First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers

All Available Formats + Editions

——

$10.99

NOOK Book

——

$10.99

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers (eBook) Pub. Date: 10/12/2010 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
$0.01

——

Paperback

$0.01

——

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers (1ST PERENN) Pub. Date: 1/1/2001 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

$1.99

——

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers Pub. Date: 1/24/2001 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
$0.01

——

Hardcover

$0.01

——

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers (1 ED) Pub. Date: 12/17/1999 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

$13.60

——

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers Pub. Date: 1/28/2001 Publisher: San Val, Incorporated

$20.60

——

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers Pub. Date: 4/28/2001 Publisher: Mainstream Publishing Company, Limited
$19.07

$31.49

Audiobook

$21.62

$31.49

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers (CD - Unabridged CD) Pub. Date: 6/27/2011 Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc.

——

$14.93

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers (MP3 - Unabridged) Pub. Date: 5/19/2011 Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc.

$46.61

$64.79

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers (CD - Library - Unabridged CD) Pub. Date: 6/27/2011 Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc.

$19.07

——

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers (MP3 on CD - MP3 - Unabridged CD) Pub. Date: 6/30/2011 Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc.

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

Advertising

Overview

From a childhood survivor of Cambodia's brutal Pol Pot regime comes an unforgettable narrative of war crimes and desperate actions, the unnerving strength of a small girl and her family, and their triumph of spirit.

Until the age of five, Lounge Ung lived in Phnom Penh, one of seven children of a high-ranking government official. She was a precocious child who loved the open city markets, fried crickets, chicken fights, and sassing her parents. While her beautiful mother worried that Loung was a troublemaker--that she stomped around like a thirsty cow--her beloved father knew Lounge was a clever girl.

When Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into Phnom Penh in April 1975, Ung's family fled their home and moved from village to village to hide their identity, their education, their former life of privilege. Eventually, the family dispersed in order to survive.

Because Lounge was resilient and determined, she was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, while other siblings were sent to labor camps. As the Vietnamese penetrated Cambodia, destroying the Khmer Rouge, Loung and her surviving siblings were slowly reunited.

Bolstered by the shocking bravery of one brother, the vision of the others--and sustained be her sister's gentle kindness amid brutality--Loung forged on to create for herself a courageous new life.

What People Are Saying

Dith Tran

Dith Tran, whose work and life is portrayed in the award winning movie, The Killing Fields
Loung has written an eloquent and powerful narrative as a young witness to the Khmer Rouge atrocities. This is an important story that will have a dramatic impact on today's readers and inform generations to come.

Helen Prejean

Despite the tragedy all around her, this scrappy kid struggles for life and beats the odds. I thought young Ung's would make me sad, but this funky child warrior carried me with her in her courageous quest for life. Reading these pages has strengthened me in my own struggle to disarm the powers of violence in this world.
— Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking

Lucy Grealy

This is a harrowing, compelling story. Evoking a child's voice and viewpoint, Ung has written a book filled with vivid and unforgettable details. I lost a night's sleep to this book because I literally could not put it down, and even when I finally did, I lost another night's sleep just from the sheer, echoing power of it.
— (Lucy Grealy, author of Autobiography of a Face)

Patrick Leahy

In this gripping narrative, Loung Ung describes the unfathomable evil that engulfed Cambodia during her childhood, the courage that enabled her to survive, and the determination that has made her an eloquent voice for peace and justice in Cambodia. It is a tour-de-force that strengthened our resolve to prevent and punish crimes against humanity.
— U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, Congressional Leader on Human Rights and a Global Ban on Land Mines

Queen Noor

This is a story of triumph of a child's interminable spirit over the tyranny of the Khmer Rouge over a culture where children are trained to become killing machines. Loung's subsequent campaign against land mines is a result of witnessing first hand how her famished neighbors, after dodging soldier's bullets, risked their lives to traverse unmapped mine fields in search of food. Despite the heartache, I could not put the book down until I reached the end. Meeting Loung in person made me reaffirm my admiration for her.

