When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge

Many times, more times than I could count, I found myself trying to put myself in Him's shoes. Having her brother waste away and die before her very eyes. The utter grief she experienced when her father left for "orientation" before she could say goodbye (not to mention his subsequent murder). Those are only some of the devastating events Him experienced during the rein of Pol Pot terror. Then came the never-ending slave labor and extreme starvation. One by one, her family withers and dies. How does one survive such constant suffering? Him is courageous and her will to survive is astounding.
Confessional: Despite the horrors Him relates in When Broken Glass Floats, there was a fascinating component of describing cultural superstitions. show more When Him's brother is dying it was believed he urinated on someone's grave and that is why, during the worst of his illness, he could not speak or relieve himself. show less

Like all book about the Khmer Rouge period of Cambodia, Chanrithy's book is evocative and depressing. Many parts of the book are informative and educational, but what sets it apart is her narrative through the eyes of lost childhood. In her account, the reader is pulled into the setting and forced to image a life upside down - where the rules and protection of parents, society and religion are gone and murderous thugs and sycophants have turned the country into a prison.

Highly suggested for anyone interested in learning more about the traumas of genocide. Also provides some valuable insight into Cambodian culture.

The Khmer Rouge seizure of Cambodia in 1975 began a period of horrific cruelty and death. Pol Pot's regime evacuated families from Phnom Penh, forcing them into the countryside into forced labor camps and makeshift villages where they were starved, beaten and more often than not executed for even the smallest disobedience. The author was 10 years old when her world violently fell apart, beginning the execution of her father. Before she was even 16, her mother was thrown into a well and she had lost younger brothers and sisters to disease and starvation.

Having fortunately and successfully been sponsored to the America by the only one of her father's brothers to escape the Khmer Rouge, the author shares the story of her amazing survival show more and that of her remaining siblings during this tragic period of Cambodia's history. While it is not surprising that memories of that period in her life would be extremely painful, she writes without notes of any self-pity. If anything there is a sense of pride in being Cambodian that permeates. Amidst the terror, violence and sorrow, she shares glimpses of the gentle side of Cambodian culture and some of their language.

The subject matter is disturbing, but it's an incredible work and one I'm so very glad to have read. show less

Thy and her family lives in Phnom Penh when the removed prince came back from China and instituted the martial Khmer Rouge (Red Cambodia). The city of 2 million was evacuated. The soldiers cruelly taunted the evacuees struggling on the road out of town, and looked for those who were educated, looking for those with eyeglasses and soft hands, as these were especially hated, for some reason. Becoming slaves in workcamps, digging irrigation ditches, sowing rice and vegetables in Fields, they were denied sufficient food and spied on by teenage informers. From 1975 to 1979, one quarter of the country's population died from torture and execution and starvation. Despite the horrific circumstances, almost half of Thy's family manages to show more survive. This book makes you reevaluate your life. show less

When Broken Glass Floats🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒
By Chanrithy Him
2000

This memoir begins before the rise of the Khymer Regime, when the US government and China government both played significant roles in the Khymer regime, before the beginning of the genocide.
When Khymer Rouge took control of Phnon Phen on April 17, 1975, they evacuated or killed entire cities, forcing those that could escape, into the countryside.
"Night stretches into day. The revolution of the train wheels on the track sing me to sleep, then I wake to rays of sunlight that flirt through the cracks of the sliding door, telling me that time has passed, even if my own world has stopped, brought to a standstill in this freight car."
As a young girl, seeing and experiencing the show more execution of all people deemed intelligent, teachers, political and church leaders,doctors. Then beginning to kill anyone at random for any reason .....seeing pregnant women executed, children's head blown off.....these were everyday occurrences.
Being seperated from your family, eating plant roots and mice for survival, suffering sickness and disease with no medical help.....all to fulfill Pol Pot dream of a land with no western influence....
"Than is quiet, but we can feel remorse in his silence. Tonight has brought us brief joy, then grief. Agony at the realization that the Khmer Rouge have shaped us, made our tempers brittle and our hunger sharp. Led us to the point where we could be as cruel to one another as they are to us."
Thy suffered, her heart broke watching the brutal reality, working in extreme conditions with little nutrition or clothing....watching those close to her and her family suffer, fall ill or die. They broke her heart but hardened her resolve and determination to make it through.
It made Thy a remarkable women of strength, compassion and emotionally integrity. To live through this horror is truly a phenomenon but to be able to tell the story, live through it again to put it on paper is truly inspiring.
Highly recommended.....as a personal memoir and one that will inspire you to always rise above. show less

Synopsis: Chanrithy Him and her family led a healthy and normal lifestyle in their village until the Khmer Rouge invasion forced their family to work in labour camps and give up their valuable possessions. Faced with malnourishment, starvation and unbearable working hours, Thy and her family become ill frequently and are faced with death daily. A recount of the time Thy spent growing up under the Khmer Rouge.
My Opinion: While the writing was quite snappy and broken, it was an informative book about what it was like growing up under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, a country I previously didn't know much about.

Another great book written about 'The Killing Fields'. Nothing but admiration for anyone that came through this. well written, would read again