First, let's get the nitpicks out of the way. Like other reviewers, I was bothered by the poor editing of this memoir, with its verb tense switches and simple errors in usage.
However, I was most disappointed that Loung Ung ended her story with her boarding the plane for America. I had fallen for this spunky, strong-willed little girl and wanted to read about her experiences in her new home in Vermont. Please, Ms Ung, write a new chapter to your story! Tell us how you adapted to Vermont and your new American lifestyle. Your epilogue only hints and teases at the new life you found here and many of your readers are bound to want more! Tell us more about your crusade to banish landmines and about your visits to various American cities as you speak about Cambodia's past and future. We'll be looking forward to it!
As for this volume, it is as most reviewers have said--an uplifting story of survival in the most horrific of circumstances. Five-year-old Loung's curiosity and perseverance are truly wonderful to behold as she watches her comfortable world destroyed by the Khmer forces.
The "dream" or "imagination" passages in which Loung describes the possible ways in which two of her sisters, her mother and her father all died are to me the most heart-rending of the entire book. It doesn't matter that they may not necessarily describe the actual events. What's important is that they describe the events as they were imagined by a child, a child who should never have had to imagine such things. To Loung, the deaths were the overriding fact and the created details of them were her child's way of visualizing her loved ones' last moments, not in a morbid way, but in a sympathetic way.
Another aspect of the story that struck me was the strength of the desire to reach America and the deprivation and dangers many Cambodians were willing to risk to enjoy the life most US citizens take for granted. Simply incredible--and still important today as the US government and people struggle with immigration concerns and as the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" of the world grows ever wider.
This is an amazing story, an inspiring story, and an unforgettable story that will affect you long after you have read the final sentences.
