In the Shadow of the Banyan

Feb 01, 2013 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Julie by: Jill

Shelves: war-conflict, south-asia-theme-setting, read-2013

To render historical, political fiction in the voice and through the eyes of a young child, a writer sets herself a tremendous challenge and takes on great risk. Children are naturally fanciful, unreliable creatures - not dishonest, but only able to offer the truth as their immature brains can grasp and explain it. When the story is revealed as the author's own, the reader feels compelled to accept a fictionalized account as mere degrees of separation from the truth.

What Vaddey Ratner has accom...more To render historical, political fiction in the voice and through the eyes of a young child, a writer sets herself a tremendous challenge and takes on great risk. Children are naturally fanciful, unreliable creatures - not dishonest, but only able to offer the truth as their immature brains can grasp and explain it. When the story is revealed as the author's own, the reader feels compelled to accept a fictionalized account as mere degrees of separation from the truth.

What Vaddey Ratner has accomplished with her striking and lovely In the Shadow of the Banyan is a tone poem. Its outline is based on the atrocious Khmer Rouge regime, but the narrative floats on themes of family, mythology and the deadly beauty of the author's homeland. The nanny of the story's narrator, Raami - the author's mirror character - says it best when she declares that stories “are like footpaths of the gods. They lead us back and forth across time and space and connect us to the entire universe.”

In the Shadow of the Banyan is a story that connects us to Cambodia's recent past and the genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge during the late 1970's. Because we are seeing the events unfold through the eyes and within the heart of a seven-year old girl, we are twisted and wrenched by a child's vulnerability and hope but spared the most gruesome details of torture and obliteration. In many ways this is a grace, for it allows us to focus on the child's small world of her privileged family and their servants without being overwhelmed by the incomprehensible horror of Cambodia's civil war. But it also renders some characters shadowy and incomplete and glosses over context that would have helped create a firmer narrative.

Although the book jacket declares the novel covers the four years of the Khmer Rouge regime, the action is heavily concentrated on the first days and weeks after the capture and exile of Raami's family. The first half of the book is a near moment-by-moment recount of the first weeks after the Khmer Rouge declares a new state on April 17, 1975. The second half chronicles the splitting apart of Raami's family as one relative after another is slaughtered outright or dies as a result of their enslavement. There is a reference to the second anniversary of the Revolution and to Raami's ninth birthday. The book's final pages mention the war between Vietnam and Cambodia and the retreating Khmer Rouge armies, so it must end in the early weeks or months of 1979. This is significant to me because I feel the details invested in the early parts are tedious at times, whereas the shifts of time and events in the latter third of the novel, as Raami ages and suffers and grows as a refugee in her own homeland, are given broad, vague brushstrokes.

Ultimately, however, it is a book I feel honored to have read. Ratner's language is lyrical and stirring; she creates gorgeous and vivid portrait of Cambodia, filling the reader with longing to see, hear, taste, and touch a vibrant, complex land. It offers a unique perspective into a history and culture little or mis-understood in the West and I hope other readers have the same reaction as I - of wanting to know more, to read more, to hear other survivors' stories - in an effort to understand and to humanize the newspaper headlines.

My husband, as a teacher of high school history and social studies, received a Fulbright grant and spent several weeks in Southeast Asia a few years ago. Cambodia and Vietnam, in equal measure but for different reasons, touched him to his core. Vietnam's recent history he was, of course, more familiar; U.S. history books treat Cambodia's chaos as a post-script to the "American" War (as the Vietnam War is referred to in Southeast Asia). When you begin to fully grasp a reality that is little mentioned in our own history books, it's a horrible slap in the face - a sensation of guilt and anger that in your ignorance, you are somehow complicit. It is through the gift of authors such as Vaddey Ratner that these stories are told so we all can wake up and learn.

