Child Soldier Fiction Reads Like Autobiography
This first person child soldier narrative brings to mind the nonfiction "A Long Way Gone" by Ishmael Beah. Agu, a boy who seems to be 11 or 12, is the main character. When revolutionaries invade his West African town in a country that seems to be Nigeria, his family is scattered, his village is destroyed, and he is forced to become a child solder or die. Under the threat of death and sometimes under the influence of drugs, he must kill or be killed. Beasts of No Nation brings to mind much of 20th-21st century history (eg, Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda) in which captives must do what is morally reprehensible to them in order to survive. Graphic and provocative. Could be used with the adolescent student to discuss current events or the difficulty of making moral decisions.
The narrative style is a kind of Afro-English patois that gives a distinct voice to this story.
Recommended!
