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bookboy_troy's review against another edition
5.0
Just an absolutely incredible, powerful, and heartbreaking work of nonfiction. This reading experience will stay with me for the rest of my life. The emotional force of Y-Dang's prose sweeps you into her own lifeworld and the stories and lifeworlds of the Cambodian refugees she writes fiercely and passionately of.
This book is about her history and the history of the Cambodian genocide, but it is also about reclaiming and rewriting the narrative made about her upon her and her family's resettlement in Canada. You feel so intensely the weight of trauma that is carried throughout the lives of people that have had to flee their homelands from unspeakable and unimaginable tragedy, violence and genocide.
Rest peacefully, Y-Dang. Her words will continue to inform and inspire the world and I am in awe of the fortitude and resilience her life and work has given me as a reader of this book. A gift.
This book is about her history and the history of the Cambodian genocide, but it is also about reclaiming and rewriting the narrative made about her upon her and her family's resettlement in Canada. You feel so intensely the weight of trauma that is carried throughout the lives of people that have had to flee their homelands from unspeakable and unimaginable tragedy, violence and genocide.
Rest peacefully, Y-Dang. Her words will continue to inform and inspire the world and I am in awe of the fortitude and resilience her life and work has given me as a reader of this book. A gift.
tinamayreads's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Wow very emotional read that made me cry several times
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Cancer, and Genocide
golem's review against another edition
5.0
A brilliant, urgent, sharp, painful, loving, gentle, explosive, beautiful gift.
saestrah's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
A free advanced reading copy of this title was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review:
Firstly, I loved the formatting of this book. Interspaced with artwork, photography and letters from the author to her son, the narrative of the author's life is captured in very short chapters, segmenting the reflections on her life into brief snapshots. It's an incredibly tragic book, that leaves you with an ache in your chest, but it's an enjoyable read.
Firstly, I loved the formatting of this book. Interspaced with artwork, photography and letters from the author to her son, the narrative of the author's life is captured in very short chapters, segmenting the reflections on her life into brief snapshots. It's an incredibly tragic book, that leaves you with an ache in your chest, but it's an enjoyable read.
uroobaa's review against another edition
5.0
heartbreakingly powerful & hauntingly relevant. Y-Dang, you were gone too soon.
karissaang's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
An eerie but incredibly moving experience to read a posthumous memoir. I loved how the chapters are written in brief bursts - indeed, “life in fragments”. I also learned a lot that I hadn’t known about with the Cambodian war and how that impacted the Teochew Chinese community (from which my family is also a part of and didn’t know made up the majority of ethnic Chinese living in Cambodia)! Sad and heart aching and resilient all in one.