A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

This book was incredibly powerful and moving to read.  I had a hard time reading some of this book though because I felt devastated for this young boy and knowing that this situation and sorrow has happened to so many young children in Africa.  Ishmael is a very brave young man throughout this novel and has the courage that many people never have throughout their entire life.  The culture in this novel is very intriguing, but very depressing as the book goes on.  When the book starts, it seems like Ishmael and his friends have everything they want or need.  Their lives seem to be going just fine.  I find it funny that they somehow know and listen to rap music from the U.S. and they can recite all of the lyrics to the songs and they even dance to them as well.  Unfortunately, this happiness had to come to an end with the war that was happening in their country.  One thing you can definitely tell throughout this book is that family is a very important aspect to these people and young people are always expected to respect their elders.  They find their elders to be full of power and wisdom.  When Ishmael and his brother had to start running from soldiers and burning villages, it was heartbreaking to have to think about all of these innocent people who were losing their lives and that the rebels could just kill people right on the spot and take so many lives.  Ishmael and his brother and friends were so scared at first and they had to deal with not knowing where the rest of their family was and if they were even alive.  After Ishmael had gotten separated from his brother and he thought he was going to be reunited with his family again, I was so excited for him and was trying to read the book as fast as I could because I wanted to see if he actually did get to reunite with his family.  It literally felt like my heart was ripped out when he could see the village where his family was and then the rebels burned it down and his whole family was killed.  I couldn’t imagine being so close to seeing my family again and then having that happen.  I would feel like there was nothing left to live for.  It was hard for me to read about when Ishmael became a soldier because even though the soldiers he was with were supposed to be the “good solder,” how can they be good when they are forcing young boys to join their army?  How are they good when they addict these young boys to all kinds of drugs?  How are they good when they instill the thoughts in these young boys heads that it’s fine to kill these people without remorse because they’ve killed others as well?  It’s very hard to think that these soldiers have any kind of moral compass when they are turning these innocent boys into killing machines.  I was relieved though that Ishmael was able to get back to being a boy and let a lot of these killer instincts out of his mind.  This culture also robbed Ishmael and many other boys of their youth and made monsters out of them.  They had to be saved and had to be trained to think like a civilian again which is sad.  Overall I thought this book was very interesting, but it’s devastating to know that there is an incredible amount of truth to it as well.

Revolution is not a dinner party

This book was very inspiring with the amount of courage and bravery that a young girl and her family exhibit during a cultural revolution in China.  I enjoyed this book very much and I liked how well things were going for this family during the first part of the book.  I thought they had it all since Ling’s parents had respected professions in the medical field.  Of course I knew things were going to go wrong as soon as Comrade Li had to move in with them and Ling’s parents seemed to be on pins and needles.  I find it interesting that Comrade Li was very friendly to the family at first and he even made origami for Ling, but as soon as her family didn’t exactly follow protocol in worshipping Chairman Mao, things turned sour.  I did admire some of the family dynamics within Ling’s family.  She was very close with her father and part of the reason why I enjoyed this book was because Ling and her father had a great relationship and it reminded me of the relationship between me and my dad.  Ling thought of her father as a man who could do no wrong and he was very smart and respectable.  But then there was the relationship between Ling and her mother which tended to be quite sour at times.  Her mother never seemed to be pleased or impressed with her and was always nagging her about how to do things the proper way.  I think although Ling found this to be annoying, her mother was just trying to make her a decent young lady for society.  You can tell that family and respect for your elders was a very important cultural aspect in China.  It was very hard for me to keep reading the story when conditions got bad for their family and others in China.  It’s hard to think of how followers of Chairman Mao could treat people with such hate if they didn’t share the exact same beliefs.  It was very heartbreaking when Ling’s father was taken away from their family because I couldn’t even imagine my father being taken away and not knowing what has happened to him.  But Ling remained extremely brave throughout this novel by not backing down to bullies in her school and not giving into the Chairman Mao followers.  I didn’t know much about the Cultural Revolution in China before I read this book and I wouldn’t have guessed that such horrible conditions existed during this time.  It’s very eye opening to read about how their food was rationed and their electricity was shut off all because Chairman Mao was trying to build a “better China.”  I also couldn’t imagine having to tip toe around every word I said and every action I made because it could be construed as being anti-revolutionary.  It’s as if these people are in their own personal jail just by living in China.  I could definitely understand their reasons for migration to another country such as the United States because all they want is freedom and for their families to live in peace.