historical

"First they killed My father" is Loung Ung's Horror filled account of her childhood stolen from her by Pol Pot's regime which ranks behind only Hitlers for it's brutality and inhumanity. It is also a story of a family's love and sacrafice for one another. A father and mother's love for thier children a sister's love for each other but most of all a little girls love for her father.

Think of Anne Frank Meets the "killing fields" and you only begin to get an idea of what this book is about.

Loung's writing is at once so simple and yet so vivid you can almost feel the shock, disgust and horror of a little girl living in what can only be discribed as hell on earth.

You can feel the confusion and fear in a little girls mind as her life of cars, TV's, phones and movies is ripped away from her and replaced with starvation, murder, bombs, gun fire and death.

PA what are communist she asks, and why do they hate us? Her Father's answer is simple and direct they are destoyers.

This book is truly a must read for everyone, least we forget and let history repeat it's self.

Every literate person in the world should read this book. The things that the author went through are almost unbelievable. I had only vaguely heard of the Khmer Rouge before I read this story, but the book told me all I need to know. Through the eyes of a six year old girl, readers are shown all the horrors of this terrifying period in Cambodian history.

The author started out as the happy upper-middle class child of a prominent government official. Then, one day the "Angkar" marched in and changed her life forever. Her family was forced to conceal their mixed Chinese-Cambodian blood, and the father's career in the government in order to keep their lives. They sent away to a forced labor camp, where they are starved and in constant fear for their lives. One by one, family members begin to die off, and the author is forced to go out on her own in order to survive. She and her surviving siblings are subjected to brainwashing, rape, starvation, and various other atrocities, but after many year of suffering, she finally manages to come out on top.

I am a senior in high school and I think it is outrageous that the Khmer Rouge has not even been mentioned in my history classes. Most people don't even know what the Khmer Rouge is. People need to hear about these things, and this book is the perfect way to do that. It makes you feel like the events are happening right outside your window. The author is an amazing person and her story will touch your heart.

This is an absolutely wonderful book. I wish that I hadn't read it yet so I could go back and read it again for the first time. It is a haunting recount of the transition of Cambodia's government by Pol Pot and the Khmer rouge and an amazing story of the people who were able to survive it. Fantastic writing that keeps you glued to every page. THis book really makes you realize the lack our hardship in your own life.