First They Killed My Father: Two

The second part of the book continues as Luong and her family live in the harsh conditions of the Khmer Rouge. Already 2/3rds into the the story, you can imagine the hardships that Luong and her family have to overcome. They have to deal with having to 'migrate' from camp to camp in order to hide the true identity of her family, because if the Khmer Rouge ever find out that Pa worked for the government, or that they were city people, their existence would cease to be present. Along with that, they have to deal with the cruel treatment of the Khmer Rouge. But the Khmer Rouge deny this cruel treatment but instead excuse it as proper behavior in order to respect the Angkar. These hardships and more truly make it hard for Luong and her family to get by.

One chapter that caught my attention especially, is the chapter Keav. In this chapter, which continues where the story of Keav left off, Luong, out of nowhere, changes the point of view in her writing. The text become italics and begin to narrate in a third-person omniscient point of view. This sort of confused me at first but I gradually began figuring out what Luong was trying to show readers. The sudden change in point of view is a nice addition to the already interesting writing, but it no doubt took me by surprise.

In general, Luong doesn't fail to keep me motivated to keep on reading. Her stories are indeed interesting and I always wonder how she would get out of the sticky situations she gets in. I hope her writing and stories stay consistent to the aspects that made me love this book in the first place. I can't wait to finish this book. Enjoy the rest of the read, guys!