A Long Way Gone Ch. 21

This last chapter took me very much by surprise. I never expected the rebels and the army to come together to fight and i also never expected them to come back to where Ishmael Beah was living currently with his uncle. Mohammed had also joined the family! I was happy when I read that! I thought that everything was coming together finally for Beah, but then the rebels and soldiers attacked the town! I thought that he was going to go insane with all the memories that could come flooding back! He didn't really talk about having too many memories come back to him, though, because he didn't let them. Some escaped, but he kept them pretty tamed. Then, when I read that his uncle was becoming ill, I became sad. It was heartbreaking that the family was trying to help him and get him a doctor, but with the rebels and soldiers there, it made things very difficult. Then, it became even more heartbreaking when Ishmael Beah's uncle died in his hands. My eyes were watering and I felt like I was about to cry. Thinking about it right now makes me even sad. Later, when Beah was on his trip to escape the town, I was worried for him. I knew that he made it out alive, but it still worried me. It was a little bit confusing when he said, "I had entered the country illegally, which I knew would later become a problem" (Beah 216). He didn't come back to that subject, so I don't know how it became a problem. I mean, entering a country illegally is a problem for anybody, but he never explained what type of problem. Overall, this was a great book. It was one of the best nonfiction/autobiography books I have read so far! Ishmael Beah did a wonderful job writing. He really did make me feel as if I was right there beside him as he recounted his memories. Although, I will never know what things actually felt like for Ishmael Beah, but I do know that it is not easy to come back from something as horrible as what Beah was, a child soldier. I think that being a soldier has made Ishmael Beah who he is today. When I go to hear him speak at Clowes Hall, I really hope that I get the chance to meet him. All in all, I really enjoyed this book. : )

A Long Way Gone Ch. 19-20

The more I am progressing in this book, I am becoming so much more happier for Ishmael! I love reading about him being happy! It makes me excited for him, because he is starting a new, better life for himself. Although, I was sad that my suspicions of Ishmael not seeing Esther anymore after he moved in with his uncle were confirmed. He did go and see her once, but then he never went back. And it broke my heart in a way when Ishmael said, "It was the last time I saw her. I loved her but never told her." Pg. 181 I was sad because, he never really thanked her. He did hug her back though, which, in a way was his thanks. It just wasn't a formal thanks. I was also sad that Ishmael never saw his old friends again. But, they said their goodbyes heartily. Ishmael did make new friends though! He even had some girlfriends, but never got very far into them, because he didn't was unwilling to tell anyone about his past. He had a new loving family now also! While living with his new family, he was given the opportunity to go to the UN to talk about the lives of children in Sierra Leone and what can be done about it. He met many kids during his trip in the US and became friends with them. Especially a boy from Malawi named, Madoka. Another boy was, Bah, who had traveled with him to New York City.  There were also two women who Ishmael said would soon become his mother and his aunt when he moved to New York later. His future mother's name was, Laura Simms. I was taken by surprise when he said that she was going to become part of his family. I didn't dwell on it too long though, because I knew that she made him happy and that made me happy too. After a sad goodbye to his friends, Ishmael was on his way home. The end of Ch. 20 was very interesting. Ishmael said, "My sixteenth birthday was eight days away, and throughout the flight back home I still felt as if I was dreaming, a dream that I didn't want to wake up from. I was sad to leave, but I was also pleased to have met people outside of Sierra Leone. Because if I was to get killed upon my return, I knew that a memory of my existence was alive somewhere in the world." Pg. 200 After reading this, I was happy to see that Ishmael finally felt good about himself. I'm excited to finish reading! This has been a great book so far!

