In a mesmerizing story, Chanrithy Him vividly recounts her trek through the hell of the “killing fields.” She gives us a child’s-eye view of a Cambodia where rudimentary labor camps for both adults and children are the norm and modern technology no longer exists. Death becomes a companion in the camps, along with illness. Yet through the terror, the members of Chanrithy’s family remain loyal to … to one another, and she and her siblings who survive will find redeemed lives in America.A Finalist for the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize.
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this book was very sad to read about the suffering of innocence and the cruelty of war. How people can be so inhuman is unbearable. Very informative anout the people in Cambodia during the war
A book detailing a child’s survival in 1970 Cambodia is not a novel. Highs and lows orchestrated by the author are absent here. This is not a feel-good story. It is a stark revelation of what it meant to be a child under one of the most ruthless regimes in Asia.
This is the early 70s, when Cambodia became an experiment in radical socialism, and …
This is one of the best books I have ever read. I recommend it to everyone.
I was devastated to read of the treatment of the Cambodian people after the Khmer Rouge took over. The emotions, the tenacity, the heart and the will of this little girl to survive when her world was falling apart all around her is unbelievable. I couldn’t stop reading her story!
This book was interesting enough to finish but a bit repetitive and not totally gripping to me.
We have friends that went thru the same things. They did not know for 10 years Wether either one was alive plus losing a child in the camps.
A view into another world which I never though existed.
Excellent. Highly recommend
Once again, the people of the U.S. was kept in the dark by our media during this terrible time in Cambodia.
Whether or not one remembers the Khmer Rouge era in Cambodia, this book is a moving memoir of survival (by the author and part of her family) and very clear statement of what can happen when one ideology takes control of a country. The writing is excellent and pulls the reader through the morass of scenarios through which the author lived. Be …
Children from Cambodia made to go through one of the hardest things, a terrible ruler who treated most Cambodians worse than animals. This dear child came through fighting for her life dream to go into a medical field.
This is a fascinating, tragic part of our history but this book didn’t grab the reader’s attention. I kept waiting but the story plodded along at a slow pace
Would like to know more about the rest of her life
Story of a person who survives despite incredible deprivation and constant threat of death from the Khmer Rouge.
I gave up on this one. just could not get into it.
This woman’s whole childhood was spent slaving, starving, and scared for her life. Hard to believe this went on in the 70’s.
This was an amazing book, very hard to read because of what happen to the Cambodian people under the Pol Pot regime. They tried so hard to survive under such horrible conditions.
We all need to learn some of the history of the Vietnam era especially if we lived through it. Families were killed and torn apart by a regime that was ignorant, ruthless and clueless. It makes me want to learn more about the whole Vietnam era, and I, now, totally understand all the protests against Americans being there. Even though we lost …
Very thought provoking book. Sad at times, but so very interesting. We forget just how difficult their life was during that time.
It’s hard to believe humans can live through such tragic days of life.