I think William Boyd was spot on with his thoughts on the book. It is so true that eastern area's of the world have worse conflicts. Where in the West (Canada, USA etc...) would you ever find a situation like that of Sierra Leone's? He also mentions how Ishmael was and is extremely intelligent, and how usually child soldiers don't get the opportunity to express their opinions on conflicts such as Ishmael's. I couldn't agree more. Here is a 12 year old kid who has been handed an automatic rifle and has been drugged out of his mind. It's truly remarkable. A 12 year old kid, not even a teenager, makes his way through a conflict we can't even wrap our minds around the thought of. It's sad though, because had Ishmael not gone through what he did, then we wouldn't have his book. And without books such as his, we wouldn't be as aware of worldly conflicts as we are today. Sure we'd have CNN and other news, but we never would have the personal accounts of what happened.
William raises a good point however. The book was so detailed when it came to non-violent memories, but when it came to the bloodshed and death, it was graphic, but didn't seem like it was as clear of a memory to Ishmael. This says something to me about Ishmael, is that the killing became such a way of life for him, he didn't pay much attention to it. He became so desensitized to all of the gore, merciless killing and hatred that he brushed it off. When he saw the first blood, of the people exiting the truck in the first couple chapters, he doubled over, vomiting and nearly fainting. At the end however, the war has become a way of life for him, because of the influence, power, safety, and not to mention the large amount of drugs he had consumed.
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