Donna Shaw

Mae Taing was a Chinese Cambodian teenager when the civil war broke out in 1968. The Communist Khmer Rouge, committed to total power, entered the town where Mae lived. Everyone was told to pack 3 days of belongings and evacuate the town as it was going to be bombed by the Americans. They were told that they could return after 3 days. This began the horrors of genocide, slave labor, torture, starvation, death marches and camps became Mae’s way of life for 5 years. One third of the Cambodian people were executed, starved to death or murdered. Mae’s most greatest terror was during 3 months of walking down the Preah Vihear Mountain filled with land mines where no one was meant to survive. The love for his father, siblings and relatives gave him enduring strength and the will to survive. Over the years Mae and his son, James, wrote this exceptionally well written, informative and heartbreaking book. It is hard to imagine a person surviving a fraction of what Mae endured. I’ve read many books about the Holocaust and this one stands out as equally brutal. This novel is unforgettable.