Powerful story, not as well written as some others

books:


	• When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge Chanrithy Him W. W. Norton & Company, 2001 - 330 pages average customer review:based on 44 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Compelling Account of a Tragic Time

Chanrithy Him has told an authentic account based on her story. It replicates the hundreds of thousands of suvivors of the genocide regime of Pol Pot. The story is simple in the story telling, which makes it all the more compelling. For anyone interested not only about this sad time, but also interested in the struggles of these traumatized newcomers, even after 25 to 30 years, it is a must read.

Review

"When Broken Glass Float" is an extraordinary book that tell first-hand account of growing up in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge regime. In April 17, 1975 Khmer Rouge invaded the capital, Phnom Penh, and evacuated the population to work in the countryside. Under a Utopian society, people cultivated rice all day long without any food and water. Chanrithy Him had to learn how to survive living under the terrible condition. From learning how to make a fishing rod out of bamboo stick to harvesting crops on the plantation, she was able to overcome that death of her relatives. Eventually she had to be transfer to different camps, so the possibility of making friend during this rough period was difficult. She had all type of mix feeling from understanding that death is part of life cycle and realizing that there was no necessary need to live under this condition. Khmer Rouge abolished any materials that symbolize capitalism, and this includes any people who were living a previous life of money. They executed anybody that they suspected represent capitalism. Through all this horrific and horrendous activities, she was able to escape to an refugee camp in the border of Thailand and Cambodia. The authors write with an vivid imagination, but lack historical account of actually event that was taking place during the Khmer Rouge Regime.

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Highly recommended

This book about a cambodian family living through the Khmer Rouge and is one of the best I've read. I highly recommend it for people interested in learning more about this region and time period.

Powerful story, not as well written as some others

Chanrithy Him's "When Broken Glass Floats" tells an extraordinary, powerful, and difficult story. On it's own merits, Him's tale is well-written, fairly well paced, clear, and attention-holding. The reader gets a sense of the conditions found in rural Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge years, especially the overwork and starvation of the people.

Him's book suffers only when compared to some of the other accounts now in print, especially Loung Ung's "First They Killed My Father". Him does not do as good a job as Ung, in my opion, of describing her life before April 1975. She does not paint as clear a picture of the individual personalities of her family members. Her narrative leaves more noticeable chronological gaps.

To be fair, Him's work does a better job of descrbing Cambodian culture. She includes a fair amount of the Khmer language, especially slang and colloquialisms, along with the translation. She also spends more time on her departure from Cambodia via Thailand and the Phillipenes.

To summarize: I am glad I read "When Broken Glass Floats" and I recommend it to others. I strongly encourage you to read it before you read other Cambodian-written accounts of the Khmer Rouge years.

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The struggle continued...

After writing this amazing account of her horrific childhood experiences growing up during the Khymer Rouge regime in Cambodia, Chanrithy Him had a struggle even getting the book published; a former "friend" wanted recognition. It's hard to imagine surviving what Chanrithy did in the first place, not to mention having to re-live the experiences in her mind and soul numerous times in order to write the book. It's almost impossible to then fathom that someone would endeavor to take some of the credit away from her, but that is what happened! But as she had done with the Khmer Rouge, Chanrithy chose to forgive her enemy. This is a life-changing book by an incredible person--don't miss out on it!

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

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