Pia’s Reviews > In the Shadow of the Banyan > Status Update

The setting of this book was very relevant as the story wouldn't have existed had it not been set in Cambodia. Cambodia has a dark past that only developed in 1975 and is the most important setting throughout the entire book.

Q3. This book hasn't borrowed from other texts except for when it recites poems, not written by the author. This gives the effect of everything being the authors own creation and I think this has to do with the horrors the author faced throughout her childhood. She says "Each ordeal that had broken my heart when I was a child broke my heart again as an adult writing it."

Q4: The two characters that I've chosen are Raami and Viola whose troubles are very different and have different of levels. Raami is a seven year old girl whose life becomes a struggle due to the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

Q1: The social groups that are excluded are the servants in the story, who although have power over the children of the family obviously don't over the adults. In Twelfth Night the servants were also excluded from the main action in the play.