Daren
Added to listBio Memoirwith 481 books.
Added to listOwnedwith 2756 books.
Added to listNon Fictionwith 2154 books.
Picked up for a couple of dollars at a book sale, this turned out to be an excellent read. Sierra Leonean
Ishmael Beah shares the story of his life from age 12, when he was separated from his parents when rebels attacked the village he lived in. With his brother and two friends they moved about staying clear of the clashes of the rebels and the soldiers, and trying to find a safe place and relocate his family, feared dead.
As you might expect, it would be a terrifying prospect for any 12 year-old. Rural Sierra Leone at that time (and probably as it remains) was made up of very small villages, not particularly close together. The zone of war, where the rebels and soldiers were fighting started out quite contained, but was liable to spill out in any direction, and over time villages were attacked, looted and destroyed by both sides whose paranoia meant they trusted no civilians.
Likewise villagers trusted no outsiders, especially groups of youths, who many villagers thought could be spies for the rebels. They were regularly run out of town or threated, but occasionally found sympathy for short periods. Over this period the boys became separated, and Ishmael carried on alone before joining another group of boys, a couple of whom were from his village and he knew from school.
As the situation in Sierra Leone deteriorated, and the warzone expanded the boys found themselves in a village that had been fortified by the soldiers, and used as a base. Here they were safe until the soldiers lost many men and could not maintain their resistance to attack. At this point the villagers were told that they all needed to contribute to the war effort. There were sufficient women to cook, so all the boys had to join the army, or leave the village.
It was at this point that Ishmael became a child soldier, and became indoctrinated into the war effort. Ishmael did a good job of describing this period of his life. The soldiers were provided with drugs - heroin and cocaine mixed with gunpowder (which they snorted) both of which them energy to fight, and marijuana to help them relax. The boys either failed and were quickly killed in the conflict, or became efficient at handling their weapons, and became efficient killers. Their days were filled with fighting rebels and looting villages for food, ammunition and petrol (for generators).
Against the run of events, suddenly the youngest soldiers are relieved from duty, and are ordered to go with a group of UNICEF civilians (and Military Police). They are taken to a camp for rehabilitation, which of course the boys resist.
Again Ishmael describes this process well. The boys don't understand why the military, who are their family and support network now suddenly don't want them. They fight, using violence as a defense. They act out, resist, sell things provided for them to get money for drugs and generally run amok. It is along and slow process that is successful for some boys but not others. Luckily for Ishmael, he finds people he can trust to help him.
There are many twists and turns I have not shared, and much more to the end of this story that I won't mention, so there is much more to be gained from reading this book.
It is not a complex read, really quite quick. While it had some shocking violence, I didn't find it particularly hard to read, as it is well written to provide shock but not sustained impact. Other reviewers didn't necessarily feel this way. I thought is a well considered decision by the author not to sensationalise this story by including more descriptive violence.
On reflection, this is the story of the experiences of Ishmael Beah. It is not the story of many Sierra Leonean boys; it is absolutely the exception, not the rule. You would have to think for every successfully rehabilitated boy there must be a hundred, 300 hundred, maybe 500, who did not survive escaping, or soldiering, or rehabilitation. Many of the boys 'escaped' and returned to the front line. It is incredibly sad; but Ishmael Beah is an inspiration in the way he was able to move his life forward.
This was far better than I expected, and lived up to the high ratings it has received on this site. another book which clearly demonstrates that there are no winners in a civil war. While there were some unresolved threads to the story, they were not the important things to me as a reader.
4 stars
Picked up for a couple of dollars at a book sale, this turned out to be an excellent read. Sierra Leonean
Ishmael Beah shares the story of his life from age 12, when he was separated from his parents when rebels attacked the village he lived in. With his brother and two friends they moved about staying clear of the clashes of the rebels and the soldiers, and trying to find a safe place and relocate his family, feared dead.
As you might expect, it would be a terrifying prospect for any 12 year-old. Rural Sierra Leone at that time (and probably as it remains) was made up of very small villages, not particularly close together. The zone of war, where the rebels and soldiers were fighting started out quite contained, but was liable to spill out in any direction, and over time villages were attacked, looted and destroyed by both sides whose paranoia meant they trusted no civilians.
