I won this book from a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. I was expecting a fictionalized memoir that would be mostly sad and a little uplifting at the end maybe, as these things usually go. The books I've read like this focus on persevering through life's experiences, while illustrating some of the darker sides of humanity.

This book was definitely better than what I expected.

First of all, the story is about the Khmer Rouge revolution in Cambodia (1975-1979), which I have never encountered in fiction ever. Second, the story is told from the perspective of a seven year old (at least when the revolution begins) girl. Because of this, what she thinks of her experiences may seem oversimplified at first, but the more you see the world through her eyes, the more you realize that these thoughts are actually very perceptive of human nature.

The revolution itself is portrayed realistically from the standpoint of both the social elite (the main character, Raami, is descended from royalty) and the peasants. Raami and her family are shuffled around, told their education is worthless, that the Organization will cure all illnesses and afflictions -- but who is The Organization issuing these orders and proclamations? Raami doesn't know for a very long time. Her idea about what it might be (a god? Or a leader of one of the villages?) is entertaining but also not surprising. If I had no idea what communism was, I would probably wonder the same thing based on the way the revolutionary soldiers kept talking about it. The people behind the revolution were usually portrayed as naive and immature, wanting everyone to be the same based on what they knew, and afraid of anything else. A few people (loyal to the Cause) were genuine, but corruption was rampant in every village Raami and her family were taken to, and it is a strong reminder why communism has failed so many times.

With this setting as a backdrop, Raami continues to think of life in relation to childhood stories and lore, told either from her father, her mother, her nurse, or from religion. This gives the whole story a slight fairy-tale flavor, which wanes as Raami matures but is always present in some capacity. She is surprisingly resilient to everything that occurs during the revolution, even when she blames herself for disasters or is starving and overworked. Overall, she is a very inspirational character.

I also want to say that this must have been an extremely difficult story for the author to tell. I realize it is a fictionalized memoir, and I'm not sure how much of it parallels her own experience, but I can only imagine what it would be like to live through this as a child, then live through it again in the re-telling. I'm very glad she was able to write this. I spent a lot of time with this book not only because it was a compelling story, but because the perspective and writing were so well done.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in historical fiction, memoirs, human nature, contemporary fiction, and/or fiction with a little bit of magic/folklore.