I had been intending to read this book for quite some time, and I am not sure it was worth the wait. While there is no doubt that Ishmael's childhood was truly tragic, I am not sure that his memoir truly conveyed the emotional horror and terror he survived. There were definitely gory and graphic parts, so much so that I will not be putting this memoir on my classroom shelf. But, Beah's retelling didn't convey enough of the raw emotions or dramatic reintroduction to society that I would have expected.
The ending of his story just happened. The book ended so abruptly that I was confused by the appearance of the chronology. I truly thought my book was missing a chapter or two. Although as the brief prologue and book jacket indicate, Ishmael Beah is adopted by the storyteller he met during his visit to New York. But, I would have loved to read more about his journey out of Africa and his subsequent arrival in America.
All in all, I thought the memoir was worth reading, but I feel as though Beah has so much more to tell.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
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2 comments:
Dear Kristin, very sage comment. There are a lot of problems with Beah's narrative, in particular that the dates are wrong and things cannot have happened as he says they did. The grisly fight at the rehab home doesn't appear to have ever happened either, according to records. What you've picked up on is that something just doesn't feel right about the story. That's what kept driving my colleagues and myself - and now others - to try and uncover the truth about how that memoir came into existence. Here's some worthwhile reading for you. Congratulations again, Shelley Gare
http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2009/07/16/ishmael-beah’s-‘a-long-way-gone’-is-‘a-long-way-from-the-truth-sierra-leonean-magazine-says-in-a-report-that-raises-‘serious-doubts’-about-its-story/
http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-03-18/news/boy-soldier/
Thank you for your comments Shelley. I was unaware of the conflict surrounding Beah's memoir. I will admit I don't know much about the war in Sierre Leone, so I would never have questioned any inaccuracies of his time line.
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