Romanian review: Între 1975-1979, khmerii roșii au omorât între 1.5 și 2 milioane de oameni, adică aproximativ 25% din populația Cambodgiei. Au existat multe regimuri bolnave de-a lungul istoriei, nu vreau să le compar prea mult, pentru că nu poți spune că o viață este mai valoroasă decât alta, însă, procentual vorbind, khmerii roșii sunt probabil cel mai sângeros regim din istorie.
Am citit numeroase cărți despre nazism și Holocaust, lagărele de concentrare au fost cadrul unor atrocități de nedescris, însă am rămas cu senzația că teroarea a rămas oarecum în acele zone izolate. În ce privește Cambodgia, cartea asta m-a lăsat cu senzația că întreaga țară devenise un lagăr de concentrare imens. Imaginați-vă că naziștii s-ar fi hotărât, pe lângă minoritățile pe care le considerau indezirabile, să omoare orice german care avea studii superioare, orice medic sau intelectual. Asta s-a întâmplat în Cambodgia. Pe lângă că au omorât toți medicii, khmerii roșii au restricționat accesul la săpun, majoritatea produselor de igienă și medicamente. Prin urmare, a existat o întreagă rețetă a dezastrului și cruzimii.
Nu am mai citit de mult ceva care să mă cutremure și să mă îngrozească la fel de mult ca autobiografia lui Loung Ung. De-a lungul timpului am citit multe cărți scrise de Stephen King, King este celebru pentru scenele bolnave pe care și le imaginează, ei bine, nicio scenă descrisă de Stephen King nu reușește să se apropie ca diabolism de ce au făcut khmerii roșii. Nu cred că există carte horror de pe lumea asta care să descrie scene mai bolnave decât ce s-a petrecut în realitate în Cambodgia, și nu numai.
Când vine vorba de o astfel de carte, cuvintele sunt de prisos, prin urmare, nu voi mai adăuga prea multe. ,,Întâi l-au omorât pe tata" intră în lista acelor cărți care trebuie citite pentru a ne asigura că omenirea nu va uita cele mai negre momente ale sale, cele mai îngrozitoare atrocități comise de specia noastră și, mai ales, pentru a ne asigura că astfel de lucruri nu se vor mai repeta niciodată.



English review: Between 1975-1979, the Khmer Rouge killed between 1.5 and 2 million people, about 25% of Cambodia's population. There have been many sick regimes throughout history, I don't want to compare them too much, because you can't say that one life is more valuable than another, but percentage-wise, the Khmer Rouge is probably the bloodiest regime in history.
I have read many books on Nazism and the Holocaust, the concentration camps were the setting for unspeakable atrocities, but I am left with the feeling that the terror has somehow remained in those isolated areas. As for Cambodia, this book left me with the feeling that the whole country had become one huge concentration camp. Imagine if the Nazis had decided, in addition to the minorities they considered undesirable, to kill any German with a higher education, any doctor or intellectual. That's what happened in Cambodia. In addition to killing all the doctors, the Khmer Rouge also restricted the access to soap, most hygiene products and medicine. So there was a whole recipe for disaster and cruelty.
It's been a long time since I have read anything that has shaken and terrified me as much as Loung Ung's autobiography. Over the years I have read many books by Stephen King, King is famous for the sick scenes he imagines, well, none of the scenes Stephen King describes come close to the diabolical evil of what the Khmer Rouge did. I don't think there is a horror book in the world that depicts scenes more sickening than what actually happened in Cambodia, and not just there.
When it comes to such a book, words are superfluous, so I won't add much more. "First They Killed My Father" is on the list of those books that must be read to ensure that mankind never forgets its darkest moments, the most terrible atrocities committed by our species and, above all, to ensure that such things will never happen again.

Being a Cambodian, I have heard, read and watched endless stories about the Khmer Rouge from various sources. I have to admit that I actually didn't expect much from the book at first because I thought maybe it was just another book describing about how one and her family had suffered during the Khmer Rouge just like the rest. But no. Hell no! I was dead wrong.

This story from a 5-year-old girl's perspective can still make wrench my heart despite me already familiar with most of the situations the character was going through since that's what my mom, dad, uncle, aunt, grandparents and other older relatives had gone through as well: losing family members, being constantly hungry, craving for love and sanitation, and being forced to work.

I think the book's well written, mirroring all the small details the girl noticed and felt such as the curiosity and doubt she kept questioning herself and everything around her during the regime, and her dreams/nightmares. The part that made me cry is when the little Loung tried to create scenes in her mind about how things could possibly happen to her dad, mom, brother, bigger and little sisters.

Last but not least, I do agree with the author that the story is not just her story. It's also a story for everyone who had suffered under the Khmer Rouge regime.

2/6/08
Great book. This is the first book I've read by Loung Ung and so far I'm not a big fan of her writing style (it seems predictable and borrowed). But.. the book is excellent, mostly because it is a five-year-old's perspective on living and dying during Pol Pot's cleansing project in Cambodia. It's an interesting perspective because it is based on a mix of innocence, confusion, blind trust, fear, an innate need for self-preservation and the amazing ability that children have to sense and understand the world around them. It's probably one of the most difficult books I have ever read - I had to put it down several times because it was just too painful to read at times. As good as this book is, it is just as emotionally exhausting. I heard about the book while traveling through Vietnam recently, and ended up picking it up just outside of Angkor Thom in Cambodia a few weeks ago. In the book the author talks about some of her good memories from some of the places I visited, in particular Angkor Thom, so that was neat.

