Smitha Murthy's Reviews > Bite of the Mango, The

Many years ago, I had read Ishmael Beah’s powerful ‘A Long Way Gone.’ It remains one of the most moving books on war I had ever read. But for some reason, I had associated Beah’s book with Sudan, not Sierra Leone. So, I thought I was reading my first book set in Sierra Leone when I picked up ‘The Bite Of The Mango.’

My memory and its tricks.

Kamara’s story is so gut-wrenching - raped at 12 - and then has her arms cut off by boy rebel soldiers. I have no idea where human beings find the resilience to cope with these horrors, but Kamara does. The book is not pleasant reading - but it’s a memoir - and Kamara presents an almost journalistic lens to the horrors of the Sierra Leone civil war. The war may have ended, but its scars remain. I don’t care about narrative PoVs or tone or depth or the quality of the writing for this book. It’s Kamara’s story and we should be grateful she is sharing it at all.