A Long Way Gone is a memoir written by Ishmael Beah that describes his past as a teenager surviving Sierra Leone’s civil war as a boy soldier. Readers learn what real war looks like from a person who is inside a warzone. This book unveils all the horror that each individual sees, and not what we see on the news. The book presents detailed visualizations of each death as if we are standing right there with him, but on the news we just see deaths as a number. Moreover, we get to see war from the perspective of a child. Beah himself narrates the story, telling readers about what he feels and thinks as a child. At the time, he loses his parents and friends and has to find ways to survive alone and even kill people with his own hands. This leaves uncorrectable consequences, or at least what seem to be…

The main themes of A Long Way Gone are hope and life, the memoir serving as a symbol of them. It should motivate everyone to keep chasing their dreams despite all the obstacles and challenges. Ishmael, as a thirteen- year-old boy, has to find power to survive in the wild alone. The only thing that drives him to keep fighting is hope --- hope for a better life, hope to see his parents again, and hope to get out of such terror. He dreams to reunite with his family again. During the first rebel attack, Ishmael and his family members run in different directions, which separates them. During the hardest times of his survival, he thinks about his family and imagines talking to them again. He has a chance later, but because of a delay, he sees them die himself. Now his hopes are crushed. He always remembers a phrase his father would say: “If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die.” Ishmael lives by that principle by constantly fighting for his life. I believe that this quote is fitting for all people and everybody should live by this principle. No matter how hard life is, as long as we keep fighting, there is always a hope for a better day.

Eventually, Ishmael does get back to his normal life through rehab provided by UNICEF. This only proves the point that he didn’t fight through all the challenges for nothing. Now he lives in New York like a normal person, as do lots of the other former soldier boys. This also means that we as humans care about each other, and that people are always willing to help others in need and never give up on them even if they’ve made some bad decisions in the past. This gives readers hope in general for a better future.

Overall, I recommend this memoir to everyone because it teaches some important life lessons for humanity. As I most value books that have a deep moral message besides telling an amazing tale, A Long Way Gone is a must read.