3/10/08
Just read this book again...even better the second time around.

This is a very difficult book to read. It is not eloquently written, but how do you write about the Khmer Rouge and what they did to the Cambodian people April 1975-1980 eloquently? One traumatic event after the other, from the first to the last page. Reading it I simply wanted to get to the end. I am not about to questions any of that written here……. I do think this book should be read. How do you rate a book like this?

What follows is an update that I wrote yesterday after completing half of the book. Apparently my common sense was not working and no alarm bells were ringing that all was not what it seems. That this was not all nonfiction but alas a lot of fiction and even lies! But one day later I know better.

t17 feb 2016 (51%)
I'm 51% done with First They Killed My: and I must say it is very well written which i did not expect. The author managed to pull me in and that is what is my desire. To be pulled in. ;) — 23 hours, 40 min ago

Today february 18 2016:

Nearly finished with First they killed my Father. Not sure how to rate this because at first I really liked it but then my common sense started to tell me this is fiction,alarm bells were going off even though I wanted to just enjoy the story but as a true crime reader I hate it when something is presented as non fiction while it is fiction because the things they write about they could not have possibly known so they just made things up.

Now that is the case in this book and it is sad in a way that this book that is so overly dramatic and sensationalised and apparently even has lies in it is the one that is doing so well.
There was no need for her to pretend she knew how all her siblings died and writing about it in detail . The book would have been good enough without all the dramatisation.  She told us how her sister died in exact details, what she felt and did the same to the others later telling us she has a gift. I have to search the book for how she called it. Found it...extrasensory perception.

What happened was so terrible so cruel so nasty there was no need to make it even worse.

Anyway it started to annoy me so this morning I looked up the 1 star reviews on amazon and most were from Cambodians who were appalled that there were so many lies in this book. More than I even realised.

That being said I was reading a bit this morning and I suddenly felt a tear rolling on my cheek. I really wondered how did that tear come up but then more followed and I really wondered what had made me cry and i checked what I had read last.

The line about her mum being killed just 2 months before it all ended was so sad.

I have no clue what rating to give this book. If you read it and just accept everything as a truth I am sure you can give this a 5 star rating.

Now I have been searching to get a bit more information about this book. She was interviewed apparently about all the misinformation and she said she knew some things were wrong but did not want to change it because those were the views she had as a child.
I can understand that although I do wonder how can she remember so much and in detail.

Now I can't give this book a bad rating either because even though she adds how her family was killed (and do we not all fantasize how it happened, she doesn't say that is exactly what happened.

Well I am going to finish the last 50 pages or so. This book has rattled me that is obvious. :)

Update Feb 21 2016. She did make me want to read more so now I am reading book 2. (which is also so full of detail that nobody would be able to remember 20 years later but hey I am enjoying it so I will add it to my fiction shelves as well. ;)

I’m teaching this powerful memoir in my advanced creative nonfiction workshop, and I’m reminded once again of how crucial it is to read and listen to stories from every corner of the globe. The perspective is of the author from 1975 until 1978, that is the time she was five years old and the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot took over Cambodia, and when the genocide that killed two million Cambodians finally came to an end. I cannot recommend this book enough.

A terrifying story about a family trying to survive through the Cambodian Civil War. The book depicts the horrors of that time so vividly, that you literally painstakingly live the story and shudder from all the atrocities that were taking place during so many years.

After reading this book, the first urge was to visit Cambodia and learn more about its history and politics. This must say a LOT about a book.

Totally recommended.

This is an emotionally compelling memoir. Loung Ung recounts Pol Pot's seizure of power in Cambodia - well she tells her story, the experiences of a young girl, daughter of an upper middle class military policeman, and her family as they try to stay together and pass as peasants to survive the Khmer Rouge cleansing process. The story is told in the voice of a child which makes it especially powerful. While I only gave it two stars I'd still recommend it to most people. The reasons I didn't rate it higher: it was written long after Loung Ung had escaped from Cambodia so I am sceptical of many of the details regarding conversations and other less-significant incidents. No doubt many of these traumatic experiences are etched in her mind, but as with all memoirs one should recognize that the passage of time effects memory and recollection. Not a deal breaker for me though because the important parts of this book deal with her feelings and emotions which I'm sure she accurately recalls regardless of the details. Another petty criticism is that since it's told in the voice of a child, the reader doesn't get the broader picture - why was Pol Pot able to sieze power, how did Southeast Asia react, who was involved in organized opposition if there was any? But that's just me being lazy and not wanting to do background reading on my own.

A terrible history of war crimes & ideology gone mad

Incredible.

Popsugar Challenge 2020 - A book set in a country beginning with C

This is an own voices account of the Pol Pot regime, the regime that killed two million Cambodians, a quarter of the country's population and its a hard read. It felt physically exhausting to tell you the truth.

I visited Cambodia in 2018 and did not meet a single Cambodian who did not lose their parents in this genocide. I stood in the killing fields and saw the clothing of those murdered start to penetrate the soil surface as with each rainy season that passes, the mass graves become more exposed. You can smell the death in the air.

Whether you've been or not this is a brutal read, it raw and its beyond distressing.

Angelina Jolie and her adopted son Maddox (a Cambodian) have produced a Netflix original film based on this book under the same name which is also well worth watching.

I'm not here to rate peoples lives, an auto five star from me.

Excellent memoir from a horrific period of time in Cambodia. Angelina Jolie made this into a movie.