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Title: The Gate by Francois Bizot ISBN: 0-375-41293-X Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 04 March, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.55 (11 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Is Bizot Telling the Truth?
Comment: Bizot critizes the Americans for their "irresponsibility, their colossal tactlesness, their inexcusable naivety..." But, at least the Americans did attempt to warn the world about the potential devastation that Communist rule could (and did) deliver to Cambodia. The French (and Bizot) admit, on the other hand, that they "felt that this (the Khmer Rouge takeover) was a popular uprising organized by the Khmer Rouge against American intervention in Cambodia." The French (and Bizot) were overjoyed when the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh and were there to greet them when they arrived. As a consequence, Bizot and the French should take some responsibility for the subsequent massacre of millions of Cambodians. Bizot admits that Douch disclosed the intentions of the Khmer Rouge during his capture. (Later, Douch was in charge of the killing chambers at Tuol Sleng.) Bizot, however, wants us to believe that he was naive and he didn't realize what Douch and the Khmer Rouge would do once they gained control. He even wants us to believe that he was shocked when he learned that Douch killed Lay and Son. Frankly, I just don't believe Bizot's version of these events. I think Bizot (and the French) were completely aware that there was a high probability that the Khmer Rouge would massacre an entire class of people but they just didn't care. It seems to me that they were most interested in was the ability to continue to stay in Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge took power and "guide" them in their revolution. One can easily see a parallel between the French attitude toward the Khmer Rouge and Sadaam Hussein. Finally, Bizot's casual attitude towards the abandonment of Lay and Son, his wife's family, Madame Long Boret's infant and Marie struck me as somewhat bizarre. He never even explains what happens to his wife's family, the infant or Marie. This book seems contrived to rationalize Bizot's insensitivity to other people's suffering. I was actually disgusted by his behavior.
Rating: 3
Summary: Beautiful first half - second half wasn't as engrossing
Comment: The story of Bizot's internment in the camp, and his conversation's with Douch, are incredibly vivid and take one as far as it probably possible to go into the mind of a committed revolutionary, to try to understand how it's possible for a man who is by no means sadistic or insane to commit acts of torture and genocide.
The other reviews are right: this is not the book to read if one wants an overview of the Khmer Rouge years - other than a timeline and some assorted details, you don't get much - but it is valuable for shedding a great deal of light on the ideological foundations of the revolutionaries and the ensuing massacres. I'm not sure why some people seem to praise Le Carre's introduction independent of the book: unless he has some other motive, it seems strange that a man would have the intelligence to write a good introduction but lack the acuity to actually know what a good book is.
Le Carre mentions Bizot remoteness in real life, and this distancing really extended to the memoir as well - although the book is filled with a great deal of conviction and sadness, I always got the feeling that the author was holding his cards close to his chest. His then-wife keeps getting mentioned sporadically, but despite his repeated desire to see her again, we never get to know her or understand her importance to his life: the same for his daughter Helene. We find out more about random holdouts in the embassy than we do about them, which is strange for two people who are supposedly such a huge part of his life. You never really feel like the writer is telling you everything.
The second part of the book is still well-written, but something of a mess. Lacking the twin poles of the narrator and Douch, his captor in the camp, which anchor the first part of the memoir, the book starts getting spread too thin. Hundreds of characters seem to emerge and disappear - too many horrific events take place for any of them to have the necessary impact, which is of course part of the impossibility of doing justice to any mass tragedy.
Rating: 5
Summary: Compelling personal account
Comment: If you're looking for a history book-this is not the one for you.
I greatly enjoyed reading this book and it is nothing more than what it claims to be: a personal account of one man who survives incredible and tragic events.
He offers a rich description of Cambodia, housed in an unique perspective. However, I never got bogged down in description that was too dense.
It is a profound, but accessible read. I picked it up primarily for greedy glimpses of Angkor. Though that's not quite what I got, I was more than satisfied with the journey on which Bizot took me.
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Title: From the Land of Green Ghosts : A Burmese Odyssey by Pascal Khoo Thwe ISBN: 0060505222 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 05 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Cambodia After the Khmer Rouge: Inside the Politics of Nation Building by Evan Gottesman ISBN: 0300089570 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
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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: River of Time by Jon Swain ISBN: 0312169892 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: October, 1997 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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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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