Likewise villagers trusted no outsiders, especially groups of youths, who many villagers thought could be spies for the rebels. They were regularly run out of town or threated, but occasionally found sympathy for short periods. Over this period the boys became separated, and Ishmael carried on alone before joining another group of boys, a couple of whom were from his village and he knew from school.
As the situation in Sierra Leone deteriorated, and the warzone expanded the boys found themselves in a village that had been fortified by the soldiers, and used as a base. Here they were safe until the soldiers lost many men and could not maintain their resistance to attack. At this point the villagers were told that they all needed to contribute to the war effort. There were sufficient women to cook, so all the boys had to join the army, or leave the village.
It was at this point that Ishmael became a child soldier, and became indoctrinated into the war effort. Ishmael did a good job of describing this period of his life. The soldiers were provided with drugs - heroin and cocaine mixed with gunpowder (which they snorted) both of which them energy to fight, and marijuana to help them relax. The boys either failed and were quickly killed in the conflict, or became efficient at handling their weapons, and became efficient killers. Their days were filled with fighting rebels and looting villages for food, ammunition and petrol (for generators).
Against the run of events, suddenly the youngest soldiers are relieved from duty, and are ordered to go with a group of UNICEF civilians (and Military Police). They are taken to a camp for rehabilitation, which of course the boys resist.
Again Ishmael describes this process well. The boys don't understand why the military, who are their family and support network now suddenly don't want them. They fight, using violence as a defense. They act out, resist, sell things provided for them to get money for drugs and generally run amok. It is along and slow process that is successful for some boys but not others. Luckily for Ishmael, he finds people he can trust to help him.
There are many twists and turns I have not shared, and much more to the end of this story that I won't mention, so there is much more to be gained from reading this book.
It is not a complex read, really quite quick. While it had some shocking violence, I didn't find it particularly hard to read, as it is well written to provide shock but not sustained impact. Other reviewers didn't necessarily feel this way. I thought is a well considered decision by the author not to sensationalise this story by including more descriptive violence.
On reflection, this is the story of the experiences of Ishmael Beah. It is not the story of many Sierra Leonean boys; it is absolutely the exception, not the rule. You would have to think for every successfully rehabilitated boy there must be a hundred, 300 hundred, maybe 500, who did not survive escaping, or soldiering, or rehabilitation. Many of the boys 'escaped' and returned to the front line. It is incredibly sad; but Ishmael Beah is an inspiration in the way he was able to move his life forward.
This was far better than I expected, and lived up to the high ratings it has received on this site. another book which clearly demonstrates that there are no winners in a civil war. While there were some unresolved threads to the story, they were not the important things to me as a reader.
4 stars
Added to listSierra Leonean Authorwith 1 book.
Added to listTanzaniawith 50 books.
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Added to listIndonesiawith 86 books.
Keay's book is extensive, but I have to say it got bogged down at various points, and I had to push myself through those places to complete the read.
It covers everything to do with the seaborne spice route, although touches on overland routes (such as the Silk Road) to provide an overall context of how spices came to Europe.
Picking up on Ibn Batuta, Sir John Maundevile, Herodotus, Marco Polo, Pliny and other early history recorders, wading through their regularly inaccurate and unreliable information on spices and their origins, Keay attempts a structure to bring these in and out of his narrative as they become relevant. It is quite well managed, without bringing too many in at any given time. One of the challenges is the archaic names for various spices compared to the modern names, in some cases the same name evolving from one spice to another.
Pepper from the Malabar coast (and then many places in Indonesia), cloves from the Molucca's, nutmeg and mace from the Banda islands, sandalwood from Timor, cinnamon from Sri Lanka and Frankincense from Arabia are the main heroes of this story, but the bigger surprise of how in some cases their origins remained secret.
Initially trade was small scale and took place in small vessels, moving spice from their islands of origin only moving them a small distance before trading them on to another. The Arab, Chinese and Indian merchants were all active in this, and as there were so many steps in the chain only very small amounts made it as far as Europe.
