A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

My partner and I are nearly finished with the book A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. This book takes place in Sierra Leone, during the civil war there in the mid 90s. The author lived in a village that was attacked by rebels when he was around the age of twelve. He was not in the village at the time but it was destroyed. Knowing that the rebels would soon come to the village he was staying at, he and his friends went on the run. During this time he is recruited for the governments army. While he is there he learns how to kill mercilessly and do drugs when he is not at war. This book includes his memories on his time in the army.

While I was reading this I realized that war is only cool in movies. In reality it is gross, disgusting and repulsive. Some of the things that Ishmael was told to do by his lieutenant were absolutely horrible. To make matters worse, all of the terrible things he did, he did as a boy that was between the ages of thirteen and fifteen.

In our society today we have many forms of media that make war look "cool". Many of the video games we have today make the killing look awesome and fun. However, after I read this book I started having second thoughts on those kinds of games. The stuff that Ishmael experiences should never be purposely recreated for someones pleasure.I do not agree with a lot of the video games that exist after reading this book.