Little Family by Ishmael Beah

Khoudi was invisible in her beanie and boy's clothes. Elimane was the intellectual, always with a book, his past life a secret; he is also street-smart, a hustler. Young Namsa suffers sleep terrors rooted in some unspoken past while Khoudi watches over her. Ndevui and Kpindi play marbles for ganja.

These bright young people have been dealt horrible blows. They have banded together as a little family to survive life on the streets. They know how to blend into the crowd, tag along with a family to pass, and pocket food which they share at their secret hideout.

This makeshift family will break your heart.

Through these characters, Ishmael Beah's novel Little Family paints a picture of the social and economic disparity in an African country..

Eliname assists a stranger who then employs him and the family for undercover operations. The money they earn changes their lives.

Khoudi is a beautiful girl blossoming into womanhood. She uses her money at a hair salon and steals clothes from the beach. Self-contained and independent, her beauty attracts the attention of a wealthy girl who unknowingly helps her pass into the upper echelons of society.

A line had been crossed. Something had come to an end.~ from Little Family by Ishmael Beah

Survival comes at a cost. Feelings make you weak. When the family allows jealousy in, a series of events destroys the family and Khoudi's fantasy of a different life.

The setting is specific and foreign, full of local color, the exotic foods and the red caps daily inventing another "exercise in dehumanization."

Yet this is a story that is repeated across the world, in every city. How many children are unprotected, how many fine minds are untapped, what beauty lies hidden beneath rags? Every state holds these lost children.

I will be haunted by this little family.

I received a free book through Goodreads. My review is fair and unbiased.

About the author:

Ishmael Beah is the Sierra Leonean and American author of the novel Radiance of Tomorrow and the memoir A Long Way Gone, which was a #1 New York Times bestseller and has been published in more than forty languages. A UNICEF Ambassador and Advocate for Children Affected by War, and a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Advisory Committee, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their children.

Little Family
Ishmael Beah
Riverhead Books
Publication Date April 28, 2020
$27 hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-7352-1177-3