Chapter 21

Personally I do not like the way that the book ended. I wish that they wouldn’t have ended it with that story. But they would have made one more chapter telling us if he really did get to New York and if he had any struggles along the way. We all know that is going to be fine, because he is still alive right now. But I really want to know if he did eventually get to New York then. But that was the only thing that I wished they would have done.

When Ishmael and his friend went to go get food that was the only time that I would possibly even consider that there was a plus to being in the war was then. If they had not been in the war and never fought than they most likely would have been killed. For example when the helicopter came they knew exactly what it was going to do so they hid. And they also knew all the ways to get around the soldiers so that they would not be suspected and shot.

I also think that it was very sad how is Uncle dies. It almost seems as the war and the fighting gets worse he gets worse and eventually he has had enough. He is fed up with it and he just gives up. But what made it worse was that he was in Ishmael’s arms. I just couldn’t believe that they last person that he had left and that was family was taken away.

Chapter 19 and 20

Whoever said that kids can’t do anything were wrong. Just look at all these children including Ishmael who have come together to help other children. Almost all of them have been through some of the worst sights and feeling that you would ever want to imagine. In the book it said,

“Every morning we would quickly walk through the snow to a conference room down the street. There we would cast our sufferings aside and intelligently discuss solutions to the problems facing children in our various countries. At the end of these long discussions, our faces and eyes glittered with hope and the promise of happiness. It seemed we were transforming our sufferings as we talked about ways to solve their causes and let them be known to the world.”

After reading that you know that it is the truth and that it came form his heart. He did no t just make those words up to make the book more interesting. These children who live through everything bad never imagined that they would get to help other kids. But now they get the chance and take it when they know that they can change every child’s life so it does not have to be like theirs.

I was very glad that Ishmael was chosen. And from the time when he first interviewed I knew that hew as going to be chosen. He didn’t say much but what he said showed that he really did know what was going on and he would do anything to stop it now that he knows what it really is. And when they said that the guys was smiling I knew right then that he was chosen.

Chapters 17-18

After all these months and everything that he is been through… I am so happy for Ishmael. To him it is almost as if it is n end to a fairy tale. Everything that he remembered was from as soon as he was taken into the war. He couldn’t remember anything from his previous life and his childhood. But the nurse is the one person who he feels the most comfortable around and is finally able to get back into a couple of those memories. But when his Uncle walked in, it almost made me want to cry. He finally had someone he knew and that knew his family there right in front of him. It was proof that he had something to live for and that he was no all alone. Each time they would go for a walk more and more of his childhood memories would come back. He no longer had s many dreams and he was happy. He could remember his family, although he missed them, he no longer had all of those gory pictures of the war and everything that he had some in the past going through his head. Now I feel like if I have to book this book down or if it ended right here I know that he would be safe. Before I felt like I had to keep reading it to keep him alive and able to live the life that he had, but now I feel as though I am allowed to put the book down. I can put the book down without the feeling that his future was in my hands.

Chapters 15 and 16

Wow! I have to say that out of all of the chapters these were the most powerful to me. All of the other chapters they were just too much. It was hard to even process those and make them become real. But in these two chapters it really shows you all that they had been through. When they are first taken and they are on the truck the entire way they are wondering where they are going. Then they become so frustrated that they think about and almost do raid it and turn it right on back around. The when they arrive and that first night they break out into a war. It was almost as if they had been deprived of fighting. That was the only thing for them to live for. And they had no way of stopping it that was all they knew and people were too afraid of them to stop it. The children also don’t want to stay in the mini hospital. They had for so long taken care of themselves and they hadn’t even noticed when they got hurt. So now when they were given the care and the love that they used to have they didn’t want it.

In Chapter 16 it starts to get to the part where they are beyond their wanting to kill every living thing but they are able to go out into the free world. When Ishmael and his two friends went into the city that was the first time that I had a smile on my face for the first time in this book. It just made me so happy that they could finally snap themselves out of it and be able to see what was beyond all of the fighting. I no longer fear when they kids start to fight because I know that they are trying to get through it and that soon they will be over it. Most of them for most likely for the rest of their life will have nightmares about what they have done in the past, there is no way of stopping that. Just the thought that they will be able to live a normal life. They no longer have the drugs that they depend on or the physiological need for blood and the death of others.

