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,...
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...
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.
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.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Important: Our sites use cookies.
We use the information stored using cookies and similar technologies for advertising and statistics purposes.
Stored data allow us to tailor the websites to individual user's interests.
Cookies may be also used by third parties cooperating with BookLikes, like advertisers, research companies and providers of multimedia applications.
You can choose how cookies are handled by your device via your browser settings.
If you choose not to receive cookies at any time, BookLikes will not function properly and certain services will not be provided.
For more information, please go to our Privacy Policy.
Log in with Facebook 
