The Radiance of Tomorrow by Ishmael Beah

I loved Ishmael Beah's Memoir A Long Way Gone and couldn't wait to read his first novel. The book is very depressing about building a life after war. As an American it is hard to understand what life is like in an undevelopedplace for corruption and theft are in charge. Oftentimes while reading this book I found myself feeling defeated for the characters and their families.

Amazon Summary
  At the center of Radiance of Tomorrow are Benjamin and Bockarie, two longtime friends who return to their hometown, Imperi, after the civil war. The village is in ruins, the ground covered in bones. As more villagers begin to come back, Benjamin and Bockarie try to forge a new community by taking up their former posts as teachers, but they’re beset by obstacles: a scarcity of food; a rash of murders, thievery, rape, and retaliation; and the depredations of a foreign mining company intent on sullying the town’s water supply and blocking its paths with electric wires. As Benjamin and Bockarie search for a way to restore order, they’re forced to reckon with the uncertainty of their past and future alike.
     With the gentle lyricism of a dream and the moral clarity of a fable, Radiance of Tomorrow is a powerful novel about preserving what means the most to us, even in uncertain times.