Lately I’ve fallen hard for the concept of the audiobook. I love the idea that I can use my 20 (give or take) minute drive to work in the mornings and then back again at 5 to do something besides get annoyed at traffic. Max Barnett instilled in me the value of using the time that other people waste (now if I can just stop wasting the time that other people use…), and I feel that driving can be the biggest waste of time. But with an audiobook, I can get a book read in that time. That being said, I’ve been wanting to read A Long Way Gone for a while, and when I saw it available in audiobook at the library…and that it was actually read by the author…I couldn’t resist. I love the thought of hearing a story as the author means for you to hear it…to hear the inflections in their voice can do much in conveying the objective purpose the author intended.
I’ve had discussions with my family about this and some of them think it’s cheating. That I’m not really reading the book if I listen to it. My father said, “There’s something about reading the written word that you can’t get through just listening.”. My father was also an English major and has written a novel or two himself, so I think his perspective is different from us average joes.
There is something to be said about the written word. You can pause and reread and ponder much more easily than when you’re listening. However I think there is certainly something to be said about verbal storytelling. Oral traditions and stories are such a vital part of many a culture. There runs the inevitable risk of a decades long game of telephone as stories change and details are exaggerated. However, it’s completely different when the stories are of the speaker’s own life. There’s something beautiful and very much vulnerable in sitting down with someone as they answer the question, “So, what’s your story?”.
This is the feeling I get listening to Ishmael Beah. Ishmael was born in 1980 in
When I am exposed to these horrific accounts, my first reaction is usually to thank God for what he’s given me and that this account has not been my account as well. I immediately want to push those thoughts aside and say no, I will not be like the Pharisee in Luke when he thanks God he is not like other men. I think if we come away from these stories with simply feeling grateful they’re not us, we miss the point. However, I think we need to in a sense, we need to let that hit home. This story makes me look at my wife and my family and weep at the joy they’ve given me that I don’t deserve. It makes me savor every moment with them a little bit more. We also need to take it further and ask ourselves what we can do to help end these atrocities.
Some points in the book that really stuck out at me were the moments of sudden and drastic change. From Ishmael having a normal day to, at the drop of a hat, everything being taken away from him and fleeing and leaving it all behind. Then being faced with the option, either you fight, or you flee (a death sentence, as they were surrounded by rebel forces), or you will not be given food. Then the first time Ishmael kills. The rescue of the child soldiers from UNICEF and cooperating ngo’s. One of the best parts of the book is Ishmael’s account of the rehabilitation process. The PTSD. The corner he turns as he goes from being a soldier to a child again, and the tireless work of the people who risked death every day to rehabilitate these kids.
This book has tremendous importance. To have an actual child soldier’s account is extremely valuable if we want to understand these conflicts. Not only that, he is a very talented writer. Highly recommend.
In a less exciting note, I turned the comments on.
Currently reading: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus, and Feasting on Asphalt by Alton Brown.
1 comment:
Well...it's still kind of cheating, but I'm glad you're getting the information. Excellent post! We will definitely have to get some audio books on our vaca this year.
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