Editorial Reviews

New York Times

[Ung] tells her stories straightforwardly, vividly, and without any strenuous effort to explicate their importance, allowing the stories themselves to create their own impact.

San Francisco Chronicle

A riveting memoir...an important, moving work that those who have suffered cannot afford to forget and those who have been spared cannot afford to ignore.

More Reviews (3) Fewer Reviews

Library Journal

In this "Age of Holocaust," Ung's memoir of her childhood in Pol Pot's Cambodia offers a haunting parallel to the writings of Anne Frank in the Europe of Adolf Hitler. A precocious, sparkling youngster, Ung was driven from Phnom Penh in April 1975 to relatives in the countryside, then to Khmer Rouge work camps. Here she recalls her fear, hunger, emotional pain, and loneliness as her parents and a sister were murdered and another sister died from disease. By the 1979 freeing of Cambodia by Vietnamese troops, she was a hardened, vengeful nine year old. Although written nearly 20 years later, this painful narrative retains an undeniable sense of immediacy. The childlike memories are adroitly placed in a greater context through older family members' descriptions of the political and social milieu. Recommended for public and academic libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/15/99.]--John F. Riddick, Central Michigan Univ. Lib., Mt. Pleasant Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

YA-Ung was a headstrong, clever child who was a delight to her father, a high-ranking government official in Phnom Penh. She was only five when the Khmer Rouge stormed the city and her family was forced to flee. They sought refuge in various camps, hiding their wealth and education, always on the move and ever fearful of being betrayed. After 20 months, Ung's father was taken away, never to be seen again. Her story of starvation, forced labor, beatings, attempted rape, separations, and the deaths of her family members is one of horror and brutality. The first-person account of Cambodia under the reign of Pol Pot will be read not only for research papers but also as a tribute to a human spirit that never gave up. YAs will applaud Ung's courage and strength.-Katherine Fitch, Rachel Carson Middle School, Fairfax, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Bernstein

During the three years that the Khmer Rouge tried to create an agrarian utopia in Cambodia, two million people are believed to have died from execution, starvation and disease. Two million -- a horrifying number, but so large as to seem almost an abstraction, like the distance to the nearest star. The number gains far greater psychological force with [this] new memoirs, whose author, a young girl in the Cambodia of the time, describes the terror and losses she suffered during the Khmer Rouge revolution in wrenchingly particular terms... [Ung] tells her stories straightforwardly, vividly, and without any strenuous effort to explicate their importance, allowing the stories themselves to create their own impact.
—The New York Times

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780060193324
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 12/17/1999
Edition description: 1 ED
Pages: 256
Lexile: 920L (what's this?)
Product dimensions: 6.12 (w) x 9.25 (h) x 0.89 (d)

Meet the Author

An author, lecturer, and activist, Loung Ung has advocated for equality, human rights, and justice in her native land and worldwide for more than fifteen years. Ung lives in Cleveland, Ohio, with her husband.

Read an Excerpt

phnom penh

April 1975

Phnom Penh city wakes early to take advantage of the cool morning breeze before the sun breaks through the haze and invades the country with sweltering heat. Already at 6 A.M. people in Phnom Penh are rushing and bumping into each other on dusty, narrow side streets. Waiters and waitresses in black-and-white uniforms swing open shop doors as the aroma of noodle soup greets waiting customers. Street vendors push food carts piled with steamed dumplings, smoked beef teriyaki sticks, and roasted peanuts along the sidewalks and begin to set up for another day of business. Children in colorful T-shirts and shorts kick soccer balls on sidewalks with their bare feet, ignoring the grunts and screams of the food cart owners. The wide boulevards sing with the buzz of motorcycle engines, squeaky bicycles, and, for those wealthy enough to afford them, small cars. By midday, as temperatures climb to over a hundred degrees, the streets grow quiet again. People rush home to seek relief from the heat, have lunch, take cold showers, and nap before returning to work at 2 P.M.