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Jul 17, 2012 Kara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, cambodia, depressing, for-review, historical, i-cried, literary, memoir, net-galley, so-glad-it-s-over, suicide

Writing this review is going to be difficult. Trying to be objective on this one is going to be tough. This was probably the hardest book I have EVER had to read. And I have read about some difficult subjects. But I've always held an interest in the Khmer Rouge and the history and atrocities committed. I can't say that I learned more than I didn't already know, but this book was presented as a blend of memoir and fiction, rather than reading a dry webpage or nonfiction presentation. It brought a...more
Writing this review is going to be difficult. Trying to be objective on this one is going to be tough. This was probably the hardest book I have EVER had to read. And I have read about some difficult subjects. But I've always held an interest in the Khmer Rouge and the history and atrocities committed. I can't say that I learned more than I didn't already know, but this book was presented as a blend of memoir and fiction, rather than reading a dry webpage or nonfiction presentation. It brought a different experience to all that I already know. Still...I cried so many times and on several occasions found myself in such a state of nausea that I almost vomited. It's the truth and I'm being honest. This was a hard f*cking book to read. It was not fun. I did not find it entertaining. And yet, it was really, REALLY good. I know many people like to read books about the tough stuff, but I've realized that there is a limit to how much I can take and I will be cognizant of that in the future. But I need to review this the best that I can. Here is what I can say:

In the Shadow of the Banyan was an extremely well-written book. It was a little dry in places which is why the book did not receive 5 stars from me. But I did really enjoy the voice of Raami and I found myself caring for her more than I do most characters. Could it have been because of her terrible circumstances? Sure. But it was also because she was just really well-developed. This girl felt utterly real. The things that happened to her and her family were absolutely heartbreaking. There are many things that make me lose faith in humanity, but none so much as the actions of the Khmer Rouge soldiers in this book.

Some of the other characters were a little flat. And I sometimes felt that I was being told a story and a sequence of events and I didn't get as involved in the side characters as I could have. That was a shame. Because as devastated as I was, it could have been even more powerful with a little tweaking. Still a fantastic book--beautiful in tone, and I have several quotes that I marked that I want to share with you.

Something jumped in front of us. A silver-tailed fish. It flashed like a knife in the air and then disappeared again beneath the surface. Papa's gaze followed the ripples shimmying in the water, and for a moment he looked as if he would jump into the pond and follow the fish. He often looked like this--like he wanted to escape but know he couldn't. "The guard didn't know better, you see. He thought he was honoring me by beating a boy--a worthless street urchin, in his eyes--who dared to curse me, defile my noble name."

And:

In the morning, I found Mama outside stirring a pot of boiled lotus seeds over the cooking fire. The pot of rainwater was nearby. I walked to it, scooped some out with my hands, and drank, my parched throat remedied. She handed me a bowl of the lotus seeds. At first she was silent, wouldn't even look at me. Then, as I sat down to eat, she said, "There was a mother..." Her voice was small, like the rustle of a leaf in an immense forest. "She loved her daughter so much that she'd give the child whatever the girl desired. One night while they were playing in the garden, the little daughter saw the full moon and wanted it. The mother tried to explain that the moon belongs up there. You can't just pluck it from the sky like you would a fruit from a tree. But like any small child, the girl didn't understand the moon isn't something you possess. She cried and cried. So what could the mother do but give her daughter the moon? She brought a bucket of water, and pointing to the reflection, said, 'Here's your moon, my love.' The little girl, delighted, plunged her arms into the bucket, and for hours she played with her moon, watching it dance and swirl."

I couldn't decide which quote was my favorite, so I decided to use both. One is from Raami's father, and the other is from her mother. Both amazing characters, by the way. I chose two quotes that didn't reveal spoilers because this is one of the books where I don't want to ruin the story by giving you bits and pieces out of context. You just need to read it. This is definitely not a book that I would recommend for everyone, however. If you cannot handle depressing and horrific subjects, pass on this one.

