Imagine at the age of five, when most American kids are kicking a soccer ball around, watching a ball game in the hot summer sun, enjoying their childhood, to have your childhood ripped out from under you. That is what happened to many children living in Cambodia in 1975. In April, 1975, the Khmer Rouge (Cambodian Reds) drove out the U.S.-backed Lon Nol government and took control of the country. They immediately drove out all of the inhabitants of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia and one of the most beautiful cities of Southeast Asia. Among those driven out was five-year-old, Loung Ung.
In her book, Miss Loung tells of the fear induced daily by the Khmer Rouge and of her growing hatred of the "Angkar" and later of Pol Pot. She tells of how the Khmer Rouge taught her the emotion of hate, and how they caused it to fester in her. She tells a story of perserverance against almost intolerable evil. Not everyone in her family survived. Such a happy fairy-tale style ending existed for all too few Cambodian families in this time. Her father, mother, and a younger sister all died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. The emotions wrought from her narrative tears at the heart, not unlike stories of the Cultural Revolution in China ten years earlier. However, this story of her life also is a tale of courage and of the power of the human spirit.
The book is compelling reading. It took me less than two days to read it; I couldn't put it down. It is both a story of the evil human can do to human, but at the same time is a story of the indomitable human spirit. I highly recommend this book for anyone, not just Asia specialists like myself.