My family lives on a third-floor apartment in the middle of Phnom Penh, so I am used to the traffic and the noise. We don't have traffic lights on our streets; instead, policemen stand on raised metal boxes, in the middle of the intersections directing traffic. Yet the city always seems to be one big traffic jam. My favorite way to get around with Ma is the cyclo because the driver can maneuver it in the heaviest traffic. A cyclo resembles a big wheelchair attached to the front of a bicycle. You just take a seat and pay the driver to wheel you around whereveryou want to go. Even though we own two cars and a truck, when Ma takes me to the market we often go in a cyclo because we get to our destination faster. Sitting on her lap I bounce and laugh as the driver pedals through the congested city streets.

This morning, I am stuck at a noodle shop a block from our apartment in this big chair. I'd much rather be playing hopscotch with my friends. Big chairs always make me want to jump on them. I hate the way my feet just hang in the air and dangle. Today, Ma has already warned me twice not to climb and stand on the chair. I settle for simply swinging my legs back and forth beneath the table.

Ma and Pa enjoy taking us to a noodle shop in the morning before Pa goes off to work. As usual, the place is filled with people having breakfast. The clang and clatter of spoons against the bottom of bowls, the slurping of hot tea and soup, the smell of garlic, cilantro, ginger, and beef broth in the air make my stomach rumble with hunger. Across from us, a man uses chopsticks to shovel noodles into his mouth. Next to him, a girl dips a piece of chicken into a small saucer of hoisin sauce while her mother cleans her teeth with a toothpick. Noodle soup is a traditional breakfast for Cambodians and Chinese. We usually have this, or for a special treat, French bread with iced coffee.

"Sit still," Ma says as she reaches down to stop my leg midswing, but I end up kicking her hand. Ma gives me a stern look and a swift slap on my leg.

"Don't you ever sit still? You are five years old. You are the most troublesome child. Why can't you be like your sisters? How Will you ever grow up to be a proper young lady?" Ma sighs. Of course I have heard all this before.

It must be hard for her to have a daughter who does not act like a girl, to be so beautiful and have a daughter like me. Among her women friends, Ma is admired for her height, slender build, and porcelain white skin. I often overhear them talking about her beautiful face when they think she cannot hear. Because I'm a child, they feel free to say whatever they want in front of me, believing I cannot understand. So while they're ignoring me, they comment on her perfectly arched eyebrows; almond-shaped eyes; tall, straight Western nose; and oval face. At 5'6", Ma is an amazon among Cambodian women. Ma says she's so tall because she's all Chinese. She says that some day my Chinese side will also make me tall. I hope so, because now when I stand I'm only as tall as Ma's hips.

"Princess Monineath of Cambodia, now she is famous for being proper," Ma continues. "It is said that she walks so quietly that no one ever hears her approaching. She smiles without ever showing her teeth. She talks to men without looking directly in their eyes. What a gracious lady she is." Ma looks at me and shakes her head.

"Hmm..." is my reply, taking a loud swig of Coca-Cola from the small bottle.

Ma says I stomp around like a cow dying of thirst. She's tried many times to teach me the proper way for a young lady to walk. First, you connect your heel to the ground, then roll the ball of your feet on the earth while your toes curl up painfully. Finally you end up with your toes gently pushing you off the ground. All this is supposed to be done gracefully, naturally, and quietly. It all sounds too complicated and painful to me. Besides, I am happy stomping around.

"The kind of trouble she gets into, while just the other day she-" Ma continues to Pa. but is interrupted when our waitress arrives with our soup.

"Phnom Penh special noodles with chicken for you and a glass of hot water," says the waitress as she puts the steaming bowl of translucent potato noodles swimming in clear broth before Ma.

