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In the Shadow of the Banyan - Community Reviews back

by Vaddey Ratner, Greta Lee
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aka Grasshopper
aka Grasshopper rated it 11 years ago
Raami, a precocious Cambodian child-princess, narrates this sobering tale of life and loss. It is a fictional version of the author's own family history during the Khmer Rouge's devastating power grab in 1975. Their motto "To destroy you is no loss, to preserve you is no gain" wasn't an idle threat,...
Lisa (Harmony)
Lisa (Harmony) rated it 11 years ago
Ratner tells us in her author's note that "Raami's story is in essence my own." This is a novel about love and survival and the power of stories. Raami is just seven-years-old when the novel begins, when the Khmer Rouge comes to power. The murderous regime over the course of four years was responsi...
SandyQ
SandyQ rated it 12 years ago
This was a difficult and painful book to read, especially knowing that it was essentially autobiography. Well written and worth reading, despite the sadness. It's also something I didn't know as much about as I guess I should have.
Peace, Love & Books
Peace, Love & Books rated it 12 years ago
A powerful, eloquent debut novel about a Cambodian family experiencing the upheavel and terror in the time of the Khmer Rouge told from a young girl's perspective.
Telynor's Library, and then some
Telynor's Library, and then some rated it 12 years ago
I found this one to be a chilling narrative of the brutality that the Khmer Rouge brought to the people of Cambodia in the 1970's. Told from the point of view of a child, Raami, in one day her family and comfortable life is swept away when the revolutionaries evacuate Phnom Pehn, and one by one, Raa...
Coffee Bean Bookshelf
Coffee Bean Bookshelf rated it 12 years ago
It's so hard to put what I think into words on this one. I have friends (Canadian friends) who moved to Cambodia a few years back, and when they came back after the first year, they told stories about the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot's regime. It happened just before I was born, so I had no idea - and it...
mtw1tter
mtw1tter rated it 12 years ago
Lucidly narrated without veering into pointless exoticism. It is a harrowing tale but I wonder if history disguised as fiction (especially semi-authobiographic in nature) writes itself as a good tale due to the strangeness of the experience, as well as the foreignness of the locale. Does it make one...
Memories From Books on Booklikes
Memories From Books on Booklikes rated it 12 years ago
Review first published on my blog: http://memoriesfrombooks.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-light-between-oceans.htmlIn the Shadow of the Banyan is the story of seven-year old Raami, who is caught up in the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia in the 1970s. The regime of the Khmer Rouge has the history of genoc...
Osho
Osho rated it 13 years ago
Received as a giveaway from Goodreads First Reads. I don't think I've read a novel set in Cambodia yet, though I've read plenty of non-fiction, memoirs, travel books, and bird guides.***After reading: Ratner chose to fictionalize her lived experience rather than writing a straight memoir. While I im...
The Drift Of Things
The Drift Of Things rated it 13 years ago
Finished August 23, 2012
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