Introduction

Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone is a very interesting yet very disturbing non-fiction book. It deals with the authors horrifying life as a youth in Sierra Leone. He served as a boy soldier during the countries civil war. Beah did a great job with detail and imagery, almost too good of a job. The events of which he describes are just so horrible, gruesome, and grotesque that the reader may need a break. From what I've read it seems like a very well written book but it certainly isn't one that will keep someone from reading it all night. A break is almost required after some of the chapters due to the intensity and the horrors.
Just last night I was telling some parts of the book to someone. After a little while, he briskly told to to stop, I was using to much imagery. I found that surprising, because my descriptions weren't nearly as precise as Beah's. He truly had a horrible childhood. After reading just about the rebel attacks in the first few chapters, will really make the reader understand on how messed up this world really is.