Beah, Ishmael. A long way gone; memoirs of a boy soldier.BEAH, Ishmael. A long way gone; memoirs of a boy soldier. Read by the author. 7 cds. 8.5 hrs. Audio Renaissance. 2007. 978-1-4272-0230-7. $34.95. Cardboard; content, author notes. SA In a blood-drenched first-person narrative
First-person narrative is a literary technique in which the story is narrated by one character, who explicitly refers to him or herself in the first person, that is, using words and phrases involving "I" and "we". Beah describes his life from a carefree, hip hop-loving 12-year-old through years of horror to a final escape from Sierra Leone Sierra Leone (sēĕr`ə lēō`nē, lēōn`; sēr`ə lēōn), officially Republic of Sierra Leone, republic (2005 est. pop. 6,018,000), 27,699 sq mi (71,740 sq km), W Africa. four years later. As the government forces and the rebel army struggled for dominance, Sierra Leone civilians suffered the most frightful toll: looting, raping, burning, maiming, torturing, and execution. Both sides forcefully recruited young boys, doped dope n. 1. Informal a. A narcotic, especially an addictive narcotic. b. Narcotics considered as a group. c. An illicit drug, especially marijuana. 2. them up with marijuana, cocaine, and other drugs, and turned them into killing machines. Ishmael and some of his friends were off on a fun trip away from their village when the rebels swept in and destroyed it. Panicked, the boys fled through the forest, trying to evade e·vade v. e·vad·ed, e·vad·ing, e·vades v.tr. 1. To escape or avoid by cleverness or deceit: evade arrest. 2. a. the rebel soldiers, traveling at night and seeking food and shelter in villages they encountered. Ultimately they were found by government troops, who enraged en·rage tr.v. en·raged, en·rag·ing, en·rag·es To put into a rage; infuriate. [Middle English *enragen, from Old French enrager : en-, causative pref. them with stories of the atrocities inflicted on their families and encouraged them to take revenge by joining the government army. They were given AK-47s and told to kill every known or suspected rebel they could find. They did, mercilessly. Beah was eventually released from the army, rehabilitated in the country's capitol of Freetown, and chosen to fly to the US and address the United Nations on behalf of children like himself who were and are being turned into soldiers in many countries. His resilience, courage, and determination are remarkable. He eventually made his way back to the US, graduated from Oberlin College Oberlin College, at Oberlin, Ohio; coeducational; opened 1833 as Oberlin Collegiate Institute, became Oberlin College in 1850. It includes a college of arts and sciences and a well-known conservatory of music. , and continues his work advocating human rights. The author writes vividly and speaks with matter-of-fact clarity as he recreates the bloody violence of his teenage years, making the book all the more shocking and harrowing. When the focus is on one real person rather than an amorphous Unorganized or vague. A lack of structure. For example, the amorphous state of a spot on a rewritable optical disc means that the laser beam will not be reflected from it, which is in contrast to a crystalline state which will reflect light. See crystalline. group of statistics, the effect is profound. Pat Dole, Richmond, VA S--Recommended for senior high school students. A--Recommended for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placement students. This also will help extend KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries. |
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