First They Killed My Father

I finished the book, and personally, this book was quite depressing. It was touching though, because I feel that Loung's perspective and writing voice gave the book a more sentimental and personal aura to it. I really felt like I could understand and know what Loung was going through. The little "dream sequences" in the italics that she recounts also offer that sense of her trying to have a explanation for something that will never be able to be explained. It's like a coping mechanism, a way that she can know/make herself believe what happened to her beloved family. I agree with Nell completely, I thought it was interesting to read it with the same context as the narrator. I knew as much about the genocide as Loung did (I had just heard of it but nothing else) and that voice contributed to the overall pathos of the novel.

FTKMF

I'd have to say that the book was very interesting, although deeply depressing. I felt like the author was certainly believable, and wrote like she was actually living it at the time. However, I felt like it was almost too much to be true, or at least to believe. I kept having to remind myself that this had actually happened. I guess it reminded me of books about the Holocaust in that way.

First They Killed My Father

I finished the book, and though I can't say I *enjoyed* reading it (too depressing) I thought it was well written and did what Loung Ung wanted it to. I don't think it was written to inform (but it did do that), more to relate the author's personal experiences of the Cambodian genocide and gives a human face to events as opposed to the factual history a reader might get from another source. Having it written in present tense and from a child's perspective made it more powerful in that sense. Ung didn't understand what was happening or why at first, and the reader experiences this confusion along with her (even though he or she understands the bigger historical context). The use of italics does this too; it isn't concrete facts, it's what Ung thinks happened to her family - she doesn't and will never really know, and neither will the reader.

AP Language 2011: So, all, what do you think of First They Killed My...

AP Language 2011: So, all, what do you think of First They Killed My...: "So, all, what do you think of First They Killed My Father???"
I just finished the book and though I really liked it, I think the author could have done a few things to make her story EVEN more pathos filled. Referring to what Jamie said about the narrator being a little girl; I think there are pros and cons to that viewpoint. On the plus side, being such a small girl, she rarely complicates things. She states her story bluntly, leaving no "wiggle room" for any misinterpretations the reader might have had. On the con side, I think that presenting the story through the eyes of such a little girl might have downplayed the atrocities that were committed. Being such a little girl, Asne didn't really understand fully what was going on in Cambodia, thus the reader might also not fully understand the situation.

First They Killed My Father

I have already finished the book and overall I really liked it. I think the author did a good job at crafting a personal account of the conflict in Cambodia while informing the reader of specific facts about the political and social aspects of the conflict. The pictures in the book were a good addition to the story. It was interesting to see the faces of the people that the author described. The sections in italics about the possible fates of her family members made me keep wondering about what really happened to them as well.

So, all, what do you think of First They Killed My Father???