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.