Today, it's time for some shameless self-advertisment.
A very few of you will know that What I Would Do is far from my first attempt at blogging. In fact, over my illustrious blogging adventure I've worked on six or seven sites. Most of these were dismal failures, true, but a few run to this day. One of those, and the first blog I ever independently worked on, is the imaginatively titled Mark's Book Blog. You see, I write about books. On a blog. My name's Mark. Pretty self explanatory, really.
I was writing a post for Mark's Book Blog awhile back, when I had the bright idea to squeeze some extra use out of it. What I Would Do always needs new posts, I thought. Thus, we have the original post over at Mark's Book Blog, and this little piece here to give you a taste of my other work.
Now, let's dive right in.
................................................................................................................................................
With some nonfiction novels, the subject matter seems so extraordinary that one feels the author must have made something up. I knew from the start the A Long Way Gone was supposed to be true,
but this didn't hit home until I started reading. The action was nonstop, near-death experiences began to compound and through it all I was left shaking my head and wondering how the story could possibly be factual.
A Long Way Gone follows the struggles of a twelve-year-old boy throughout the Sierra Leonean civil war. In Ishmael Beah’s bestselling memoir, we are given a first-hand account of the unstoppably destructive nature of war, and it’s affect on youth. Although the book is full of oppression and suffering, that is not it's main focus. A Long Way Gone is a triumphant celebration of the indomitable spirit of young people through oppression.
I've never before read a memoir as fast-paced as this before. True, that's because I haven't read any memoirs asides from A Long Way Gone, but still. Starting off at a jog, the novel transitions into a run just a few pages in and breaks into a full sprint as it approaches the climax. During the rare occasions when the momentum losses steam, you have only to wait a few pages for the slack to be picked up once again.
On the one hand you might want to complement the author for his storytelling ability, and Beah is legitimately skillful in his craft. That said, it would be hard to mess this story up, as it's chock full of interesting material which (as previously mentioned) never lets off steam.
The number of horrors Beah went through is astounding. Starting off in his home village, he is chased for months through the African bush while rebel and government forces savage the land. Separated from his family, Beah had only himself and a handful of old friends to count on for support. Multiple times he finds himself at gunpoint, with the luckiest things saving his neck.
Finally, it seems like Beah's days are numbered when he finds the village he’d sought shelter in surrounded by rebel troops, with only a small government force to defend him. That defending force offers him and the townspeople a single choice; join the government forces or take their chances with the rebels. Suddenly, Beah finds himself a child soldier, and his life will never be the same.
Now, with all of this in mind you start to wonder what the author's feelings on the matter were and are. The interesting thing is, the authors voice is passive throughout. Perhaps once in the entire novel does Beah interject and share his current thoughts on the horrors he experienced; asides from that, we’re kept in the dark on his current thoughts. He shows no self pity or self loathing. He tells the story how it was, with little bias on any matter. This to me is incredible, considering what Beah went through. First his home and family were lost, then his childhood altogether. Beah spent two years of his life in a drugged, warlike state with no other thoughts besides getting another drug dose and getting revenge on his family. Yet still, he shows no anger at what had been done to him. It was interesting to read this story as a counter to fictional war stories I’ve read. In those stories, there was always a keen sense of remorse throughout the entire journey, and the hero is portrayed as the hero unconditionally. There are clear lines between good and evil throughout. Beah on the other hand didn’t seem to have too many thoughts of right and wrong after the first conflict. Completely brainwashed, he only acted on a kill-or-be-killed mentality. There was no hero, no good or evil. Only the living and dead. Though like any book, there were still faults to be found. The most nagging question in my mind would have to be my doubts on the credibility of this book. As I said earlier, the plot of this book could have come out of a movie. I might have accepted one or two seemingly miraculous circumstances in this book, but when they started to compound I began to have some doubts. For example, at one point Beah says he found himself lined up with a group of friends, about to be shot through the head. Right at that moment a hail of gunfire distracts the gunmen, allowing Beah to escape. Later on in the novel, Beah learns that his parents are alive and taking refuge in a nearby village. He and his party set out to that village, but literally minutes before entering it’s attacked and Beah is forced to run once more. Two incredible stories, but ones which I find hard to believe. Another thing that could distort the facts would be the drugs that Beah took while serving as a soldier. These may have caused some details of his service to be obscured or embellished. Perhaps he even confused dream with reality, in such a fragile mental state as it seems he was. I did look the book up to see if anyone had similar thoughts to be, and it turns out that one Australian newspaper called the book out for being inaccurate. Among other things, the village he lived in was supposedly attacked two years later then what he said in the book, which would have made the storyline much more condensed then he said. Perhaps he served in the army for months rather then years. Still, the Australian newspaper seems to be alone in it’s claims, and so for the moment I’ll suspend disbelief and imagine the story as true. Asides from that potentially crippling hiccup in the A Long Way Gone saga, I have few complaints with the book. However, I would warn a potential reader that it ends quite abruptly, and I think that an additional 50 or 100 pages could easily be tacked onto the back of the book. As well, the novel zips along so quickly that at times you do feel that more explanation is needed, and sometimes you also want more comment from the modern Beah on his previous self. He tells the story; he doesn’t go into deep thoughts and feelings. All in all, this book is well worth a read. Although I have unsettled feelings about it now that a seed of doubt regarding it’s credibility has been planted in my head, it does make a fascinating account of war from a fresh perspective. On top of that, I inadvertently gave it my seal of approval when I stayed up till 1:00AM reading the thing, and if that doesn’t say something about the book, I don’t know what does.
