Conclusion

I greatly admire Beah's memoirs of his soldier life. Some parts I liked very much, but the reality of it all is just disgusting. It must have been hard for Beah to dig into his memory to remember such horrifying events. The detailed used is almost too perfect, creating a undesirable image in the readers head. I wonder how Beah could have remembered everything so vividly. He makes no mention of a journal, but due to the location and circumstances I highly doubt he could keep one over a period of time. If events are so horrible for people, the brain just cancels out many of the memories of it. Possibly Beah didn't lose any of the memories but the circumstances in each battle or event made him remember them. Another possibility is that he did forget some of the memories during those days. The memories he may have lost would have been much more grotesque then the memories retained.
It is hard to say I like A Long Way Gone. Though it is very well written, the revolting occurrences make it hard to like. I think mature readers should read it so that they can understand life in other countries. It is a great awakening for readers who know little about the outside world.