The one point that I want to sink in is that this is a book that makes you feel. And hurt. And if you are an emotional person, it will likely make you physically ill. I don't think I could ever read it again. It hurts me to think about. How could humanity do the things that they did? It makes me hate the world, and especially humans. What an ugly, UGLY world we live in. But at the same time, I fell in love with a few of the characters. Especially Raami's father. And her uncle. And I cannot explain in words how much this book emotionally impacted me. That was the point though. If you think this is something you would like based on the writing and the synopsis, I would read it. But prepare yourself. You need kleenex, a blanket, and someone to hug; preferably a dog that's really cuddly.(less)

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Dec 31, 2012 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I visited Siem Reap as part of a 3 week trip to Southeast Asia in April 2012. I found the people of Siem Reap to be kind, warm, friendly and incredibly interested in America. When we would tell them we are from the DC area (Potomac MD) they wanted to know more. The country is rebuilding at break neck pace, but in its.midst are children who don't go to school and are put to work to help the family earn money. My daughter paid what they considered to be a "hefty fine" at the border because she did...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: biography, contemporary, fiction, historical-fiction, literary-fiction, memoir, novels, young-adult, 2012-around-the-world

Ratner tells us in her author's note that "Raami's story is in essence my own." This is a novel about love and survival and the power of stories. Raami is just seven-years-old when the novel begins, when the Khmer Rouge comes to power. The murderous regime over the course of four years was responsible for as many as two million deaths, wiping out about a third of the Cambodian population in their attempts to establish a communist utopia.

The story is described in blurbs as "lyrical." I thought a...more

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Mar 04, 2013 bbbbbbrr rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is interesting and somewhat informative as a semi-autobiographical narrative of living through the khmer-rouge takeover of Cambodia in the 70's. As a novel it doesn't fare so well. I found myself skimming most chapters to extract an ok story from a swamp of flowery prose. The content-to-fluff ratio is about 1:3 most of the time, with occasional stretches of more focused story telling. It's not bad fluff as the stuff goes, and if it's your kind of thing then it may heighten your appreciation...more

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Oct 25, 2012 Martha rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: debut-novels

This novel was slow going for me. This was a story the author admits is pretty much her own, of a childhood derailed and torn apart by the Revolution in Cambodia in the 1970s. As a sheltered and privileged child, she and her family are particularly vulnerable and very much unaware of what is brewing around them as they are evacuated from Phnom Penh and sent off to become farm laborers. Maybe it's just that she writes it a little too carefully, hanging on to people and moments a beat too long, f...more

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Jun 13, 2012 Eileen Granfors rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: foreign-countries, families, friendship, historical-fiction, history, war, women, the-arts

A tragic tale of the Cambodian diaspora, told with grace.

This seems to be my summer to read about the horrors of revolutionaries and genocide.

"In the Shadow of the Banyan," which I won as a Goodreads giveaway, tells the story of one family's "re-education" and relocation when Cambodia fell to the Khmer Rouge.

The book is narrated by Vatti, the daughter of a prince. Because of their high status, they fear the most from the Revolutionary army.

Ratner takes us from the chaos of the emptying of Phnom...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Jennifer Rayment rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Good Stuff

Heartbreaking - this story will haunt you long after you have read it
The prose is so exquisite and beautifully written, such talent for first time author
It is hard for me to express how spectacular this book is, everything I want to say sounds trite when compared to the beauty of the authors words and the horror she lived through
Raami is such a strong girl, one to be admired for her strength of character and her ability to transcend the horrific tragedy she lived through and to...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Emily Crowe rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So basically, I'm reading genocide with a genocide chaser! I recently finished Running the Rift, which is a story of the Rwanda genocide, and now I'm about to immerse myself in this one, which is a story of the Khmer Rouge. (About which I know next-to-nothing, so in addition to a novel, I'll be getting a history lesson.)

...Many months later, I finally finish the book. Not because it wasn't good enough to finish quickly, but because lots of RL situations reared their ugly heads and I put it down...more

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May 14, 2013 Jen0426 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Siem Reap in Cambodia is one of my favorite places in Southeast Asia. The Khmer ruins in Cambodia are amazing and probably the best in the world. But, there is a heaviness to Cambodia. I could feel the ghosts.....ghosts of the past, ghosts of the dead, I am not sure. Maybe I was feeling the sadness/grief of the Cambodian people as most of them had lost family members at the hand of the Khmer Rouge. Possibly (probably) it was an internal disbelief and horror that such atrocities occurred. The onl...more

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May 10, 2013 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In preparation for our trip to Cambodia and the Killing Fields near Phnom Penh I read three books: In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner, First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung, and When Glass Floats by Chanrithy Him. Each of the three books was about a young girl who, with their families, suffered under the Khmer Rouge communist regime and their genocide campaign.

