First They Killed My Father is a book about the Cambodian Genocide. The book came out on January 26, 2000. The author of the book is Loung Ung, a Cambodian-American author who survived the Khmer Rouge regime and later became an activist and speaker.

This book later became a movie and was released worldwide on Netflix on September 15, 2017. The book is a tragic story about the Khmer Rouge and how the author Loung Ung survived. The Khmer Rouge was started by a small communist revolutionary group in Cambodia, led by Pol Pot. Their goal was to turn Cambodia into a classless agrarian society—but this led to mass killings, forced labor, starvation, and the deaths of about 1.7 to 2 million people.

For one week, our family went to Cambodia to explore and take a break. We wanted to learn about the culture so we learned about the genocide and the Khmer Rouge. We went to the killing fields where many people were killed. There was a shop so my parents bought me the book First They Killed My Father. The book focused on the living conditions of Loung Ung and what it was in that period.

Food was very scarce back then and you had to work 12+ hours a day. She tells us that her family and other families starved because there was not enough food. The people that were accused of being a communist were brutally killed, despite them being communists themself. Many of her family died due to starvation and sickness. Her father was taken away and was never seen again. Her mother mysteriously disappeared and was also never seen again.

I would say 13 years and up should read this book. This book covers starvation, blood, and other sensitive topics that some people could find distressing. I feel it was great to learn about the history of the Khmer Rouge. Also the book was written by a person who survived the Khmer Rouge so it feels real and sad. The thing that resonated with me is the fact that this happened only 45 years ago. If this happened like 200 years ago it would be sad but it would be less sad for me because there are no living people left from that time. But for the Khmer Rouge, every Grandma or a person who is older than 50 in Cambodia survived and went through this brutal period.