 Books by Loung Ung
First They Killed My Father, Lucky Child
In this lyrical sequel to her bestselling, critically acclaimed memoir First They Killed My Father, Loung Ung describes her school years in Vermont as a Cambodian refugee and, in alternating chapters, give voice to her sister’s experience as a genocide survivor left behind in rural Cambodia.
Following years of hunger, loss, and violence at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, Loung begins anew in America, opening her story on her first day in Vermont in June 1980. She chronicles her triumphant and heartbreaking history through the obstacles of assimilation as a refugee in the United States, surmounting dogged memories of the genocide and the deep scars of war, grasping for equilibrium and the strength to take on a new life in a peace-loving place where violence is not the norm.
Stunning for her bravery and perseverance, Loung is an accomplished activist and writer, vibrant and healthy despite her experience of genocide and war. In this book, she struggles to uphold her family’s honor though she was forced to leave them in order to survive. As much Loung’s personal story as that of a war-torn family and nation, Lucky Child is a meditation on what might have been. This striking parallel of Loung’s life in America with her sister Chou’s life in postwar Cambodia highlights the harsh realities of chance and circumstances, both on personal level for the Ung family and on a national level for all Cambodians.
Having visited Cambodia over twenty times since her initial departure, Loung concludes her memoir with the first reunion of the Ung family’s surviving siblings in their homeland in 1995. Redemptive and searing, Lucky Child is every bit as inspiring as First They Killed My Father.
Book Reviews
Loung's life, story and books have touched the hearts of thousands.
Read the following reviews of her critically acclaimed biographical
novels.
Reviews on Other Websites
The following links are to external sites which have additional reviews and information.
 Many recent books have told the tale of genocide and survival, but in Lucky Child Loung Ung has given us a book as unusual as it is heartbreaking-the story of a family torn in two after genocide...Loung has managed to follow First They Killed My Father with a book every bit as gripping and important, and she has given us a unique glimpse into America's "melting pot"-a melting pot born of indescribable suffering but brimming with irrepressible life."
Samantha Power
Author of A Problem from Hell:
America and the Age of Genocide
(review for
LC)
Loung has written an eloquent and powerful narrative as a young witness to the Khmer Rouge atrocities. This is an important story that will have a dramatic impact on today’s readers and inform generations to come."
Dith Pran
Dith's wartime life was portrayed in the
award winning film The Killing Fields
(review for
FTKMF)
This is a story of the triumph of a child’s indomitable spirit over the tyranny of the Khmer Rouge; over a culture where children are trained to become killing machines. Loung’s subsequent campaign against land mines is a result of witnessing firsthand how her famished neighbors, after dodging soldiers’ bullets, risked their lives to traverse unmapped minefields in search of food. Despite the heartache, I could not put the book down until I reached the end. Meeting Loung in person merely reaffirmed my admiration of her."
Queen Noor
Cambodia
(review for
FTKMF)
In this gripping narrative Loung Ung describes the unfathomable evil that engulfed Cambodia during her childhood, the courage that enabled her family to survive, and the determination that has made her an eloquent voice for peace and justice in Cambodia. It is a tour de force that strengthens our resolve to prevent and punish crimes against humanities."
U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy
Congressional leader on human rights and
a global ban on landmines
(review for
LC)
Lucky Child is a tender, searing journey of two sisters, two worlds, two destinies. It is about the long-term consequences of war-how it changes everything, annihilates, uproots and separates families. And it is about how humans triumph, building lives wherever they land and finding their way back to each other."
Eve Ensler, author, The Vagina Monologues
(review for
FTKMF)
I encourage everyone to read this deeply moving and very important book. Equal to the strength of the book is the woman who wrote it. She is a voice for her people and they are lucky to have her."
Angelina Jolie
United Nations High Commission for Refugees
(review for
LC)
"Both stories--Loung's, told in her own voice, and Chou's, narrated in the third person--are inherently fascinating and are recounted with a vividness and immediacy that make them even more so... Written with an engaging vigor and directness, Lucky Child is an unforgettable portrait of resilience and largeness of spirit.""
(review for
LC from the Los Angeles Times)
"This is a strong story, simply told. Ung helps us understand what happens when a family is torn apart by politics, adversity, and war. Change the names of the characters, give them anotehr country of origin, and this story of dislocation becomes a tragedy millions of immigrants have lived through but seldom talk about... Ung's story is a compelling and inspirational one that touches universal chords. Americans would do well to read it, no matter where they were born."
(review for
LC from the Washington Post Book World)
Two sisters. One fled the Killing Fields. Now they’re family again"
Eleanor Cowie
The Glasgow Herald
(review for
FTKMF from the Newspaper)
Loung Ung
© Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
|