A Long Way Gone Ch. 17-18

I liked these chapters. They were more happy! Ishmael has started to form closer relationships between people. Esther, for example, is like his confident. She listens to anything that Ishmael wants to tell her. She even gets him gifts! I think that when Esther gave Ishmael a Walkman, it was the start of their relationship. Ishmael doesn't always show it, but he likes their friendship. Another person that Ishmael has come into contact with again is his friend, Mohamed. The last time he had seen him was when Ishmael, Talloi, and Junior left for Mogbwemo for a performance in Mattru Jong. That was one of his three friends that he is close to. His other two friends are Mambu and Alhaji. Mambu and Alhaji had been friend since they had met up while they were running away from the rebels. That was before they were soldiers fighting the rebels. They went through tough things with each other and shared many memories with each other from the war. That is probably what has brought them closer together. Another person that he had become a lot closer with Ishmael was his uncle. They started taking walks together and talking about Ishmael's dad and just other things. His uncle never pestered him about Ishmael's past in the war. They had talked so much while they walked down the same path, that Ishmael knew where all the big rocks were without looking. One day, his uncle came to pick Ishmael up, because he was going to go to his uncle's house where he would be staying once he completed his rehabilitation and was able to leave. When he was at his uncle's house, Allie, who, was the oldest child in that family and was also the only son. Allie took Ishmael to a soccer game and while he was there he saw this girl that he thought had a beautiful smile. Allie then told Ishmael that she was their cousin. Ishmael then said, " I later became closer to her and Allie than to other children in my new family." Pg. 178 I was happy when I read this, because Ishmael is forming closer bonds between people more and he seems to be getting better. I'm not sure if he really is getting better, but for now it seems like it. I keep hoping though, that when he moves in with his uncle, that Ishmael doesn't forget Esther, who was so nice to him during his stay at the rehabilitation UNICEF compound. I also don't want him to forget Mohamed, Mambu, or Alhaji! Other than that, I'm excited to read more and see how Ishmael's future is progressing.

Choice book.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This is a really good book that I enjoyed a lot. I think people would enjoy it. It is a different and interesting book that is worth reading.

I have other books, but I just don't remember them at the moment. I will write more if i remember more! Other than that I don't really care as long as it's not nonfiction as much. I don't find those books all that interesting.

A Long Way Gone Ch. 15-16

. In these two chapters, things seemed to be getting better for Ishmael. In another way though, they seemed to be getting worse.  When it seemed as if he had left the violence of the war, he was put back in it. This time though, it was in a UNICEF compound. It was between the kids now. One of the groups of boys were rebels and the other group of boys were soldiers. To Ishmael though, things didn't seem to get better at all. I think it was more the reader that felt better. Ishmael wanted to fight, but the readers felt bad for him and were happy that he might not get hurt anymore. They were wrong, because the fighting continued. It was also pretty harsh when the boys were going through withdrawal of drugs. They weren't in there right state of minds at some points. After a while, they started to get better and it looked like (to the reader still) that things were improving a little bit. The boys still got in fights and they still lashed out on the people that worked in the compound. No matter how badly the workers were treated, they seemed to be ok with it, because they knew that they had just gone through something that would scar the boys for life. The boys also seemed to be happy when they went to the city a lot. I'm not quite sure what is going to happen next, but I hope things will start to improve even more.

A Long Way Gone Ch. 13-14

After reading these two chapters, I was surprised at how quickly things changed! At first, Ishmael was so scared of the fact that they were going to be shooting rebels and going into 'battle'. In the first fight that the soldiers had with the rebels, Ishmael could barely even move. He literally had no idea what to do. He just kind of became immobilized. Then, to make things worse, he sees Josiah who is close to death on a tree stump. This just broke his heart. Later he found out that Musa had also died. But, when the corporal took him out of his daze and told Ishmael to shoot, Ishmael did just that. After that day, he didn't really think about killing people. It just kind of came to him. He didn't exactly think about it, but when he did, it was because he was thinking about how the rebels had killed his family. That angered him to kill more. But that never made him feel any better. In chapter 14, the soldiers start to do major drugs now. It's even worse though, because the soldiers were taking the drugs all at the same time. The drugs they were using was; cocaine, brown brown, white capsules, and marijuana. Ishmael became addicted, as did the other soldiers. At the camps they would watch war movies, do drugs, eat, sometimes sleep, and take turns guarding the perimeter of their camp. In a way for Ishmael, killing became somewhat of a game. Ishmael was the winner of a contest to see which soldier could kill the prisoner the fastest by slitting their throats. It is sad to see how his life is rotting away slowly, by him doing drugs, killing without thinking about it, and other things. These two chapters were the most graphic of what I have read. So far, though, Ishmael Beah is doing a wonderful job of depicting these scenes so clearly so that the reader feels as if he or she is experiencing it themselves. Although, the readers experiences aren't even half as bad as what Ishmael had gone through.

