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.