First They Killed My Father

I read First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung a few years ago for one of my elective courses in my graduate school program. The title of the book is a little daunting because you know from the beginning this is not going to be a happy story. However, it is a very powerful and moving story. It is the true story of Loung and her family during the reign of the Khmer Rogue in Cambodia. What happened in Cambodia in the 1970s is very similar to the Holocaust in Germany.

I could not put the novel down. The author tells the story in such a way it fells like you are there with her and her family. She really makes the reader understand what happened to people during the reign of the Khmer Rogue. She does it in a way that is brutally honest, through the voice of her childhood self. I have now begun to teach this book in my own classes and many students that read it have told me it was one of the best books they have ever read. It is impossible to read this novel without having a changed perspective of the world.

Like any story from the Holocaust, it makes one question how any human could do this to their fellow man. However, unlike the Holocaust, what happened in Cambodia is not as widely taught in schools or talked about. Many of my students have never heard of what happened in Cambodia until we go over this unit in class. They are shocked that this even happened and more shocked that they have never heard of it before now. Her story is something that everyone should read at least once because he does demonstrate that genocide did not end with Hitler. It is still happening in the world and something does need to be done to stop it. Stories like Loung Ung's are just one step in the journey to educate people in the hopes that peace will eventually prevail.

Do you like to read memoirs? Have you read this novel before? If yes, what did you think of it?