This is a bit of a change of pace (and genre) from what I've posted so far. Recently, I found myself wanting to know a bit more about the hell in Cambodia. This was not only the first book I've read about this, but it's also my first audio book. It's a good medium and I have to hand it to the narrator Tavia Gilbert, she really breathes life to Loung Ung's incredibly provocative story. I think I'll have to write about my impressions of an audio book in another post, because there's a lot I want to say about this.
This is a story first and foremost about a family. Loung Ung is the second youngest daughter in her family when the book opens just before the invasion of the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia's capital Phnom Pen, in 1975. Loung, is only 5 years old, but she's already a precocious and vivacious young girl. It's a touching quality to have in a narrator, knowing the hell she has endured.
Her youngest sister Geck is only 3 at the time. Loung remarks how cute and adorable she is. Then there's Chu, even though Loung is closest to Chu in age and also has the closest relationship with her, the two of them are polar opposites. Chu is calm and avoids conflict, while Loung is always bugging her mother and assaulting her father with questions. There's also Keim her older brother about ten years old at the time. Their mother calls him Monkey, because he's so agile and full of energy.
Then there are Loung's three older siblings, Cave a very attractive Cambodian teenage girl. Then her two older brothers Meng a quiet reserved boy and Coy who rides in on a bike winning the attentions of many of the local girls in Phnom Pen.
Loung has such a deep love for her father. Each night they stand out on the balcony and she asks him questions about the world. He works for the government and is the first in the family to know what's happening. Then there is Loung's mother, who she has a bit more of a hostile relationship towards, but it is the sort of frustrated love typical between a mother and child.
Why do I bother going over these details? Because to me, this is what we miss in history. Loung Ung tells us all so clearly about her family. They are all so happy. It seems idyllic, to me her family life is the same as mine except she was in Cambodia. As she weaves the story of how the regime of Pol Pot, the Ankar and the Khmer Rouge invade Cambodia and destroy her life and the life of Cambodia's people, we get to know all of these people and perhaps the most tragic thing about all of it is the way everyone in her family changes.
People forget when they are far removed from this sort of chaos, but for Loung Ung, her family will never be the same. I think though what makes this story so compelling is not what happens, I honestly think Loung Ung not only writes from the heart, but is not afraid to relate the darkest aspects of what she witnessed. She relives the memories and all of the pain.
As always I don't really want to throw any spoilers in so I won't reveal too much more. However, I'd like to say one last thing and it may sound preachy, but when I finished listening to this powerful story, I realised how artificial history is. I've read accounts of what happened in Cambodia, but none so detailed and vivid. Our information culture demands that everything be reduced into easily digestable snippets of data. I suppose this is what a history book does as well, condenses the lives of millions into an easily digestable chapter or so,or perhaps a book.
If nothing else, First they Killed My Father is a well-told and well written story about the atrocities of Cambodia. But at it's best it is the story of a family whose love endures despite all the odds. It's telling the information that history prioritises, but I ask you was it the first or second line that made you want to read this book. I won't soon forget about Loung Ung and her family and the sacrifices they endured.
There's a sequel about Loung Ung's subsequent life in America (in fact it has an interesting bit towards the end about her experiences as a "boat person" travelling from Vietnam to Thailand) and her reunion with her sister Chu. Hope I didn't give away too much.
Anyway slight detour, but one I think it was important to make. Next time as promised I'll be back into fantasy and I'll be having a look at Mr Gaiman's American Gods, which is a very different sort of read from the emotional intensity of Loung Ung's first person narrative, but don't get me wrong there is plenty of intensity to be had.
Stay tuned folks! And as always good reading.
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