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A review by keberwick
Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick
3.0
This was one of the 2013-2014 Morning Calm Nominees. I thought that this book and [b:The Queen of Water|8621850|The Queen of Water|Laura Resau|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320449812s/8621850.jpg|13492509] were incredibly similar because both were written by two authors, one of whom actually lived the events that take place in the book. The only reason why I didn't love this book was because I really hated the way that it was written. The use of broken english to convey Arn's story felt incredibly disingenuine to me- almost like she was mocking the way he would speak- and while I'm sure this wasn't her intent, it was something that just got under my skin and prevented me from being emotionally invested in his story.
I think another contributing factor to my dislike of the book was my own personal experience of Cambodia. I went with my mother for three days; two were spent in Siem Reap, and one was spent in Phnom Penh. We saw Angkor Wat as well as the Killing Fields, but our tour guide in Siem Reap honestly kept me from enjoying the trip. He was kind and courteous and was very well educated about the history of Cambodia, but his breath was horrible. He obviously had many rotting teeth and since it was a private tour, we were in a very small car. The smell filled the car and clung to our clothes, making escape impossible. While reading this book, I kept imagining I could smell my tour guide's breath and I felt nauseated the entire time I was reading. So really, this book could have been amazing but because of my own experience I wasn't able to enjoy it. I honestly think it's a great way to learn about the Khmer Rouge, so if you're interested in that you should definitely read this book, but I just couldn't.
I think another contributing factor to my dislike of the book was my own personal experience of Cambodia. I went with my mother for three days; two were spent in Siem Reap, and one was spent in Phnom Penh. We saw Angkor Wat as well as the Killing Fields, but our tour guide in Siem Reap honestly kept me from enjoying the trip. He was kind and courteous and was very well educated about the history of Cambodia, but his breath was horrible. He obviously had many rotting teeth and since it was a private tour, we were in a very small car. The smell filled the car and clung to our clothes, making escape impossible. While reading this book, I kept imagining I could smell my tour guide's breath and I felt nauseated the entire time I was reading. So really, this book could have been amazing but because of my own experience I wasn't able to enjoy it. I honestly think it's a great way to learn about the Khmer Rouge, so if you're interested in that you should definitely read this book, but I just couldn't.