The Khmer Rouge took control of Phnom Penh, its last obstacle to ruling all of Cambodia, on April 17th, 1975. They turned t...more In preparation for our trip to Cambodia and the Killing Fields near Phnom Penh I read three books: In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner, First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung, and When Glass Floats by Chanrithy Him. Each of the three books was about a young girl who, with their families, suffered under the Khmer Rouge communist regime and their genocide campaign.

The Khmer Rouge took control of Phnom Penh, its last obstacle to ruling all of Cambodia, on April 17th, 1975. They turned the cities into ghost towns, evacuating or killing the city dwellers and forcing their populations into the countryside. They nullified the monetary system, making them all destitute. And systematically executed all those in the former government and military, the teachers, the doctors, the religious leaders, and any they viewed as intellectuals...sometimes just because they wore glasses. All this was done to satisfy Pol Pot's dream of turning Cambodia into an agrarian state isolated from Western influence. But, this was just the beginning of the Khmer Rouge atrocities. When the country was liberated from the regime in January of 1979, an estimated 2 million Cambodians had suffered death under the regime. Almost an entire nation was orphaned.

Both First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung and When Glass Floats by Chanrithy Him are autobiographical. In the Shadow of the Banyan was such a different reading experience from the other two because it was a novel steeped in poetic prose. The protagonist, Raami, is still based on the author and Raami's struggles mirror the struggles of Ratner but the novel format allowed Ratner to tell her story in a much different voice.

"Words, you see," he said, looking at me again, "allow us to make permanent what is essentially transient. Turn a world filled with injustice and hurt into a place that is beautiful and lyrical. Even if only on paper." (pg 106)

"I told you stories to give you wings, Raami, so that you would never be trapped by anything - your name, your title, the limits of your body, this world's suffering." (pg 134)

If you are only going to read one of the three, I'd honestly read First They Killed My Father, but if you are going to read two or all three, I'd recommend reading this novel first. It is filled with Cambodian tradition and stories that will give you a sense of the spirit of this people before humanity was taken from them. Through this coming of age story, Raami was able to see the violence and suffering around her without losing her ability to find the words that would give her wings. (less)

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Apr 29, 2013 Booknblues rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: asia, war, cambodia

31. In the Shadow of the Banyan
By Vaddey Ratner
5 stars
pp.322

Question Mark and the Mysterians sang 99 Tears and Barbra Streisand “Cry Me a River”, I don’t know about the number for sure and I don’t know if it will make a river but I do know while reading In the Shadow of the Banyan any person who is not heavily anesthetized will cry buckets of tears. Years ago I had read The Killing Fields as well as an illustrated National Geographic article about the Khmer Rouge, so I was prepared for somethin...more 31. In the Shadow of the Banyan
By Vaddey Ratner
5 stars
pp.322

Question Mark and the Mysterians sang 99 Tears and Barbra Streisand “Cry Me a River”, I don’t know about the number for sure and I don’t know if it will make a river but I do know while reading In the Shadow of the Banyan any person who is not heavily anesthetized will cry buckets of tears. Years ago I had read The Killing Fields as well as an illustrated National Geographic article about the Khmer Rouge, so I was prepared for something harrowing.

In the Shadow of the Banyan Tree is a novelization of Vaddey Ratners early years and her and her families experience during the years when The Organization or known in the west as the Khmer Rouge were in power. We know that millions died during their reign but seeing it through the eyes of a child is a powerful image. Ratner wanted to highlight the human desire for survival, but I was so impressed with the way she did it which showed such a tremendous amount of grace dignity and love.

Vaddey’s family was royalty, her father was a poet and a prince. He longed for a more democratic society. His thoughts and poetry were profound and he almost existed on another plain but he wanted to impart himself and his great love of his country and his culture to his young daughter, who had suffered from polio in her early years.

