The Execution

Everyone's stomachs are bloated and glistening from starvation. Isn't it interesting how people's bodies do that? The protagonist in the story is chosen to be a soldier begins her training. She is away from all her family but one day she has an epiphany that she needs to see her mother and baby sister, but she doesn’t know why. When she gets to her old village where her father was killed a woman tells her that her mother and sister were last seen being lead off by a Khmer Rouge officer into the woods. That’s the same way her father was killed, and many others. The communist reign is so wide that you can’t even catch an animal and eat it, because no one can own private property. I used to think that we shouldn’t go to war with other countries to protect their own people but honestly I would feel so bad that this was happening I would probably be in favor of it now. 

There is a chapter in the book that talks about when the Vietnamese soldiers catch a Khmer Rouge solider and the Cambodian people in the nearby village attack the prison because they want to execute the prisoner. The soldier is released into the villagers’ custody and they debate on the most painful way to kill the soldier. It reminded me of how when an animal or bug like a spider bites you, and you want to make it feel the pain you felt, but then once you get it and it’s all vulnerable and helpless, you kind of feel bad when you kill it. When reading the book I wanted all the Khmer Rouge soldiers to die but once he was totally helpless, I felt bad for him.

In the end, the Loung Ung is saved by the Vietnamese soldiers and reunites with her family (the ones who are still alive).  She and her brother are sent to America because of American church organizations. The plan is to make money for her family to come over to, but they never do it. Really good book.