A Long Way Gone Ch. 11-12

Chapters eleven and twelve of A Long Way Gone were the worst chapters that I have read so far in the book. They were also some of the most detailed chapters of the book so far. As disturbing as these chapters were to me, I'm sure they were much worse for Ishmael Beah. To think about going through that is really scary! I also thought it was really sad when Ishmael was so close to seeing his parents and then the rebels came and attacked the whole village. Everyone was dead. I'm not sure if Ishmael's parent did escape or not, but I'm not exactly sure. I have a feeling that they are dead, but I also have this hope that they are not. In chapter 12, the boys are starting to learn how to use AK-47s. This tells me that if the boys are just now learning how to use big guns, then the story is going to get much worse later. More blood and pain. I was also thinking about how the rebels brainwash the kids in a way to desensitize them from blood and killing. Because of this, I think that it will go to Ishmael’s head and cause him to do many horrible things. He might kill previous friends or maybe even family members. This is only a thought I have and I hope it won’t happen, but you never know. Because power can be a dangerous thing sometimes and when used incorrectly very bad things can start to happen.

A Long Way Gone Ch. 10

Chapter 10 is a about the group of boys that Ishmael is traveling with. The boys are starting to open up more for each other. They still are hesitant with their trust in each other. They pass through more villages. This time, though, they are nicer and welcome the boys more. One village has a feast for them! Ishmael still hangs in the back of the boys. He thinks it is better to stay sad than going from happy to sad again. Unfortunately Saidu dies in his sleep. This seems to bring the boys together. The village Ishmael and his friends were in when Saidu died held a funeral for him. The fact that a village did that, especially in time of war, was a surprise. This village seemed to be held together and the people seemed to trust each other. It was how a village should be like. Some good news came to Ishmael, though. A woman told him that his mother and father and brother were in the next village! This was the first time that Ishmael was really excited! It made me happy to know that Ishmael is close to finding his family. But I have a feeling that Ishmael will never make it to his family. And just thinking about that makes me sad, because he is so close to finding his parents again. Then again, I could be very wrong. I just have a feeling that he might not actually see his family with the way this book has been turning out. I am still enjoying the book even though.

A Long Way Gone Ch. 8-9

Chapter 8 showed how lonely Ishmael was getting. He tried to shut his mind off so that he wouldn't think about all of the horrors that he had seen. He was lost in the jungle and he didn't know what to do with himself. When he finally stumbles upon six other boys that he has talked to before, but was never really close friends with, he realizes that there is still awkwardness between friends or even strangers. He also realized that it was a bad idea that he was traveling in a large group again. These chapters also show that villages of men, women, and children do not trust anyone passing through anymore. One of the villages thought that the seven boys including Ishmael were "devils" and they stripped them completely of their clothes. Once again though, Ishmael and his rap tapes and moves saved him. In the previous village though, the boy's shoes were taken away from them as a punishment for coming to that village. There feet were brutally damaged and were in a horrible condition when they stopped at a fishing hut that was apart of the village where Ishmael's music saved the boys. The man who owned the fishing hut was one of the few people that the boys have so far come into contact with that has been nice to them. Another person that was nice to them, was an old man in a village that was deserted when they heard that seven boys were approaching. This is another example of how war is turning people against others. I think that soon everyone is going to turn against each other and things will start to fall apart.

