First they killed my father: A daughter of Cambodia remembers - Softcover

Ung, Loung

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062561308 ISBN 13: 9780062561305

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2017

Synopsis

From a childhood survivor of the Camdodian genocide under the regime of Pol Pot, this is a riveting narrative of war crimes and desperate actions, the unnerving strength of a small girl and her family, and their triumph of spirit--now a Netflix film by Angelina Jolie.

Repackaged in a new tie-in edition to coincide with the Netflix film produced and directed by Angelina Jolie, a moving story of war crimes and desperate actions, the unnerving strength of a small girl and her triumphant spirit as she survived the Cambodian genocide under Pol Pot's brutal regime.

Until the age of five, Loung 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 Loung 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. Loung 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 courage and sacrifices of the rest of her family--and sustained by her sister's gentle kindness amid brutality--Loung forged on to create for herself a courageous new life. Harrowing yet hopeful, insightful and compelling, this story is truly unforgettable.

About this title

Review:

"So sharp with pain that when I read it, the words plunged into me like a knife" (Jon Swain Sunday Times)

"There can be absolutely no doubt about the innate power of [Ung's] story, the passion with which she tells it or its enduring importance" (Washington Post Book World)

"Ung's memoir should serve as a reminder that some history is best not left just to historians but to those left behind when the terror ends" (Booklist)

"I was deeply affected by Loung’s book. It deepened my understanding of how children experience war and are affected by the emotional memory of it" (Angelina Jolie Pitt)

From the Publisher:

An unforgettable narrative of war crimes and desperate actions from a childhood survivor of Cambodia's brutal Pol Pot regime

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0062561308
• ISBN 13: 9780062561305
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288