Lucky Child by Loung Ung was an amazing sequel to First They Killed My Father. I choose to read this book because I was interested in what happened to Loung Ung once she was able to come to America. I wanted to see how she saw a different place compared to home after her own home was destroyed due to the Khmer Rouge. Lounge has difficulty trying to get settled in America. She has many emotional breakdowns like when her sponsors come in to her new home and teach them things they know about to things they find really different to their customs. Loung had a rough child hood because she lost her mother and father and some of her siblings on their journey to safety. Now shes on her own to remember the beauty of her family rather than the horrifying images of the torture her family went through to protect themselves. Loung has her brother and his wife on her trip to America unfortunately she had to leave her sister and two brothers behind in Cambodia. Her oldest sister was sad because she was being separated again but they believed it was for the best because Loung was younger and had a better chance of becoming someone in life referring to the title Lucky Child. Loung gets to experience many things in her new home town but she seems to still have an empty space to fulfill her happiness because she misses her parents and the way things used to be when she was younger. Loung`s brother is trying to make the best of what they have and fully appreciates everything his sponsors have done for them to move on to a better life but he is still saddened by the thought of the tragedy. Loung notices his pain and tries to stay in character when she is around him because she feels that it is not fair to be happy when her brother is upset. I feel like what happened to their family will always hurt them but like Loung`s brother says they should be grateful for the opportunity they have received from their sponsors because they didn't have to do that. I believe that Loung has her brother and his wife to accompany her in life and help her be happy again but it was very difficult for her oldest brother to be sympathetic because he was always seen to be strong to protect everyone. Loung does feel thankful but in reality what she finds difficult throughout the whole book is how someone like her lost everything and nobody cared until it happened to when a simple incident in the pool caused everyone to worry when nothing was as tragic than her problems. This was a great book that shows that some people find themselves in unfortunate problems but instead of just believing there is nothing we can do we should try to look out for others as well.
Once I started I couldn't put it down. However, I didn't realize there was a another book that came first so I'm going to end up reading them backwards. This was about a young girl's journey, Loung Ungs, too America and her growing up as a refugee in America. She survived the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia thanks in part to her family who put each other first before themselves. She is chosen by her oldest brother to be the one to go to America because she was the youngest and could still be educated. The Cambodian genocide is not something I have ever thought about. When I think of Cambodia I think of poverty, filth and dirt. However, before the Khmer Rouge and Vietnam got involved the Ung family seemed to live the same as Americans, save cultural differences. There was one big difference though as it seems with a lot of countries that aren't America, the emphasis on family and how they treat each other. They seem to always put family first before themselves and there was only happiness when Loung was chosen to go to America. I wonder how families would react in America if we had to go through a genocide, would we stand by each other or would it turn into survival of the fittest?
This is the true story of two sisters, separated by an ocean after surviving the horrors of Cambodia's killing fields. Loung was a child soldier who lost her father, mother, and younger sister at that time. Her older brother is able to afford to take just one of his sisters along to become refugees in the U.S. and Loung, as the youngest, is the "lucky child" chosen.The first half of this book is the most insightful, as each chapter moves back and forth between what Loung was experiencing in America, including her horror at the "bombs" going off on her first 4th of July, her nightmares, adjusting to life in America, and trying to heal from her terrible childhood, and Chou's experiences with an aunt and uncle in Cambodia. I was fascinated with the details of village life and the responsibilities placed on a 12-year-old.One of the most touching incidents in the book was when Loung is at a pool and witnesses the panic that ensues as lots of adults rush to rescue a child who was under water just for a few moments. She breaks down into tears, thinking, "Where were you when I was suffering, when I was drowning? Where were all the rescuers when I needed them?" (paraphrased)The last half of the book was disjointed and disappointing, but I imagine that as a memoir it's hard to know how to come to a satisfying conclusion when life is still being lived. I was frankly a bit disappointed in the author's reluctance to meet up with her long-lost siblings, though from the tone of the book, the author herself was also ashamed of herself.
—Christina
Lucky child is the sequel to First they killed my father, which I would suggest you read first. It's one of my favorite books! The author, Loung Ung has such a vivid memory of her past and she does an amazing job at describing her life as she lived through the Cambodian civil war. She tells it in a way that you can feel her emotions of what she went through. I enjoyed reading her two books because you can only read so much history books to understand the war, but to hear it from someone who has lived through it, gives you a more in depth look at the struggles the Khmer people went through. These books make you apprieciate the life you have. It's definately a tear jerker!
—Vutha Um
Sequel to "First they Killed my Father", the tale of the Cambodian genocide of its intellectuals at the hands of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. This book picks up where the other left off - Loung Ong escaped to America with her brother and his wife after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, and this tells the story of her trying to find her place in a new country while also dealing with all the trauma from her suffering in Cambodia. It also tells the story of her sister, who stayed behind in Cambodia, because they didn't have enough money to send everyone to the US. Also an excellent book, and certainly made me feel damn lucky myself for not having to deal with anything like this while growing up.
—Adrian
