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Title: The Stones Cry Out: A Cambodian Childhood, 1975-1980 (Vietnam War Era Classics Series) by Molyda Szymusiak, Linda Coverdale, Jane Hamilton-Merritt ISBN: 0-253-33531-0 Publisher: Indiana University Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1999 Format: Library Binding Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.83 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Chilling and moving
Comment: My heart sank lower and lower with each successive chapter. This is certainly not a book one can read while couching comfortably on a sofa. If you are familiar with Cambodian history of the Khmer Rouge regime, this book is indeed a chilling read. But at the same time, one can't help feeling admiration for the author's fortitide in the face of unimaginable hardship and horror.
Rating: 4
Summary: A child's account of her family's struggle to survive.
Comment: One of the earliest (1986) accounts from the survivors of the Pol Pot regime, "The Stones Cry Out" seems to have set the style and standard for another more recent child's-eye perspective on the same era, "When Broken Glass Floats". The minute details of everyday life, not abstract poltical assessments, form the basis for our childhood memories. The author's account carries an unvarnished realism which draws the reader into her film-like image of daily life under threat of starvation and execution. This is probably as close as a reader can come to the truth of events in Cambodia during 1975-79. Oral histories such as "The Stones Cry Out" are perhaps the best way for survivors of human rights abuses to indict the perpetrators. Sadly, tribunals driven by international politics are unlikely to have the same impact as the simple testimony of a victimized child. Highly recommended reading for all those with an interest in human rights, Cambodia, and Southeast Asian culture.
Rating: 5
Summary: A sobering look at man's inhumanity to man.
Comment: Actualy I would rate this 4 and 1/2 stars.
Having read "First they killed my father" by Loung Ung It would be difficult for me to review this book with out comparing it to Loung Ung's memoir.
Both are essentially the same story, a young upper middle class girl living in Phnom Phen in april of 1975 when thier life, family and happiness are torn from them by the khmer rouge.
Many of thier experinces are similar as you might expect (long hours in forced labor, family deaths, witnessing murder ect..) but each has a unique story of thier own.
The writing styles also vary greatly and this is where Loung's "First they killed my Father is the better" book. Molyda tells her story in a very straight foward manner. Her discriptions of murder, torture and rotting corpses are alomost clinical in tone as if she is afaid to visit or express her real feelings at the time (and who could realy blame her) we are giving only hints about her family and life before April 17th 1975 (to be fair this may be in part to spare distant family members still in Cambodia from retalation)
In Loung's book however we are treated to two light hearted chapters discribing her life in Phnom Pehn before April 17th 1975 this gives the reader a chance to feel they realy know her, her brother's, sisters and parents thier strengths and weakness'.
Loung's memoir is far more emotional in tone and feeling leaving the reader almost gasping for air at points.
For those overly squimish that makes "The Stones Cry Out" the better of the two books. It is also the better of the two books if your sole interest is the surrounding history of the killing fields.
But for those just wishing to read a great emotional book "first They killed My father" is the better choice but I would highly recomend both to all.
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Title: When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge by Chanrithy Him ISBN: 0393322106 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: First They Killed My Father : A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung ISBN: 0060931388 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 09 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Children of Cambodia's Killing Fields: Memoirs by Survivors by Dith Pran, Kim Depaul, Ben Kiernan ISBN: 0300078730 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: April, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Voices from S-21: Terror and History in Pol Pot's Secret Prison by David Chandler ISBN: 0520222474 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Brother Number One: A Political Biography by David P. Chandler ISBN: 0813335108 Publisher: Westview Press Pub. Date: February, 1999 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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