, thrilling memoir that kept me flicking through page after page. I can not fully express the impact this book has left on me."

"A powerful and moving story of a boy caught up in the war in Sierra Leone. It is quite sad how quickly a society can disintegrate and move from humanity to the baseness of animals and it is evident in many places around the world not simply in Africa.<br/><br/>Ishmael's life is far from pleasant and the images involved quite nasty. But truth is quite nasty many times and I thank him for sharing his story with us.<br/><br/>I highly recommend this - I couldn't put the book down and quickly finished it over several short flights."

"Deeply disturbing story but hopeful at end. "