KEY POINTS:
Journalists and novelists, such as Uzodinma Iweala, have alerted us to the horrifying plight of some 300,000 child soldiers in more than 50 conflicts worldwide.
Ishmael Beah writes this harrowing yet redemptive memoir from personal experience.
When Sierra Leone descended into a bloody civil war, his carefree life was brutally disrupted. Separated from his family, he journeyed from village to village, fleeing the rebels and witnessing indescribable horror.
But the real nightmare began when he was forced to join a government corps of boy soldiers whose leaders encouraged them to avenge the killings of their own families. Fuelled by a mix of cocaine, marijuana and nightly viewings of Rambo movies, killing for these 12-year-olds became easy. Beah recounts with chilling frankness how he won a race to see who could slit a prisoner's throat the fastest, until a twist of fate sees him selected for rehabilitation by a UN organisation.
This book is above all, an indictment of the corruption of innocence for political gains while a moving testament to human resilience.
*Harper Collins, $36.99
- Detours, HoS
