Rated of 5
by Nancy Craig In the Shadow of the Banyon
First time novelist Vaddey Ratner captured my heart and senses in this novel based on her childhood in Cambodia. Her story transcends any news story you might read on the Khmer Rouge atrocities and events of the time. Told through the voice of seven year old Raami; we leave the splendor of a royal life in Phnom Penh to the brutal life of the camps of rural Cambodia. The systematic destruction of family units was carried out while starvation and death was a constant. In the depths of starvation, Raami lives on bugs, leaves and the meager rations in the camp. Her line, "Sad was too small a word" describe so perfectly the time she lived through. How does this novelist tell a story of such horror and yet, just as the moon was there for Raami, present that sliver of hope for the reader? This is an unforgettable novel of the love of a family and the rebirth of a little girl and her mother to a new life.
Rated of 5
by Kath Marvelous book
From the first page, I was drawn in by the lyrical writing of the author and mesmerized as the narrator, eight year old Raami, remembered the years when the Khmer Rouge destroyed individuals, towns and villages, and a whole country. The cruelties of the Organization, as the revolutionary soldiers were known, were constant, unpredictable and ultimately purposeless. Seeing the impact on one child, one family, was an emotional experience that I will never forget. This was one of the very best books I have had the good fortune to read this year.
Rated of 5
by Rebecca A Soulful, Special Book
I loved this book! It is a unique story and truly written from the heart.I have recommended it to several people of various ages and is one of those books that I hate to loan out because I liked it so much that I'd like to have it on hand for house guests to read. I could picture the characters, feel the fear and misery that they endured, and finished the book with a new perspective on the whole "Vietnam War" era (or the "American War" as it is called in Vietnam). I think this should be added to school reading lists.
Rated of 5
by Toby S. poetic and lyrical book about a brutal Cambodian holocaust
Vaddey Rattner has written in lovely, poetic prose and poetry an autobiographical novel of her brutally painful childhood during the Khmer Rouge Cambodian Holocaust. I admired this book. It must not have been easy to write about such suffering in forced labor camps and the loss of her family members and millions of other human lives. The story begins with a lyrical portrait of her life before the Khmer Rouge started its insane path of attempting to "socialize" Cambodia and its horrendous purge of both suspected intellectuals and formerly well-off citizens. Starvation, Murder, Suffering are the themes throughout the second half of the book and I found myself horrified by the tragedy.
Rated of 5
by Emily G. Stunning!
The best book I read in 2012!
This is one of those rare books that is so real, the characters so alive and personal, that I want to stop reading because it is so painful. It is one of those books so beautifully written, so exquisitely wrought that I can't possibly stop reading.
This is a book I want to press into everyone's hands and say, Read this book!
Rated of 5
by Erica M Superb book
As I read this book, I thought of the questions I would ask if I were reading it for my book club - such as how being under the Banyan Tree is a metaphor for the protection of one's family. or how do repressive governments think they are improving the lot of the people they are governing? The book is written with such sensitivity, such love of family, such horror of repression, it was hard to put it down. Hope my book club DOES select it, so I have an excuse to read it again.
Fearless, gripping, at once darkly funny and tender, spanning three continents and numerous lives, Americanah is a richly told story set in today's globalized world.
The story of an American family, middle class in middle America, ordinary in every way but one. But that exception is the beating heart of this extraordinary novel.
First time novelist Vaddey Ratner captured my heart and senses in this novel based on her childhood in Cambodia. Her story transcends any news story...
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From the first page, I was drawn in by the lyrical writing of the author and mesmerized as the narrator, eight year old Raami, remembered the years...
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Trite but true, all good things must come to an end. I so wanted to keep reading the wonderful prose, the settings that let one think they are part...
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Kenn Nesbitt is new Children's Poet Laureate(Jun 12 2013) Kenn Nesbitt has been named the new Children's Poet Laureate: Consultant in Children's Poetry to the Poetry Foundation, which noted that the two-year position...
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of 5
by Nancy Craig 
