Skip to main content

First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung: book review



First They Killed My Father: a daughter of Cambodia remembers (2000) is set in Cambodia from the time of the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot: April 1975-1979.

This is a memoir, and the narrator Loung Ung writes in a simple, clear style that gets to the heart of what a 5-year-old girl experiences when her family is evacuated from the capital, Phnom Penh, when the Khmer Rouge soldiers take control. 

Her family consists of her mother and father, three brothers – aged 18, 16, and 10 – and three sisters – aged 14, 8, and 3. Loung is the second youngest. 

Her family walk for seven days to their uncle’s village. Even in the villages, the soldiers are on patrol. Seven months later, the family travel westwards to the village of Ro Leap. 

Communism is meant for ‘all to be equal’ but the villages have three levels of citizenship: ‘The first-class  citizenry comprises the chief, who has authority over the whole village, his aides and the Khmer Rouge soldiers.They are all base people and the Khmer Rouge cadres. They have the power to teach, police, judge, and execute. They make all decisions: work details, food rations per family, severity of punishment. They are the eyes and ears of the Angkar [organisation] at the local level.’ The base people, the second level, are the ‘bullies’ who work closely with the first-class citizens. The new people of the village are the lowest, with no freedom of speech, no freedom of movement – ‘they are given the hardest work and the longest hours.’

A year under the Communist regime, Loung is six years old and forever hungry as many die of starvation. Her 14-year-old sister Keav dies too of food poisoning. 

By December 1976, Pa ‘must leave’ with two soldiers. He is never seen again. There are rumours of his death as part of the mass execution of a quarter of the country’s citizens, but there are also rumours of his escape. 

Labour camps are established, and her family are separated. Luong is trained as a child soldier. Her memoir ends in 1979 when the Vietnamese enter Cambodia and defeat the Khmer Rouge army. 

Loung Ung describes the brutality and the torture of the Khmer Rouge regime, and what people do to survive. But mostly, this memoir is about the bonds that bind people together in tragedies, especially family bonds. After the death of her parents, and two sisters, she retains both dignity and integrity. It’s worth a read. 



MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...
1 comment
Read more