Is there an audiobook of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier?

Yes. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Ishmael Beah.

How long is the A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier audiobook?

The A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier audiobook runs 7 hr 43 min.

Our review

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

Name: A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Author: Ishmael Beah

Ishmael Beah

4.6/ 5 · Outstanding

A Long Way Gone is Ishmael Beah's first-person memoir of being a boy soldier in Sierra Leone's civil war. It follows him from a village childhood at twelve through the army, drugs and killing, and into a UNICEF rehabilitation center. A hard book, but a rare witness account.

Narrated by Ishmael Beah

Audiobook · 7 hr 43 min

Listen free with Audible

30-day free trial. Cancel anytime.

How the narration holds up

Get the book on Amazon

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The Review

Our take

What turns a gentle twelve-year-old into a soldier who kills without feeling, and what could bring him back? Beah's memoir is built to answer both, and the answers it gives are concrete. He sets out with his older brother and some friends for a rap music event, a boy's ordinary plan, and rebels attack the village behind him. He flees, loses the group, and wanders a countryside where no one can be trusted. Eventually the choice he is offered is to fight or be killed. Most of the boys fight. The army hands them sneakers, AK-47s and drugs, and the drugs do the work that conscience would otherwise do.

The case is made best in the first half, which is mostly flight: hunger, fear, a neighbor's son slowed by the sack of belongings he won't drop, a whole childhood disassembled without anyone explaining it. That groundwork matters, because when Beah later writes about killing, you already know what was taken from him first. The soldiering itself takes up less of the book than the title suggests, and some readers feel it drags through the army years. I'd say the repetition is part of the evidence. Killing becomes a daily habit in these pages, and the sentences go flat in the way he says his feelings did. The rehabilitation chapters carry the other half of the argument. The people caring for him say again and again that none of it was his fault, and the book is honest that the message does not take at once.

There are limits. A few readers wanted more on why the war started, and the memoir offers a chronology at the back instead of an explanation in the text. Others wanted more of his inner life and a fuller account of New York and the years after, since the book gives little of New York or the life that followed. The ending leans instead on a story from his grandfather's friend, which is a graceful way to end and still leaves a reader wanting the rest.

Why you should read

First-person accounts of war and survival
Readers interested in child soldiers and Sierra Leone's conflict
Book club and classroom discussion of hard subjects
Memoirs of recovery and rehabilitation

What to expect

Graphic scenes of killing and drug use
A long first half of flight before the army
Plain, direct prose in Beah's own voice
An ending that stops short of his adult life

Beah's prose is plain, and that is the right instrument. It does not decorate atrocity or ask for a verdict. What it does is show the process step by step, which an outside observer could not do, and then show that the process can be reversed.

Reviewed by Ellis · How our reviews are written

Our verdict

4.6/ 5

Outstanding

Listen free with Audible Narrator, runtime & our audio review

Get the book on Amazon

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Where to read or listen

Is there an audiobook of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier?: Yes. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Ishmael Beah.
Listen free with Audible
We earn from qualifying Amazon purchases.
How long is the A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier audiobook?: The A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier audiobook runs 7 hr 43 min.

Filed underMemoir War Browse the archive →

CollectionsBook Club Picks Short Reads Browse collections →

Common questions

What is A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier about?: What turns a gentle twelve-year-old into a soldier who kills without feeling, and what could bring him back? Beah's memoir is built to answer both, and the answers it gives are concrete. He sets out with his older brother and some friends for a rap music event, a boy's ordinary plan, and rebels…
Is A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier worth reading?: We scored A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier 4.6 out of 5. A Long Way Gone is Ishmael Beah's first-person memoir of being a boy soldier in Sierra Leone's civil war. It follows him from a village childhood at twelve through the army, drugs and killing, and into a UNICEF rehabilitation center. A hard book, but a rare witness account.

Related books

View all

A Rumor of War

Philip Caputo

Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10

Marcus Luttrell

You with the Sad Eyes

Christina Applegate

The Hero Next Door: Stories of Patriotism and Purpose

Martha Raddatz

Disrupting the Game: From the Bronx to the Top of Nintendo

Swan Song: Diana, My Sister

Charles Spencer

A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon

Kevin Fedarko

A Game of Thrones

George R. R. Martin