Book
First They Killed My Father (book)
First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers is Loung Ung's memoir of surviving the Khmer Rouge as a child, published in 2000.[1][2] Told through the eyes of a young child, it follows her family from Phnom Penh through the Khmer Rouge years until Vietnamese forces overthrew the regime.[2][1]
About the book
Ung spent her early childhood in Phnom Penh, one of seven children of a Cambodian government official.[2] When the Khmer Rouge took the city in April 1975, the family fled and kept moving, hiding that they were educated city people.[2] In time the family split up to survive, and Ung and her older brothers were made to serve the Khmer Rouge.[2] Both of her parents were killed, and two of her sisters died of hunger and disease. After Vietnamese forces overthrew the regime, the surviving members of the family found one another again.[2]
Publication and editions
HarperCollins first published the book in English in 2000.[3][2]
Reception
Some Cambodian American readers have disputed details in the memoir, among them its calling the family middle class and the age it gives for Angkor Wat.[1] In a 2013 article in the journal MELUS (Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States), Bunkong Tuon responded to these objections and argued that the errors reflect memory shaped by emotion and trauma.[1]
Related works
Angelina Jolie directed the film adaptation, First They Killed My Father, released by Netflix in 2017.[4]
Access
References 4
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 H.M.A. Leow, Should Readers Trust "Inaccuracy" in Memoirs about Genocide?, JSTOR Daily (October 12, 2023)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Kirkus Reviews, First They Killed My Father (December 1, 1999)
- ↑ Open Library, First They Killed My Father (HarperCollins, 2000)
- ↑ The Hollywood Reporter, First They Killed My Father: Film Review, Telluride 2017 (September 2, 2017)
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