Book Suggestions

Even after thinking bout it for a little I still do not have any specific books that we should read. But I would prefer if we didn’t read any books that are sad or gory. A book that my mo would suggest that we would read would be gone with the Wind. But most people would not want to read a book that is more and 1,000 pages. I would not want to read that specific book, but something like that. Gone with the Wind is set during the civil war and is about two people falling in love, and all of their issues surrounding them. I will be happy reading anything as long as it is happy and not like the last two books we have read.

Chapter 13 and 14

Now I do believe everyone when they said that those were the most two graphic chapters in the book. The image of limbs and head floating in the river is enough to make any one feel sick. Imagine at the age of 13 killing people and doing drugs to the point where you can’t even sleep. I could not imagine anyone doing this. Especially so young. It’s not fair to these kids that this is how they have to live their life. They should be able to live it in freedom and not have to worry about what they are going to eat the next day or if their head is going to be blown off while fighting.

Ishmael does not seem like the type of boy who do this. But this book shoes that just about anybody can be desensitized to the point where it becomes their life and that that is all that they think about. Even when they don’t have to they do. What really terrified me was during his first experience of fighting when he sees his friend dies. He sees him thrown up into the air by the force of a grenade that he lands so hard that he cracks his spine. Then all he can do is sit there and watch him die while blood is being squirted on his face and everything around him.

Chapter 11 & 12

At the very beginning of chapter 11 I got really excited for Ishmael that he would most likely be able to see his family again, but that soon faded. After the first page I thought after everything he has been through I don’t think that he is going to et lucky and be able to see his family again. That’s what I wanted to happen but the feeling in my gut said that there was going to be something keeping him in the way of getting to his family… and I was right. AS soon as they said they saw smoke and heard shots I knew what was happening. I knew that either his parents and family were going to be killed or they would have run in the opposite direction just for Ishmael to have to go chasing after them again. When he got to the description part of what had happened I couldn’t believe that human beings were act ally doing that. That they could force themselves to do all of that to a human being just like that.

When Ishmael was handed the gone I knew the book was going to go downhill from there. Those soldiers were going to find a way to pull all of the last hope he had left out of him. It could all be gone and all that was left was the need for revenge. I was actually happy when he was shaking when he received the gun because if he wasn’t that would have proven that he was completely desensitized and ready to because “the opposite of the rebels.” Yes they were fighting against them but they were still murdering people for revenge.

Chapter 10

Day by day you walk not wondering what is going to happen that day. Now knowing if you are going to find food. And not knowing if you are going to die before it turns to nightfall. Your entire life a mystery. I just do not see how they could do it. After you think that nothing more could be ripped from these young boys one of them dies right next to them. The boy had been living in the same conditions as them and had gone through everything that they had but he did not make. So what hope did that give to the other boys? If they saw someone die in front of their eyes, someone that they knew and spent every second with, they would just expect that they are going to die sooner or later. Whether it be as peaceful as dying in your sleep or bring killed by the rebels. There is nothing good about these boys lives but when they go to a single dance and celebration or hear that their family could possibly be in the next village they all light up. They dance and celebrate and they act happy. Personally I do not see how even if they did have a chance of seeing their family again or because the just ate a huge feast that they could keep going. These boys must have a heart that is bigger than anyone’s that we know. And big enough to take in everything that shouldn’t exist and still find some hope in the cracks.

Chapter 8 & 9

I can’t believe that someone that young has the strength to walk for 2 days straight without sleeping. Plus the only stops to be made were to get water. I would die of hunger and exhaustion. In a thick forest, lost all alone it would feel like you would give up hope. Like everything that you knew was gone, you couldn’t help anyone because you were lost, and life was so different that you couldn’t even help yourself. People are one thing every person needs even if they say they don’t. It’s not possible for a person to live without someone by his or her side. Or at least someone to see and talk to every day to make you less lonely. But no Ishmael found his way without anyone’s help, made a “bed” for himself, and managed to get along without crossing to the side of giving up hope, which I admire him greatly for. I was so happy for him when he finally met the six other boys. Even though he was in a group again which did not have very many advantages, but one it did have was the feeling of companionship and having someone close to you and to talk to. I loved it when they went to the old man and he was very calm, gave them directions, and ask if they wanted food right away. As soon as he saw these children he knew that they were not harmful and that they were just lost children. He did not fear for his own life because he knew that it was coming to an end, but for the first time in the book we see that someone actually cares for these boys and hopes that they get through it alive and without being taken by the rebels.