In the beginning of the story we are imbued with the sense of love, closeness and grace which existed in the young Raami’s household and which she was cocooned in:
Poetry is like that , Papa said. It can move to you in an intake of breath, vanish again in the blink of an eye, and first all you have is
A line weaving through your mine
Like the tail of a childs kite
Unfettered by reason or rhyme.
Then , he said , comes the rest--the kite, the story itself. A complete entity...
The branches of the banyan tree in the middle of the courtyard stirred and the leaves danced. some of the branches were so long they reached all the way to the balcony, the shadow of their leaves covering my body like patches of silk. I twirled, arms stretched out mumbling an Skinny One, Plump One..."incantation to myself call forth the tevodas, “

And then suddenly the Khmer Rouge enters Phnom Penh and the whole population of the city is forced to leave.

Ratner’s telling of her story is gifted. The reader is left with the sense a sense of the deep family identity, while the reader senses how precarious her families position is as both royalty, wealthy and intellectual, one also feels how cocoon the children are in their love and caring and careful guidance. What follows is a story both beautiful and horrific beyond belief.(less)

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Apr 07, 2013 Joan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ernest Hemingway wrote, in A Farewell to Arms, "The world breaks everyone, then some become strong in the broken places." Ratner's moving novel tells the story of a 7 year old Cambodian girl, Raami, whose world is broken when the Khmer Rouge take control of her country in the 1970s. As I read this novel, I said to myself, "The author MUST have lived through this. The vivid and detailed descriptions of what Raami and her family endured in what have come to be known as the 'killing fields' could n...more Ernest Hemingway wrote, in A Farewell to Arms, "The world breaks everyone, then some become strong in the broken places." Ratner's moving novel tells the story of a 7 year old Cambodian girl, Raami, whose world is broken when the Khmer Rouge take control of her country in the 1970s. As I read this novel, I said to myself, "The author MUST have lived through this. The vivid and detailed descriptions of what Raami and her family endured in what have come to be known as the 'killing fields' could not be the product of research and creativity, alone." When I reached the Author's Note at the end, I discovered that, yes, Ms Ratner's novel is semi-autobiographical. So yes, she did survive.

Ratner was inspired to write about the genocide in her country when she read Elie Wiesel's Night while in high school in the U.S. The story is told in the voice of the little girl, Raami, who walked with a limp due to having had polio. Raami and her family were ordered to leave their home, along with everyone else in Phnom Penh, and were transported to the countryside. This massive uprooting of the urban population was a major component of Khmer Rouge ideology, which was masterminded by members of the intellectual class, and carried out by thousands of uneducated teenage soldiers, recruited from the peasant class. Families were broken apart in an attempt to insure greater loyalty to the Revolution and the "Organization." The people were subjected to forced labor, starvation, horrific living and working conditions, and a systematic campaign of intimidation, brutality and murder.

Ratner is one who "became strong in the broken places." This book is valuable not only because it educates us about what happened in Cambodia, but because it is a testament to humanity amid inhumanity. We come to understand how the bonds of family, the spiritual strength Raami learns from the poetry and stories told to her by her father, along with the dogged determination of her mother, sustain her through unimaginable suffering and loss. When a book drags you through hell, lifts your heart to heaven, brings tears of pain and joy to your eyes, and connects you to the very essence of what it means to be human, it is a VERY good read!! Thank you, Ms Ratner, for sharing this incredible journey with your readers!(less)

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Mar 02, 2013 loretta rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In 1975, when my own daughter was 7 years old, the Khmer Rouge overthrew the government of Cambodia and the life of 7 year old Raami was forever changed.

'In the Shadow of the Banyan' is an exquisitely written book about that dark time in history. From 1975-1979, the country's people endured incomprehensible horror and systematic genocide. 1975 is no longer- the revolutionaries have declared it Year Zero.

When Raami and her family are ousted from their home, they begin the trek which will take th...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Sherie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of the meanings of the word revolution is for an object to go completely around another, thus returning to where it began. Or as some would say, "Back to square one." This book is an example of revolutionaries who would take apart what they considered a corrupt regime and replace it with another equally as rife with evil and corruption.
This story is told from the perspective of a child and the author admits that it is her story. The Kymer Rouge seeks to rid itself of the Vietnamese "red" and...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Judith rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What I really like about this book is that the author has created a 7-year old narrator who sounds like a 7 year old, not a 50 year old pretending to see the world through a child's eyes. At the same time, we are able to follow the action of the story and understand the events as they occur. It is a rare talent and greatly appreciated by the reader.

