The novel is narrated in the first-person by Agu, who vividly recounts the horrors he witnesses and participates in as part of a rebel militia group led by a ruthless Commandant. Agu is torn from his family and village, indoctrinated into the ways of war, and made to commit unspeakable acts of violence against civilians. As Agu is drawn deeper into the world of violence and warfare, he grapples with the loss of his innocence and the horrors he is compelled to commit and witness.

Despite the brutality he experiences, Agu retains flashes of his lost innocence through memories of his former life and family.

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