In Chapter nine I couldn’t believe that after all these children had gone through that they still had enough time and energy to mess around and play on the beach. It was so cool that they could leave everything that they had seen in the past weeks and just have fun and go back to being normal kids. The found a way with the seven of them to have fun. They were in a place that they had really never seen up close before and they decided to make the best of it while they could. This I really admire them for.

Chapter 6&7

After reading chapters six and seven in a way I was relieved. Relieved in a way that there was a part of their life where they did not need to see dead bodies all over the place. In chapter six the experienced a different hard, the difficulty of working in a field, which everyone else who is their age and older, whose town has not been overtaken by the rebels was doing. I was not happy for them during this chapter because it sounded as though they were in a lot of pain. Yet I was happy because the physical pain that they were feeling was nowhere near as intense as the emotional pain that they had been feeling lately. I felt like I didn’t have to grieve for them and that they got a break for a little while. This was until the rebels attacked and I read the last two sentences in the chapter. “ It was during that attack on the village of Kamator that my friends and I separated. It was the last time I saw Junior, my older brother. This would have been the worst part of the entire experience. The last person in your family that had been with you is now gone. The last thing you held onto is no longer there. It would make me feel like I would want to give up.

In chapter seven I found that I thought the Ishmael was very brave. I never would have chosen to go off on my own in a place where you could be attacked any second. When he arrived at the river towards the end of the chapter I thought it was so sad to see that no 12 year old boy could be trusted, no matter what the circumstances. Even though he said hello to the people and was friendly towards them they still did not trust him and they wanted him gone as soon as possible.

Chapters 3, 4, and 5

After reading the next three chapters I absolutely love this book. It’s an awful story… one that shouldn’t even have to be told, but with each paragraph and each page I find it more compelling. It just gets harder and harder for me to be able to put the book down. Each chapter seems to get more graphic and more… gross I guess is the only word that you can use. Every time I see something happen I flinch away as if I was there or I feel like I am going to be sick, but I force myself to keep reading. I know that he survives but I want to learn how he does it, which is why I keep reading.
I found that chapter 1 and 2 were a lot more confusing than the next three. In those chapters he incorporated the dreams, which you couldn’t even tell that those weren’t reality. But even with the awful nightmares in those chapters, I found that chapter 3, 4, and 5 seemed to be even more intense than chapters 1 and 2. At the beginning of chapter 3 I had some hope that the six children would be able to get away before the rebels came but I was wrong. The family they were staying with forced them to stay at the house to take care of everything, so when the rebels did come they were fleeing with everyone else. And I honestly have to say that during that entire chapter I was holding my breath hoping that they would not get caught or shot down. People were being shot right next to them, but I find it amazing that all six of them made it out alive.
Towards the end of chapter 5 when they are caught by the rebels I find it amazing that while they are watching the old man being “tortured” in a sense that they can’t cry. Also when Junior wasn’t chosen the first round but Ishmael was, and then vice versa in the second round, I have no idea how they would be able to keep all their emotions inside of them. I don’t think no matter how hard I tried that I would even be able to do that. At the end of the chapter what pushed me over the edge was when the rebels were going tot take the non recruited group to be shot in front of the recruited group, that’s when I had to stop reading and take a breath. I can’t believe that there would be people in the world that could do this to children. That could make them watch their sibling shot to death in front of them. I just find that unbelievable.

Chapter 1 and 2

I was completely stunned at the end of chapters one and two. It’s hard to believe that people on the other side of the world have to live through this. That their villages are attacked and people flee in the street with blood dripping everywhere. I do not think that I would be able to live after I saw people being shot and people trying to keeps their babies alive. I would probably have the same dreams that Ishmael had. I would never be able to sleep. That picture would be scarred in my memory forever. The nightmare that he had I found was really scary. At first I was confused and didn’t know if he was in a dream or if the book skipped to the future. But then I realized that it was a nightmare when he pulled back the sheet and saw his own face. Also I don’t know how they could stand not knowing where their parents and family are. For all they know they could be running with the other people or they could are have been shot and are now dead.