Raami, the fictional 7 year old Vietnamese girl who narrates the story is based on the real life memories of the author who was actually 5 years old...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Kitty rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Story telling is a sacred art we often associate with myths and passing on cultural knowledge and lessons. Here, the story which takes place during the Cambodian genocide of the 1970's, starts with the family of a Prince-Poet, whose very name means "life-possessing". Told through the eyes of his five-year old daughter, the beauty of age-old traditions coupled with the father’s poetry, colors the beginning chapters. You learn about the tevoda or spirits, and that “how you carry yourself is a form...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Cleo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-books, review-copy

In the Shadow of the Banyan is set between the years of 1975-1979 in Cambodia, when the Khmer Rouge regime took power, as "Revolutionaries" who would change the country for good. Instead, they killed about two million people and probably ruined the whole country. In the Shadow of the Banyan is about seven-year old Raami, one of the many inhabitants of Phnom Penh who is taken out of the city and into the countryside, with her mother, father, and younger sister. Gradually, only herself and one of...more In the Shadow of the Banyan is set between the years of 1975-1979 in Cambodia, when the Khmer Rouge regime took power, as "Revolutionaries" who would change the country for good. Instead, they killed about two million people and probably ruined the whole country. In the Shadow of the Banyan is about seven-year old Raami, one of the many inhabitants of Phnom Penh who is taken out of the city and into the countryside, with her mother, father, and younger sister. Gradually, only herself and one of her family members are left, as the others are taken by the "Organization" or by malaria. Raami takes courage and holds on to who she is by remembering the stories that her father told her, while meanwhile the Khmer Rouge discourages people from remembering the past. The Khmer Rouge are obviously Communists, and this is one of the many instances in which Communism went terribly wrong, and resulted in disaster. Throughout the book, the Khmer Rouge tortures and shifts people around indiscriminately, but also, in trying to boost rice production, they cause a famine. Basically, the bureaucrats are trying to tell the rice farmers how to farm, when they obviously have no idea how to do it.

The book itself was really moving; it focused on one (royal) family's exile, but also the atrocities committed against everyone. Raami is only seven years old when it starts, and her childhood is left behind forever. Just like in Journey Into the Whirlwind (a memoir) or 1984, a faceless government (Big Brother, The Organization), controls people's lives, and no one knows who or what it is. I understand the Communist ideal of everyone being equal, but what's the point of that when everyone has absolutely nothing: no food, poor shelter, and unsanitary conditions? And I'm sure there were some rich leaders sitting in giant mansions feasting themselves in the capital. I'm also rather ashamed that the developed countries like the US or the United Kingdom didn't do much (well, perhaps they did, but not enough to affect the people for four long years.)

I seem to be focusing more on the issue in general (incidentally, I had never heard of it before I read this book), but really, I think In the Shadow of the Banyan was probably a very accurate portrayal, even though it is fiction. The author herself was five years old in 1975, when the Khmer Rouge took power. I received this one from Simon & Schuster and really enjoyed it, though it could be practically heartbreaking at times.

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Dec 08, 2012 Marcy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of the best novels I have read in a long time! It is heartbreaking and beautifully written by the author, Vaddey Ratner, whose own story is illuminated. Raami had been struck as a baby with polio. She limped and wore a brace. She saw the world through her father's eyes. His stories and his poems gave Raami hope for the future, as a "cripple," and amidst the destruction and violence of the Civil War of Cambodia that ripped Raami's entire family from their home and led them, along with...more

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Nov 26, 2012 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cambodia, war, farming, family, civil-war, refugee

This is the story of young Raami, a 7-year-old girl, living in Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia. Her father is a royal prince, and the family is accustomied to luxury and ease. When civil war breaks out, the family is forced to flee their home and head towards the country. Rebel soldiers order them to leave all of their belongings and say goodbye to life as they know it. The "organization" needs them to work together to make the country strong. As the family is separated, Raami struggles with...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Winna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: general-fiction, history, mellow-books

I read this while the electricity was out this afternoon. I've heard glowing reviews about this one, and it was nominated best fiction in the Goodreads Choice Awards 2012 long list, but I've seen glimpses of the book a while ago before that and bought it immediately.