	Author's Note	ix
	Phnom Penh April 1975	1
	The Ung Family April 1975	7
	Takeover April 17, 1975	17
	Evacuation April 1975	23
	Seven-Day Walk April 1975	28
	Krang Truop April 1975	38
	Waiting Station July 1975	44
	Anlungthmor July 1975	50
	Ro Leap November 1975	56
	Labor Camps January 1976	69
	New Year's April 1976	79
	Keav August 1976	93
	Pa December 1976	101
	Ma's Little Monkey April 1977	113
	Leaving Home May 1977	120
	Child Soldiers August 1977	129
	Gold for Chicken November 1977	144
	The Last Gathering May 1978	151
	The Walls Crumble November 1978	158
	The Youn Invasion January 1979	165
	The First Foster Family January 1979	175
	Flying Bullets February 1979	184
	Khmer Rouge Attack February 1979	195
	The Execution March 1979	203
	Back to Bat Deng April 1979	209
	From Cambodia to Vietnam October 1979	218
	Lam Sing Refugee Camp February 1980	228
	Epilogue	235
	Acknowledgments	239
	Resources	241

Reading Group Guide

Plot Summary

First They Killed My Father is a heart-wrenching and often difficult historical autobiography that recounts the brutality of war with vivid detail. A story of political oppression in Cambodia, it is all the more striking and intense as it is told from the perspective of a child, one who is thrust into situations that she doesn't understand, as she is only five years old when the terror begins. Loung Ung made many difficult journeys during her Cambodian youth, starting with being evacuated from her hometown of Phnom Penh. More meaningful were the journeys of self, which led her from a life as the child of a large and privileged family to that of an orphan and work camp laborer. From the deaths of her parents and sisters, we get a glimpse of the power that family relationships have in our lives. From the loss of economic status, the ways in which our social class can define our days is drawn in sharper relief. From her growing knowledge of the regime that has caused her to suffer, we learn of the vast gulf that often exists between a government's intentions and its actions, between words and deeds.

Ung's story offers an account of the warping effects that war can have on an individual, as well as of the possibility of survival and triumph through seemingly insurmountable adversity. We learn of the daily difficulties that come with an atmosphere of political instability-how neighbors cannot trust one another, how common people become executioners, how a political regime can value the acquisition of weapons before feeding its own people, and the tragedy that necessarily follows. The result is a book of incredible power which demonstrates more than thewill to survive of a small child, more than the forces in her life that sustained her through feelings of rage, love, and guilt to a life of activism against global forces of violence. A history of war that may not be on many American's radar screens, Ung's recollections are a chilling testament to what happens when a political movement becomes invulnerable to reason in its quest for power, and also of the ability of the human spirit to endure the harshest conditions.

Questions for Discussion

What fundamental problems existed in the Khmer Rouge's plan that caused the destruction of so many lives? Were there any values that the Khmer Rouge claimed to hold that you share?
What impact did the narrator's child's voice have on your experience as a reader? How would you characterize the transformation that takes place in her narrative voice throughout the story?
How did it affect your reading of the book that you were aware of Loung's father's impending death long before her?
Would you describe Loung as a feminist? How did the experiences of the Ung family differ during the war because of gender?
What was your impression of the final separation, both geographic and cultural, that Loung had with her surviving family? Did you sympathize with her eventual desire to assimilate into American culture, or had you expected her to be more aggressive about pursuing her family relationships earlier on?
Loung saw herself as a "strong" person, as did many other people in the book, and was eventually drafted into a soldier training camp as a result. What are the qualities of a survivor? How does one reconcile compassion with a will to survive? What qualities enabled her gentle sister Chou to survive as well?
With armed struggle a reality of life for people all over the world both past and present, how does one draw the line as to which means are ethical and unethical for coping with it, such as the author's current campaign against the use of landmines? Are there other tools of war that you believe should be broadly banned? About the Author: Loung Ung is National Spokesperson for the "Campaign for a Landmine Free World," a program of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation. VVAF founded the International Campaign to Ban Landmines which was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. Ung lectures extensively throughout the United States and appears regularly in the media.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5

( 92 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(72)

4 Star

(13)

3 Star

(4)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(3)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines

Tell the world what you think of this product.

Add Recommendations

Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

- HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
- Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
- Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
- Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
- Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
- Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
- Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

- By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
- Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
- See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.

