29 Nov 2000

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Thanks for your reply! Please feel free to post my comments on the web site if you feel they will be useful.

> Our organization decided to take a stand on this issue because the book
> is being touted as a source of information. Regrettably, not all
> readers are as informed about the Killing Fields period as you, and
> we're concerned Ung's book will give them a skewed picture.

I can certainly understand that. As I read the book, I was certainly aware that her point of view, memories, opinions, etc. would be atypical; and that many of the details she remembered (or attempted to reconstruct based on some other family member's memories) would be munged or confabulated by the passage of time and the limitations of a five year old's mind. Her description of Geak's and her mother's execution, for example, was necessarily fictitious. I would hope that other readers would take the same factors into account, but perhaps I am too optimistic.

> my parents and fellow Khmers' accounts. Sadly, I wonder if she
> collected those events from other victims and is just playing the
> role." It's a horrific thought that instinctually we do not want to
> believe; but even more horrific if it turns out to be actually true.

I have mixed feelings about this. Of course it is terribly wrong to do something like that. It gives the narrator a false and inflated image as a heroic person, taking attention away from the individuals who really did have the experience. On the other hand, if these events *did* happen to someone, it doesn't matter to me, as the reader, exactly which person the event actually happened to. I don't know Ung personally, so it doesn't much matter what I think of her; her story is only one of many, and I still want to hear what other people have to say.

Having said that, though, I can see why other Cambodians would find it so offensive. I can only suggest that perhaps all the attention given to this book will inspire people to read more on the subject, and get a better picture of the truth. Sadly, I believe that there is still simply not enough information about Cambodia available, at least not in English, for any person to really see the full picture; and I suppose that is the Institute's challenge.

> like putting jelly on a hamburger – maybe some eccentric individuals do
> so, but it is not the norm and something I think you would point out as
> a personal peculiarity if you were to write an autobiography.)

Okay, I didn't know that. Thanks for explaining -- I don't like the basil leaves either. :) Also thanks for the book recommendations -- I'll check them out. I appreciate your taking the time to discuss this with me.

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