I love the orange cover, although the one in my possession had a boring cover of a (banyan) tree with branches, red leaves and a green background.

The story is a semi-autobiographical account of the author's own experiences as a child...more I read this while the electricity was out this afternoon. I've heard glowing reviews about this one, and it was nominated best fiction in the Goodreads Choice Awards 2012 long list, but I've seen glimpses of the book a while ago before that and bought it immediately.

I love the orange cover, although the one in my possession had a boring cover of a (banyan) tree with branches, red leaves and a green background.

The story is a semi-autobiographical account of the author's own experiences as a child. I am not sure which parts of the story are true and which are fictional, but that's the best part about fiction, it's the author's little secret.

As a Cambodian, Raami and her family members were forced out of their homes by Khmer Rouge soldiers, members of the revolutionary seeking chaos. By mistake and naivette, her mistake caused her father to be taken away from them, and their identity threatened their safety. One by one her family members perished and were separated, until it was just Raami and her grief-stricken mother doing the best to provide for them and protect themselves.

It is through Raami's eyes that we see everything. Through her young perspective that we interpret things, through her eavesdroppings that we listen to hushed conversations, through her feelings that we share her pain and sorrows. I am actually glad that I get glimpses of people around Raami through her narration - it makes everything much more childlike and innocent, therefore a little easier to bear (although some parts are really gruesome and hard to go through, nevertheless).

I love the characters, they are so vivid and alive. I love her parents best - the lovely Aana (Mama) and the calm, serene Papa. I love their chemistry, their family dynamics, their exchanged words - those said and even unsaid. I love Raami's penchant for fairy tales, as I am also a big fan of stories and myths. I love how the fairy tales implicate what's in Raami's life, woven into them and how Mama explains why she never told Raami any stories when she was a child (because she wanted to provide a reality for her, instead of lovely stories to believe in).

It is sad, and it is bittersweet. I have tears on my eyes when I read some difficult chapters, and in the end it is Raami's spirits that take her to where she is, and what she decides to become.

When I read it, I can't help but be reminded of Between Shades of Grey, which I loved. They cannot be compared - the stories, the friendships, the battles are different, but the essence is similar. It is about the courage and hope one finds when everything else is stripped bare. It is about finding strength even when all is lost.

A truly inspirational story with beautiful prose and Cambodian mythological theme that blends nicely into the story.(less)

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Oct 24, 2012 Noralo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Tear City. I cried more in this book than perhaps any other book I've ever read. It was really tough, but it felt important to plough through.

The narrator bothered me for a lot of the book; I would rather have heard the adult viewpoint looking back than the reimagined child viewpoint. This was a strange mixture of complex vocabulary and "mama" and "papa" and overly simplistic descriptions of happier times. By the end, I appreciated that the narrator was somewhat hardened, but I think it could ha...more

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Oct 13, 2012 Beth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's not often that a book lives up to it's pre-publication hype. It's even less often that a book not only lives up to the hype, but that it moves me so much that I give it 5 stars. "In the Shadow of the Banyan" is that rare kind of story. This is a story that is mind-numbingly horrifying, and yet shows a rare kind of grace and beauty within the horror.

This is the story of Raami, though it is as much the story of Vaddey Ratner, the author. Raami is seven when her entire world is upended in the...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Based on the author's experience as a child in Cambodia during the horrific years between 1975 and 1978 when the Khmer Rouge terrorized the country, creating the infamous "killing fields"', this is an amazingly lyrical piece of writing. What could have been, in the hands of a different writer, a litany of torture and death, is instead a
beautiful, heartbreaking story of love, self-sacrifice, and survival.
This work prompted me to think, again, about an oft-discussed topic in recent years: what is...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Shareen Wornson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was an EXCELLENT book! It is hard to describe why this book is so compelling, but I have to say that I learned a lot! When I describe the book to others it sounds depressing, but it is honestly a book of hope - and gave me a different perspective on my own life. It never ceases to amaze me the people who have been through the most harrowing experiences remaining intact, optimistic, and seemingly grateful for life in spite of the incredible trials they have endured. Like Elie Wiesel and Corr...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Sharon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"To keep you is no gain, to kill you is no loss." That was the dictum of the Khmer Rouge, a gorilla group who, on April 17, 1975, stormed into Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh and declared a new government. This Revolution meant a whole new way of life for the country. The intellectual class became the 'enemy' as the Khmer Rouge tried to reincarnate them from city people to peasants. It is estimated that between one and two million people died before the regime was finally overthrown by the Viet...more

