Net Net Book Reviews

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a boy solider

Need affirmation that Americans are extraordinarly lucky to live in a free, democratic society?  Read a few chapters of A Long Way Gone — in fact, read the whole book. 

A Long Way Gone is a brutaly honest, fascinating account of Ishmael, a teenage boy, struggling to stay alive in Africa’s Sierra Leone during civil wars that run rip-shod over the country’s beaches, jungles and villages.  In a lucky break, Ishmael is chosen to participate in a UNICEF program that gives him a chance at life away from his homeland and the unending civil violence.

Suggested pairing:  Something calming, perhaps a cup of chamomile tea.