Blood red

Week 47: First They Killed my Father – Loung Ung
Recommended by: Zoe Matthews

If reading a book such as this is something of a harrowing experience, reviewing it is to some extent impossible. How exactly does one comment, let alone pass judgement, on a first-hand account of genocide? Anyway, that was my task so I will obviously share some thoughts on the matter now.

First of all, this is an important book. Goes without saying really, but an account of such a terrible period of history, the horrors and the hardships faced not just by a girl and her family, but an entire country, is an important record. Perhaps especially for those in the West, as history is largely taught with a self-centred focus. See also current affairs and the disproportionate amount of media attention focused on the recent atrocities in Paris as opposed to those that regularly happen elsewhere, though that's a topic beyond the scope of this blog and my meagre brainpower. That said, I'm sure the same is true in all countries, probably in Cambodia the school system isn't preoccupied with the the Angevin dynasty, the repeal of the Corn Laws, or necessarily anything in between.

I have to say my knowledge of the Cambodian genocide didn't extend to much beyond the existence of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, the fact that a quarter of the population died, and that it was contemporaneous with the Vietnam War, something I suspect rather more people are familiar with, even if they don't know much of the narrative. So anything that can bring attention of such events to more people, the lessons that can be learned, and the need to remember such atrocities can only be a good thing.

There's certainly something in the lack of knowledge of the topic that gives it a greater power to shock. The straightforward narrative, simply and honestly told, works well; there's no dressing up of what happened and nor does there need to be. The hardship and difficulties faced by Loung and her family, split up and forced to work, to starve, to fight, are all here. One of the things that I found surprising was that the people didn't know what was happening much of the time or indeed who was behind it. I guess this seems strange in the global village of 24-hour rolling news and twitterstorms.

It's not a fun book, obviously. And you know certain things are going to take place: Loung survives, her father does not, the barbarism of humanity is often enough to make one weep. Though much like my experience reading If This is a Man and The Truce very nearly a year ago, it's the end of the book, the fallout and the aftermath which are the bits that never get talked about. Battles, war, disasters, murder, genocide all tend to get aired and command attention but all too often little is said about those who survive, who have to somehow find a way to go on. This is dealt with in a follow up, After They Killed my Father, which I suspect will be just as understated in its delivery and will deliver an equally hard blow to the heart and mind.