First They Killed My Father

FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER: Loung Ung: HarperCollins: Nonfiction: 272 pages

This memoir is a pain-filled reminder of the terrible time when the Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime ruled Cambodia. The author was five years old (1975) when her family fled Phnom Penh and attempted to hide their education and their father?s former work for the Cambodian government. Few in Cambodia had nothing to hide, millions suffered and died under this brutal regime, apparently just for the crime of being alive. Peasants worked the fields and starved surrounded by abundance as the Khmer Rouge sold the food to China to finance their war with Vietnam.

This wrenching account gives a vivid description of how desperate life was inside Cambodia. The book may be useful because "To Destroy You Is No Loss", a similar memoir published in 1987, seems to be out of print and I was shocked to discover we no longer have a copy in our collection.

SH