Johnny Mad Dog

I finished Johnny Mad Dog several weeks ago for class, but never blogged about it, so here it is...

This was a book that I really enjoyed reading. While the majority of the story is very disturbing and not pleasant at all, it was still written in a way that made it very easy to keep going. I think my favorite character was Laokole's mother. I think a lot of people when reading stories like this might want to see a maternal desire to keep her family together, but I really respected this woman for realizing that it would be impossible to keep her family together, and that her children would honestly be safer without her.

I chose to use Laokole for a significant part of my second paper, because I think she represents a lot of girls in similar circumstances in Africa. We aren't even sure which country this story is happening in, which is, I think, another way they author shows how girls like her can be in any country or any conflict. She did kind of bother me at times, but she did handle her circumstances in a much better way than many sixteen-year-olds I know would have.

I also looked up Johnny Mad Dog on IMDB, but it looks like it's only been released in France, Belgium, and Liberia, with some screenings at film festivals in other countries. Maybe Dr. Webb can pull some strings and get this for his next class...