I just finished a memoir called First they Killed my Father. Its about a little girl who grew up in Cambodia during a war. Loung Ung, the author and subject of the book, writes the memoir from a childs point of view. I couldn't put the book down, and often found myself staying up until 3:00AM reading. Books like these are sad and unbelievable, but they also empower me. They help me to realize - if people can live through situations like these and survive and make something positive of their lives, then why can't I - with my feeble trials that I do have.
Here is the synopsis:
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.