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Sep 08, 2012 Jo at Jaffareadstoo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Raami is a seven year old when the civil war which has overwhelmed the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, infiltrates into her safe family life, and her aristocratic world falls apart. As her family struggle to stay together in a world gone mad, Raami is forced to witness to some of the worst atrocities and hardship. For the most part Raami’s narrative is quite unemotional, which somehow makes the violence and slaughter even harder to bear, and yet there is an undeniable lyricism as she...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Vibina Venugopal rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: tour

This was one of the books I had high hope on for this year...Born to Neak Ang Mechas , prince of Cambodia Raami is a princess in every way...A royal life with all its luxury awaits her until Khmer Rouge twists the destiny of many lives in her country...Raami just flew from the book and stayed with me for a long time..From a life filled with priviledge and happiness, her life is shattered beyond she can recognise..Infamous Khmer Rouge's tyranny leaves Raami no where to go, nowhere to run..It leav...more This was one of the books I had high hope on for this year...Born to Neak Ang Mechas , prince of Cambodia Raami is a princess in every way...A royal life with all its luxury awaits her until Khmer Rouge twists the destiny of many lives in her country...Raami just flew from the book and stayed with me for a long time..From a life filled with priviledge and happiness, her life is shattered beyond she can recognise..Infamous Khmer Rouge's tyranny leaves Raami no where to go, nowhere to run..It leaves her family homeless ., her cousins and friends are all torn apart...Living in village working in field for 'the organization' she striken by the grief of losing her loved ones, with no food and laborious work to go by....The agricultural reform that was introduced by Rouge's dictatorship forced everyone to work in field which resulted in famine and death in a larger scale..All descriptions are short and crisp giving the reader the apt picture in a comprehensive flow..Still the tyranny doesn't grab all the attention in the book, It is Raami and her life that is marvelously done...She is forced to live in a countryside along many other villagers and her father is sent away for re-education...Like Hitler's concentration camps, 're-education', 'reorganization' also strikes a chord...Raami's innocence has been marvelously portrayed through various incidents, like Raami inability understand why all of a sudden her cousins are disappearing, why her loving father is unable to live with her, and for all this she considers herself to be the reason...Genocide has been been hauntingly portrayed..The loveliness of Cambodian myths are amazingly written...Love and affection becomes Raami's lifeline, through all these distressing period..The family is kind to everything around even at the face of cruelty....Ratner's language is simple and elegant...The pages just fly as the reading pace sprintes.... This is one of the best books released this year..Its a heart aching tale of girl whose innocence, and childhood is snatched away and she is forced to grow up quickly making adult like decisions.....I would recommend this book to everyone...(less)

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Aug 27, 2012 Cindi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

Review originally posted on my blog : http://utahmomslife.blogspot.com/2012...

In 1975 the Khmer Rouge "The Revolutionaries" took control of the country of Cambodia. Forcing people from their homes and into work camps, over a million people were brutally murdered by the communists. Vaddey Ratner takes her own personal experience as a child during this time and weaves it into a simultaneously beautiful and horrifying novel, In the Shadow of the Banyan.

The narrator, Raami, is a seven year old girl...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Toto66 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The period in which this novel takes place was perhaps the best time of my life. While I was enthralled with beer, fraternities and my hot red mustang people in Cambodia were being slaughtered for something as simple as having an education. This book was heartbreaking, not only by the events that occurred a world away from my little Iowa college campus, but by the fact that we had no idea what the Khmer Rouge was or the atrocities perpetrated by these crazed 'freedom fighters' in search of a Uto...more

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