Survival for Ki Lim and Sang Ly is a daily battle at Stung Meanchey, the largest municipal waste dump in all of Cambodia. They make their living scavenging recyclables from the trash. Life would be hard enough without the worry for their chronically ill child, Nisay, and the added expense of medicines that are not really working. Just when things seem most bleak, Sang Ly learns a secret about the … about the hated, ill-tempered woman, the “the rent collector”-she can read! Reluctantly she agrees to teach Sang Ly and does so with the same harshness she applied to her collection duties until they both learn how literacy has the power to instill hope and transcend circumstance.
Based on a true story, set in the abject poverty of Cambodia against the backdrop of political oppression and the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge.
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I loved this book about a family struggling to survive as they live in a garbage dump in Cambodia, with their sick child. When their rent collector begins to teach the young wife to read, the lives of the whole family are effected.
This book so surprised me. Couldn’t put it down.
Wow. What an emotional journey. After having just read Unbroken, I was unsure if I should start another emotional book and from the blurb, it seemed like it would be very depressing, but this was NOT the case! This book is so very wonderfully written and the hope and optimism demonstrated just goes to show what the human spirit is capable of. I cannot recommend this book enough. Well worth the time. So, so, so good!
Beautifully written novel about two women and the importance of reading and literature to their lives. I wanted their story to continue.
charming and surprising
This is on my short list of best books of the year. I want to read other books by Camron Wright, who truly does know how to write.