When Arn Chorn Pond was eleven, the Khmer Rouge, a radical Communist regime, came to power in Cambodia, herding the entire population to work camps in the countryside. Families were separated, and everyone, including children, was forced to work long gruelling hours digging ditches and growing rice. Tens of thousands of people died from starvation, overwork and sickness. Many more were tortured, forced to swear they were traitors, then killed and buried in mass graves that have come to be called the Killing Fields. Nearly two million people died – one in every four people. It is the worst genocide ever inflicted by a country on its own people.”
I have to say that I do not know a lot about Cambodia and the war that went on there so was fully engrossed from page one. The book is written as Arn and takes on his speech patterns and language which did take me awhile to get used to but once I did it was like he was speaking to you through the pages and you went on his journey with him. And what a journey it was. Sometimes it was brutal and was very hard to read especially when it focused on the children and how they were tortured. I enjoyed, if that is the right word, the relationships he formed with people he met especially his music teacher and one of the Khmer Rouge soldiers who, in their own way help him to survive and show that even in the toughest surroundings you can form relationships.
It is hard to get your head around the fact that this is a true story and quite remarkable that Arn and others like him actually managed to stay alive. It was a draining read but one I would highly recommend especially for those who are learning this period of history in school.
Once again many thanks to Emma for the loan of the book:
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