Helpful Score: 1
The language of this book was easier to read than Ishmael Beah's book about being a boy soldier, but the subject matter is not. The story of Mariatu and the life she led both in Sierra Leona and later in Canada is a harrowing tale, and will make you wish you could do more for the poor people of Africa.
The story of Mariatu Kamara who lived through a civil war in Sierra Leone is sad but enlightening. Most of us know about the atrocities of such conflicts but to hear about them from someone who experienced them is heart rending. She was just eleven years old when her village was overrun by rebels, many of whom were no older than herself. Witnessing the murder of many of her neighbors and friends, she survives and finds herself in a refugee center without hands. How she copes with her life from that point is a poignant tale. A child who grows up too soon she doesn't understand what happened when one of her parents friends raped her until she discovers that she is pregnant and the process is explained. The writing style is simplistic representing the voice of a child as Mariatu tells her story. However, it does not mature with Mariatu herself as it should when she travels to England and then to Canada where she finishes high school and enters college.
