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First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers

Loung Ung

Start date: June 1, 2020

Finish date: June 29, 2020

Discussion: Country and Territories

Why we're reading this: Countries/Territories: Cambodia

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung
[close] Countries/Territories: Cambodia

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung

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Jan 27, 2021 Audrey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir-biography-autobiography, 2021-books

This is a memoir of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia (Kampuchea) from 1975 to 1980. It’s harrowing at times and sad but an important record.

Loung was only 5 when it started. She was the sixth of seven children living comfortably well off in Phnom Phen. Khmer Rouge soldiers forced everyone out of the cities to work in rice fields. The goal was to create a rich socialist, agrarian society (probably the stupidest idea since communism itself). Loung has a clear memory of the time despite her age. She is This is a memoir of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia (Kampuchea) from 1975 to 1980. It’s harrowing at times and sad but an important record.

Loung was only 5 when it started. She was the sixth of seven children living comfortably well off in Phnom Phen. Khmer Rouge soldiers forced everyone out of the cities to work in rice fields. The goal was to create a rich socialist, agrarian society (probably the stupidest idea since communism itself). Loung has a clear memory of the time despite her age. She is one of those people who have a clear and active mind and a vivid imagination. Even at her age, she saw through the propaganda BS.

Loung and her family worked long hours while starving, staying silent because everyone was informing on each other for food. She talks about the emotional toll of living in fear all the time. It led to hate and rage for her and many others. The educated were persecuted, so Loung and her siblings had to act stupid and illiterate. Ethnic cleansing took place. Her mother was half-Chinese, so they tried to darken their skin with dirt. People got sick but since all the doctors and nurses had been killed, hospitals were just where you went to die. I’m surprised as many of the family survived as they did.

Though the Angkar says we are all equal in Democratic Kampuchea, we are not. We live and are treated like slaves. In our garden, the Angkar provides us with seeds and we may plant anything we choose, but everything we grow belongs not to us but to the community. The base people eat the berries and vegetables from the community gardens, but the new people are punished if they do. During the harvest season the crops from the fields are turned over to the village chief, who then rations the food to the fifty families. As always, no matter how plentiful the crops, there is never enough food for the new people. Stealing food is viewed as a heinous crime and, if caught, offenders risk either getting their fingers cut off in the public square or being forced to grow a vegetable garden in an area near identified minefields. ... People who work in these areas do not come back to the village. ... In the new pure agrarian society, there is no place for disabled people.

Among the many crimes that exist in the Khmer Rouge society, bartering for food is viewed as an act of treason. If caught, the trader is whipped into confessing the names of all parties involved. The Khmer Rouge believes one individual should not have what the rest of the country does not have. When one person secretly acquires more food than the others have there is an inequality of food distribution in the community. Since we are all supposed to be equal, if one person starves, then all should starve.

The narration is in present tense. I didn’t really like it. Luong noted that she tried it in past tense first but it didn’t feel immediate. Still, I would’ve preferred past tense.

Language: None
Sexual Content: Some descriptions of nudity and attempted rape
Violence: Executions, beatings, war crimes
Harm to Animals: (view spoiler)
Harm to Children: (view spoiler)
Other (Triggers): (view spoiler) ...more

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Aug 05, 2009 Meg - A Bookish Affair rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, politics-history, 2009

I did not know much of what happened in Cambodia in the 1970s before I read this book. This book is a first hand account of a girl living during the reign of terror of the Khmer Rouge. This book isn't pretty but it is still one that is important to read. ...more

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Oct 09, 2017 Judy Lindow rated it it was amazing

This book needs to be required reading. There should be dialog around this story. First They Killed My Father is a harrowing, first person narrative that is an important resource in getting everyone to think about war and violence. Although it's specifically about the killing fields in Cambodia told from a child's point of view - violence like this continues to happen all over the world, to many people of all ages; we need these kinds of first person memoirs that assault our senses so we're forc ...more

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Dec 25, 2010 Shomeret rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir, my-reviews

I had some misconceptions about what went on in Khmer Rouge Cambodia. This book set me straight. I feel that I understand more about that period in Cambodian history.

1 like · Like · see review