Anonymous

Posted February 13, 2003

They did not kill her soul

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers is genocide viewed through a child's eyes. Twenty years later, Cambodia's killing fields still cover unspeakable atrocities the world has yet to unearth. This is one survivor's attempt to shed light on the pain she tried to bury along with the dead.The strength and the weakness of this book rests in its style; the use of the present tense in a child's voice can fall flat. Nonetheless, the narrative can leave the reader stunned and near tears several pages later. As author Loung Ung reconstructs political conversations she claims she had with her beloved father at the age of five, it strikes the reader as totally contrived--as it obviously is. Yet as she describes a child's fear spawned by war, terror, hunger, and the nightmares that follow her at all times, it becomes all too real. Loung, now a beautiful American woman, becomes a tough little Cambodian girl again at these points. It seems almost a sacrilege to criticize any aspect of this compelling book, though, because it is such a powerful testament to the human spirit. On balance, the shortcomings that result from Loung's style are greatly outweighed by the power her narrative evokes. The guilt she suffers after she has eaten some of her family's scarce rice, for example, reveals a child's innate honesty and ability to grasp the ramifications of the simplest act. As pirates steal a jade Buddha, the last tangible link to Loung's murdered father, the reader feels the orphaned child's complete numbness. Loung's observations about her siblings' different personalities, and how these varied traits allowed some to survive the communist slaughter, probably are the strongest observations in the book. Loung concedes she cannot understand how such a sensitive person as her sister Chou lived amidst the ever-present threat of rape, murder, torture and starvation, and the reader grows to appreciate the beauty that terrible mystery represents. As reports emerge from North Korea and elsewhere about mass starvation and terror under the reigns of madmen, the reader can recall that two decades ago the same happened in Cambodia and the world stood mute as it would again and again in Rwanda and too many other places to name. Each new indignity against humanity makes the slogan "never again" ring a little more hollow, but as long as writers like Loung survive and chronicle what happened, the hope the phrase represents will endure because in the end they did not kill her soul.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted December 26, 2011

One of my favorite books. This book first sparked my interest in humanitarian efforts and biographies as a middle school student. Now a junior in college I still find this story to be excellently told and captivating. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a heart.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted December 16, 2011

Amazing

I loved this book.i had to read it for one of my classes and i dont really like biographies but this is one of the best books ive read

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted May 6, 2012

Just WOW! The suffering and how some Cambodians managed to survive starvation and pure sadness and fright.

A wothwhile read, though sometimes difficult to absorb. Never again will I say I am starving, without stopping to think about what that really means.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
ppam

Posted April 23, 2012

Highly Recommend

Loved this book, from beginning to end. Totally compelling to follow the author, as a child, surviving Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge rebellion. It was upsetting, unbelievable, terribly sad, and mostly informative. While killing was going on all around her she learned to survive. It all started when she was only 5 years old. And the ending, while good for the author was very bittersweet.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted April 17, 2012

Highly recommended - this book will make you grateful everyday for the blessings in our lives that we take so for granted! The author as a child lived through incredible destruction of her home, her family and her life. Unputdownable!!

This is an incredibly well written account of the experiences of a five year old who witnessed the utter destruction of her family and world at the hands of the Khmer Rhouge regime. Her strength of spirit and determination to survive through the most abhorent conditions and situations is a testament to her character. I loved this book and will try very hard to be grateful everyday for the blessings that so many of us overlook on a daily basis. Thank you Ms. Ung for sharing your story as it must have been very difficult to re-live this chapter in your life.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
3001ak

Posted April 14, 2012

Can not open downloaded book.

I was unable to read this book because it said it was a protected book. i TRIED TO CALL BUT IT WAS A HOUR AND A HALF WAIT. how do I open the book.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted April 13, 2012

Anonymous

Eye opening. Cleverly written
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted April 10, 2012

love it

This book will always be a treasure to me because its just so i cant describe love it love it love it i would rate this book 1000000 1000000
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
J-C59

Posted October 23, 2011

Highly Recommended

Courageous, gutsy, amazing....this book should be on the mandatory reading list for high school students. I couldn't put it down once I started it...now that I've read it I think twice before I complain about ANYTHING.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
AlexandraRamona

Posted September 6, 2011

excellent eye-opener to a very sad happening...