I've never before read a memoir as fast-paced as this before. True, that's because I haven't read any memoirs asides from A Long Way Gone, but still. Starting off at a jog, the novel transitions into a run just a few pages in and breaks into a full sprint as it approaches the climax. During the rare occasions when the momentum losses steam, you have only to wait a few pages for the slack to be picked up once again.
On the one hand you might want to complement the author for his storytelling ability, and Beah is legitimately skillful in his craft. That said, it would be hard to mess this story up, as it's chock full of interesting material which (as previously mentioned) never lets off steam.
The number of horrors Beah went through is astounding. Starting off in his home village, he is chased for months through the African bush while rebel and government forces savage the land. Separated from his family, Beah had only himself and a handful of old friends to count on for support. Multiple times he finds himself at gunpoint, with the luckiest things saving his neck.
Finally, it seems like Beah's days are numbered when he finds the village he’d sought shelter in surrounded by rebel troops, with only a small government force to defend him. That defending force offers him and the townspeople a single choice; join the government forces or take their chances with the rebels. Suddenly, Beah finds himself a child soldier, and his life will never be the same.
Now, with all of this in mind you start to wonder what the author's feelings on the matter were and are. The interesting thing is, the authors voice is passive throughout. Perhaps once in the entire novel does Beah interject and share his current thoughts on the horrors he experienced; asides from that, we’re kept in the dark on his current thoughts. He shows no self pity or self loathing. He tells the story how it was, with little bias on any matter. This to me is incredible, considering what Beah went through. First his home and family were lost, then his childhood altogether. Beah spent two years of his life in a drugged, warlike state with no other thoughts besides getting another drug dose and getting revenge on his family. Yet still, he shows no anger at what had been done to him. It was interesting to read this story as a counter to fictional war stories I’ve read. In those stories, there was always a keen sense of remorse throughout the entire journey, and the hero is portrayed as the hero unconditionally. There are clear lines between good and evil throughout. Beah on the other hand didn’t seem to have too many thoughts of right and wrong after the first conflict. Completely brainwashed, he only acted on a kill-or-be-killed mentality. There was no hero, no good or evil. Only the living and dead. Though like any book, there were still faults to be found. The most nagging question in my mind would have to be my doubts on the credibility of this book. As I said earlier, the plot of this book could have come out of a movie. I might have accepted one or two seemingly miraculous circumstances in this book, but when they started to compound I began to have some doubts. For example, at one point Beah says he found himself lined up with a group of friends, about to be shot through the head. Right at that moment a hail of gunfire distracts the gunmen, allowing Beah to escape. Later on in the novel, Beah learns that his parents are alive and taking refuge in a nearby village. He and his party set out to that village, but literally minutes before entering it’s attacked and Beah is forced to run once more. Two incredible stories, but ones which I find hard to believe. Another thing that could distort the facts would be the drugs that Beah took while serving as a soldier. These may have caused some details of his service to be obscured or embellished. Perhaps he even confused dream with reality, in such a fragile mental state as it seems he was. I did look the book up to see if anyone had similar thoughts to be, and it turns out that one Australian newspaper called the book out for being inaccurate. Among other things, the village he lived in was supposedly attacked two years later then what he said in the book, which would have made the storyline much more condensed then he said. Perhaps he served in the army for months rather then years. Still, the Australian newspaper seems to be alone in it’s claims, and so for the moment I’ll suspend disbelief and imagine the story as true. Asides from that potentially crippling hiccup in the A Long Way Gone saga, I have few complaints with the book. However, I would warn a potential reader that it ends quite abruptly, and I think that an additional 50 or 100 pages could easily be tacked onto the back of the book. As well, the novel zips along so quickly that at times you do feel that more explanation is needed, and sometimes you also want more comment from the modern Beah on his previous self. He tells the story; he doesn’t go into deep thoughts and feelings. All in all, this book is well worth a read. Although I have unsettled feelings about it now that a seed of doubt regarding it’s credibility has been planted in my head, it does make a fascinating account of war from a fresh perspective. On top of that, I inadvertently gave it my seal of approval when I stayed up till 1:00AM reading the thing, and if that doesn’t say something about the book, I don’t know what does.
Thanks for reading,
-Mark
PS: That was not the original text. The original post was entitled "What I Would Do if I Endured Another Punishment," with that post being located below. However, I took advantage of Laura not having seen that post yet and wrote this new one in a bid to evade my punishment. Let's see if Laura will read this far!
What I Would Do if I Endured Another Punishment
PS: That was not the original text. The original post was entitled "What I Would Do if I Endured Another Punishment," with that post being located below. However, I took advantage of Laura not having seen that post yet and wrote this new one in a bid to evade my punishment. Let's see if Laura will read this far!
What I Would Do if I Endured Another Punishment
I know that I still have to read that book as a punishment, but I'm afraid you might have to give me another one, sis. Do your worst!
-Mark
No comments:
Post a Comment