As the Portuguese become the big sea-faring players they develop the initial spice route, linking places they controlled to be the first to bring larger quantities to Europe. After a surprisingly long period of dominance, the Spanish, Dutch and British followed.
Although other reviewers appeared less bothered by the repetition and the slow spots which dragged for me, I dropped a star to end up on three stars. ***
Keay's book is extensive, but I have to say it got bogged down at various points, and I had to push myself through those places to complete the read.
It covers everything to do with the seaborne spice route, although touches on overland routes (such as the Silk Road) to provide an overall context of how spices came to Europe.
Picking up on Ibn Batuta, Sir John Maundevile, Herodotus, Marco Polo, Pliny and other early history recorders, wading through their regularly inaccurate and unreliable information on spices and their origins, Keay attempts a structure to bring these in and out of his narrative as they become relevant. It is quite well managed, without bringing too many in at any given time. One of the challenges is the archaic names for various spices compared to the modern names, in some cases the same name evolving from one spice to another.
Pepper from the Malabar coast (and then many places in Indonesia), cloves from the Molucca's, nutmeg and mace from the Banda islands, sandalwood from Timor, cinnamon from Sri Lanka and Frankincense from Arabia are the main heroes of this story, but the bigger surprise of how in some cases their origins remained secret.
Initially trade was small scale and took place in small vessels, moving spice from their islands of origin only moving them a small distance before trading them on to another. The Arab, Chinese and Indian merchants were all active in this, and as there were so many steps in the chain only very small amounts made it as far as Europe.
As the Portuguese become the big sea-faring players they develop the initial spice route, linking places they controlled to be the first to bring larger quantities to Europe. After a surprisingly long period of dominance, the Spanish, Dutch and British followed.
Although other reviewers appeared less bothered by the repetition and the slow spots which dragged for me, I dropped a star to end up on three stars. ***
OK I will cut straight to the chase with this - the format killed this book for me. I found it incredibly piecemeal and hard to read, I found no flow of narrative and couldn't connect to the featured persons because they all blended into one.
The topic should have been fascinating. The sheer volume of research and organisation of the book is impressive and admirable - most information came from diaries and letters of the wives. There were a lot of good photographs and the authors husband contributed excellent sketches, mostly of ships.
Essentially, the book is about the wives and children of captains of (mostly merchant) ships throughout (mostly) the 19th century. The book is arranged into chapters of themes, eg - The Honeymooners, At Sea, Children at sea, Ship /kitchens, Hazards of the Sea, etc. But the problem was that each wife had only a few paragraphs (or often just one) on each topic, so in 20 or 30 pages we her from 40 or 50 women. Each woman referenced requires a ship's name, a year and her husbands name to be able to even attempt to keep track, but for me I was not able to manage the sheer number of people, and they all blurred. Being so structured in this format it also became quite dry reading, with loads of repetition with only minor changes to the narrative.
Hard work to complete, with too few gems to be found amongst it.
2 stars
OK I will cut straight to the chase with this - the format killed this book for me. I found it incredibly piecemeal and hard to read, I found no flow of narrative and couldn't connect to the featured persons because they all blended into one.
The topic should have been fascinating. The sheer volume of research and organisation of the book is impressive and admirable - most information came from diaries and letters of the wives. There were a lot of good photographs and the authors husband contributed excellent sketches, mostly of ships.
Essentially, the book is about the wives and children of captains of (mostly merchant) ships throughout (mostly) the 19th century. The book is arranged into chapters of themes, eg - The Honeymooners, At Sea, Children at sea, Ship /kitchens, Hazards of the Sea, etc. But the problem was that each wife had only a few paragraphs (or often just one) on each topic, so in 20 or 30 pages we her from 40 or 50 women. Each woman referenced requires a ship's name, a year and her husbands name to be able to even attempt to keep track, but for me I was not able to manage the sheer number of people, and they all blurred. Being so structured in this format it also became quite dry reading, with loads of repetition with only minor changes to the narrative.
Hard work to complete, with too few gems to be found amongst it.
2 stars
