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Last Updated: May 30th, 2008 - 11:49:13 |
A Long Way Gone
By Ishmael Beah
February 13, 2007
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
The book serves as a startling document about both the despair and promise of humanity. Ishmael Beah’s memoir details his journey as boy soldier through war-torn Sierra
Leone in the 1990s. Civil war had broken out between the government and the rebel party over control of the lucrative conflict diamond trade. During this time, Beah was forced into the government army, where he fought against the Revolutionary United Force (RUF), members of which had pillaged his village.
A Long Way Gone is written in straightforward prose that makes classic autobiographies immortal and heroic. The memoir brings the urgent issue of child abuse across the world to the forefront. It is the most recent work to shine light on African civil struggles, expanding on the Sierra Leonean culture and lifestyle and its deterioration in wake of constant fighting between the government and the rebels.
Beah’s narrative is centered on his fascination with hip-hop. He writes about the times, before civil war hit the countryside, when his friends and he would make dance steps to the rap cassettes they owned. They would memorize lyrics from Slick Rick, LL Cool J, and Run DMC among other old school rappers so that they could improve their English. Even as Beah was migrating from village to village, his rap cassettes would be one of the only items that he would continually make sure were still in his possession.
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| Ishmael Beah |
The fact that Beah’s survival during Sierra Leone’s bloody civil war often coincidental may make some readers uncomfortable but his account appears to be totally true—and riveting. He describes a time when a pack of wild boars chased him in the forest and how he jumped on a tree branch to avoid attack. It is also a coincidence that Beah ended up fighting for the national army, which, for all intents and purposes, is the good army, instead of for the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) which forced most boy soldiers into service. To top off his experience, Beah attended college in the United States and represented Sierra Leone in the United Nations, which is, at the very least, astonishing given his traumatic odyssey.
Even the most apolitical readers and those who have bludgeoned awareness of the world won’t be intimidated by this book. It generates the necessary empathy need for social change; we see how life changes for Beah as he goes from the tranquil surroundings of his native village Mattru Jong to the everyday nightmare of witnessing civil war genocide. It spreads consciousness in a manner that does not feel preachy or superior. And consciousness is a
definite prerequisite to action.
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Sidik Fofana is a writer, poet, and emcee. He serves as associate editor at Allhiphop.com and is a regular contributor to the Source magazine. He graduated from Columbia University in 2005, with a BA in English. He currently lives in Harlem, NY.
© Copyright 2006 SeeingBlack.com
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