A Long Way Gone Ch. 6-7

As the boys keep moving throughout the villages, they start to talk less and their trust within each other is weakening slowly. After Ishmael and his friends had been given food and a place to stay from the village that they were at first accused of being rebels, they settled down and Ishmael starts to realize their quietness. Ishmael has a memory about Junior and him when they were younger and were still in Mattru Jong. In this memory, Junior was at first teaching Ishmael how to skip rocks as they were getting water from the river one day. On the way back to their house, Ishmael falls and Junior gives Ishmael his bucket of water and goes to fill up Ishmael's bucket again. When Junior comes back from getting the water, the first thing he does was ask Ishmael if he was hurt from falling. When Ishmael told Junior that he was fine, Junior still checked to see if he was all right and then started to tickle him. And when Ishmael came back into reality, he realized that he wanted Junior to ask him if he was fine. Ishmael's memory showed how at one point, Junior and him were very close. Compared to the present part of his past to his memory, it showed how much they had spaced from each other. It was sad to see how such a close bond had deteriorated in such a quick time. The boys then moved on to another village where Gibrilla's aunt lived. She lived in the village of Kamator. They stayed there for a few months until the rebels came. The last two lines of chapter six were sad in my opinion. Ishmael says, "It was during the attack in the village of Kamator that my friends and I separated. It was the last time I saw Junior, my older brother." The last sentence especially made me feel so bad for Ishmael. The next chapter it tells of how Ishmael and Kaloko were the only ones left of their group. The village was pretty much abandoned. There was not much left, except for a few families that were hiding in bushed or other various places. Ishmael and Kaloko found a family to stay with in hiding for a while in the bushes. Ishmael after a while got sick of just waiting, though, so he said his goodbyes and set out on foot. He came into contact with humans after a while and tried to talk to them. It was then that he realized that trust had begun to shatter within others as people turned their backs on him. Although the people gave Ishmael directions, he knew that he was not wanted and was definitely not trusted. It seemed to me that those two chapters were about how trust was starting to fall between people who you are close to and others who you are not close with. I think that this is just the beginning of how trust is crumbling between people, because of the war.

A Long Way Gone Ch. 3-5

My response to chapter 3-5 in A Long Way Gone is that there wasn't a lot about the present life of Ishmael Beah or his nightmares. It was just about his past. His memories of the past that he tells the readers seem much more tragic and much more violent. The rebels are cruel to the people who they are trying to liberate from a corrupt government. There is a scene where a few rebels are mocking an old man. They say they are going to shoot him and then they shoot the ground very close to his head and make the old man think that he was shot and that he was dead. At the same village where the rebels harassed the old man, they started to recruit boys.  At first Ishmael and Khalilou were picked and Junior wasn't picked but then the rebels decided to re pick the boys because they were sissies so Ishmael and Khalilou were removed and only  junior was picked. Fortunately for them, the rebels heard gunshots and were distracted so everyone ran away. The boy met up again later and decide to go far away from Mattru Jong. These are just a few actions that the rebels have done and I think that they will just continue to get worse. I can tell that this is just the beginning of a very graphic nonfiction autobiography that I think will be a great book.

A Long Way Gone Ch. 1-2

Before I started reading A Long Way Gone, I already knew the ending of the story. It was obviously about a boy, now an adult, that was a young soldier and is still living today. I also knew that it was going to be sad. I didn't really know that it was going to be so vivid though. After reading the first two chapters of the book, I could tell that this was going to be a detailed and thorough. What's ironic though, is that before the chapters actually start, there is a conversation that Ishmael has between his friend, where Ishmael sounds so casual. He seem sat ease when he talks about how one day he will tell his friend about the war that he was in, but in the first two chapters he talks about how when he remembered his experiences he shuddered at the thought  of what he had done  and what he had been through. H e was living in three different worlds like he said in the second chapter. The three worlds that he lives in are his dreams, the present, and the memories of his past. I can already tell that Ishmael Beah is going to put us through a rough journey of memories that will make us believe that we are experiencing what he is.