I have to say tat this is a tough book to and a tough book to really know what to make of it. The subtitle is “Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” – it’s about Ishmael’s childhood in Sierra Leone, and his extremely quick trip from living with his family to killing people in the name of … well, in the name of something. Kathy & I saw Ishmael on The Daily Show, and were taken with his poise and maturity – and his wisdom, of course. This is a guy who’s in his twenties now, living in Manhattan, but in the past 20 years has gone from living in a tiny town in Sierra Leone to killing many, many innocent people while addicted to drugs and under the control of a military, to writing a book and trying to help others understand how impossible the situation is. It’s not the best-written book that I’ve ever read, but if even a fraction of it is true – and I have a sad suspicion that it’s all true – it’s mind-boggling that people have to go through this, and that people like Ishmael can survive.