When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge

by Chanrithy Him

Book Overview

In a mesmerizing story, Chanrithy Him vividly recounts her trek through the hell of the "killing fields." She gives us a child's-eye view of a Cambodia where rudimentary labor camps for both adults and children are the norm and modern technology no longer exists. Death becomes a companion in the camps, along with illness. Yet through the terror, the members of Chanrithy's family remain loyal to one another, and she and her siblings who survive...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393322106
• ISBN13: 9780393322101
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A chilling autobiography

I read this book immediately after I finished "First They Killed My Father." Both are autobiographies by young women who were children at the time of the Khmer Rouge's rule of Cambodia. Rather than being redundant, I found that this book complemented the other. Both girls were daughters of relatively privileged families who were part of the forced evacuation of Phnom Phen. The author of this one, Ms. Him, was a few years older, and this slight age difference provides some different perspective. In addition, Ms. Him's family evacuated in a different geographical direction, which also affected her family's displacement over those years. The author shows how, as a child, she demonstrated incredible determination and courage in the face of the most horrendous conditions imaginable -- she even escapes one work camp as she was near death from dysentary.This book provides another necessary and compelling autobiography of a horrible time in history.

so much pain in such short time

This haunting yet awe inspiring account of life grabs you from the start puts you in the middle of her life and doesn't let you go. Her underling love and commitment to family leads to extaordinary acts of courage. The writting is vivid and entancing. You are drawn in by the childs voice and perception of how things are. You feel her pain as her inocense is lost to the enemy and her joys as she pulls her family together after each crisis. This is an account of life that will not be forgotten. Charinthy has much wisdom and desire to better the human condition despite what has happened to her and she expresses some of it here. Her spirit in indomitable.

A child's-eye perspective of the great Cambodian tragedy.

Told in an unusually vivid style, "When Broken Glass Floats" provides a striking new perspective even to those readers already hardened from study of events in Cambodia during the Pol Pot regime. The scenes of the evacuation of Phnom Penh, family separation, slow starvation, and the deaths of members of the author's immediate family materialize as if on film.

My first book review

In a strange twist, I knew the author as a student, and later a collegue doing research on the Khmer Rouge era. I heard parts of the story from her, but was overwhelmed by the prose as she told it. I have heard the stories of many Cambodians, but because of this book I felt I could actually see what was happening. Her family and friends came alive for me on the pages of this remarkable narrative. It is a triumphant tribute to her departed relatives. I wish her the best and hope she will continue writing.

Gripping, sad, will make you appreciate life...

Through my readings of books dealing with the barbarism of the human soul I have gained a profound appreciation for the subtleties of life. This work brings that understanding another giant leap forward.The plight of Chanrithy Him through the relentless suffering of the Khmer Rouge is no less than heart sickening. You will discover a profound sense of respect for her and the victims and survivors of the infamous Pol Pot regime.This book has a similar approach to another - "First They Killed My Father" - by Loung Ung. Both books command you to continue reading. I could not put them down.All in all, a superb work on a less than superb topic - required reading for anyone interested in Asian culture, human suffering, and in a surprising way - human survival.