Anne H. (WyomingAnne) reviewed Experience the Horrors of the Lost Boys of the Sudanese Civil War on 5/19/2009 + 9 more book reviews

The story is about Valentino Achak Deng who was a refugee from the Sudanese Civil War, which happened in the 1980s and 90s before the problems in Darfur. This is almost a memoir, retold by the author after hours of conversations with the Valentino Achak. The book, however, is a novel, with added dialogue, and some characters created from composites of people Achak knew. Also, since some of this tale was written when Achak was quite young, some of the events are recreations that may not be exactly as they happened. As one of the "Lost Boys", who separated from their families, traveled miles to find safety, you will learn of the horrors that beset these people through Achak's narration. I had some understanding of this situation before reading the book, but this book really brings what happened home in a way that the news never did, and that I will never forget. Many of these young boys did not make it to safety, often simply unable to continue on due to disease, starvation and lack of water, they simply sat down and died. The rebels killed some, and lions or crocodiles ate others. The book then follows Achak and his fellow "Lost Boys" to the refugee camps where they find life is not what they had imagined, but instead is full of hardships, and years of waiting and hoping for a way out. We then travel with Achak to the United States, where he finds life continues to be a challenge, and his dream of going to college, would not come as soon as he had expected. This was an excellent book that will bring home to you the horrors of what has happened and continues to happen in Sudan and Darfur today. I had a little trouble with the narrative style of the book, where Achak, who is tied and lying on the floor of his own apartment as it is being robbed, narrates the story in his head to a young boy who is left to guard him as the other's leave the apartment for a time. I would be deeply into the events of the story, then it would revert back to the apartment and this young boy who he wanted to give his story to, and at times it interrupted the flow. I did, however, adjust to this theme as the story continued.

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