This book is beautifully written from the viewpoint of a participating victim. Sadly but fortunately it is honest though brutal.

The gallantry shown in keeping the family together in the present and future is a noble goal - as is the respectful and loving memory of those who suffered death at the hand of the enemy.

Prayers to all who survived and to those who have read this accounting. May we all remember to count our blessings daily.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
5895819

Posted April 17, 2011

AMAZING!

I began reading this book for school and insted of reading 50 pages like we were suposted to, I stayed up all night finishing this book. This book is beautifuly written in such a powerful way. I mean this when I say this, this book changed my life. I've neve cryed so hard in my life! Everyone, I mean EVERYONE should read this book!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
apsara198x

Posted February 16, 2011

beautiful

this book was amazing
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
heaathaa2013

Posted December 8, 2010

A must read!!

The book First They Killed My Father is a remarkable book. It's a tough read, but definitly worth your while. The book covers the years of 1975 through 1979, It talks about deaths of many family members. Being forced to seperate and then later on reuniting the family. This young girl goes through beatings, starvation, and attempted rape but yet she never gives up on trying to make her escape for survival. This book provides an example of how war can deeply affect a childs life. Sad but inspiring, I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Cambodias history, this book gives Loung Ungs personal view of events.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted December 4, 2005

powerful

For my English class, I was required to read a non-fiction book that challenged me. I was totally clueless on what to read so I ask for recommendations from the school librarian, and she recommended this book. Not only was I challenged as a reader, but also as a person. First They Killed My Father provides an unique insight on the Khmer Rouge's massacre from a rare angle: the survivor.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted August 12, 2005

Excellent

This book is heartbreaking and wonderfully touching. I recommend it to anyone. I was assigned to read it for a history class but was so impressed I bought copies for my friends and family.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted April 26, 2005

First Hand Account

Chilling child's-eye-view with an adult perspective of the genocide in Cambodia. This is a story that brings home the history in a very effective and intimate way.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted June 11, 2004

Amazing

WOW. This book is an amazing story about how life under the Pol Pot Regime really was. I had recently just finished writing a paper on the Cambodian community in the greater Boston area, and had read many books on what occurred during this period of oppression. I didn¿t believe that this book would affect me the way it did, at one point I started crying because her story is so heroic and I wanted to put the book down but I had to know what happened so I continued on. To realize such a young child can face such great adversity and overcome it, was a real testament to what the human soul came overcome. I would like to thank Loung for sharing her life and story with me. Thank You.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted August 26, 2003

Made Me Grateful

I selected this book for a report for my English class. I wanted something different from what I was used to reading. The book was outstanding. It differently made me grateful for the little things we may take for granted.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted July 9, 2003

very moving

I read this book for a senior English course during high school. During my visit to B&N for a book, I recalled reading this excellent memoir and wanted to purchase it online. This story is very touching and shocking, I am very interested in reading it again and keeping it in my personal collection :) If you want to read an excellent book, this is one that I would strongly recommend.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers

Available on NOOK devices and apps

Overview

All Available Formats + Editions

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

More About This Book

Overview

Related Subjects

Editorial Reviews

New York Times

San Francisco Chronicle

Library Journal

School Library Journal

Bernstein

Product Details

Meet the Author

Read an Excerpt

phnom penh

Table of Contents

Reading Group Guide

Customer Reviews

Rating Distribution

5 Star

4 Star

3 Star

2 Star

1 Star

Your Rating:

Your Recommendations:

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

What to exclude from your review:

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

Reminder:

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

They did not kill her soul

Amazing

Just WOW! The suffering and how some Cambodians managed to survive starvation and pure sadness and fright.

Highly Recommend

Highly recommended - this book will make you grateful everyday for the blessings in our lives that we take so for granted! The author as a child lived through incredible destruction of her home, her family and her life. Unputdownable!!

Can not open downloaded book.

Anonymous

love it

Highly Recommended

excellent eye-opener to a very sad happening...

AMAZING!

beautiful

A must read!!

powerful

Excellent

First Hand Account

Amazing

Made Me Grateful

very moving