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Vaddey Ratner

Autor(a) de In the Shadow of the Banyan

2 Works 1,162 Membros 79 Reviews

About the Author

Includes the name: vaddeyratner

Obras de Vaddey Ratner

In the Shadow of the Banyan (2012) 1,018 cópias
Music of the Ghosts (2017) 144 cópias

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Data de nascimento
1970
Sexo
female
Nacionalidade
Cambodia
USA
Local de nascimento
Cambodia
Locais de residência
Potomac, Maryland, USA
Educação
Cornell University
Pequena biografia
Vaddey Ratner was five years old when the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975. In 1981 she arrived in the United States as a refugee not knowing English and ultimately went on to graduate summa cum laude from Cornell University. She lives in Potomac, Maryland.

Membros

Resenhas

The author was the only surviving family member in the Cambodian Khmer Rouge tragedy. This account based on her experience is an homage to her father.
 
Marcado
jemisonreads | outras 67 resenhas | Jan 22, 2024 |
Per the author’s Afterword: “Music of the Ghosts is a story of survivors. The novel opens in the period before the convening of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, a long overdue but highly restricted undertaking focused on just a handful of surviving former leaders. My motivation in writing is to explore the questions of responsibility, atonement, forgiveness, and justice in the more everyday settings in which survivors find themselves, in the chambers of the heart where perpetrators and victims sit face to face.”

As the story opens Teera is returning to Cambodia, the country of her birth, with her recently deceased aunt’s ashes. She has been contacted by a man known as the Old Musician who wants to speak with her about some musical instruments connected to Teera’s father. Teera’s father disappeared during Pol Pot’s regime. The storyline eventually reveals what happened to her father. It is a story of people trying to deal with the aftermath of genocide.

Author Vaddey Ratner escaped from Cambodia during the regime of the Khmer Rouge. I had previously read and loved Shadow of the Banyan so I thought I would give this one a try. It is a difficult book to read in terms of content. The Khmer Rouge was responsible for the deaths of around two million Cambodians during the genocide years (1975-1979). This book is partially based on her experiences. It is a powerful and deeply moving story but is not for the faint-hearted.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
Castlelass | outras 10 resenhas | Dec 26, 2022 |
Moving and tragic story of Raami, a seven-year-old girl, and her family, as they, along with the rest of the population, are forced by the Khmer Rouge to evacuate Phnom Penh. They are relocated a number of times, and endure violence, oppression, physical deprivations, mental anguish, separation, and deaths of loved ones. In the Shadow of the Banyan is based on the author’s experience as a small child in Cambodia. She wrote it to honor the lives of the estimated two million people, including some of her family members, who suffered and died in the Cambodian genocide of 1975-1979.

Ratner shows the brutality of the Khmer Rouge regime, referred to as the “Organization,” but at the same time points out the small bits of beauty that remain in the wake of destruction. The author adds fragments of poetry, Cambodian folk tales and legends, and examples of human kindness. These seem particularly appropriate to a young and innocent narrator who wants to be protected from harm and uses the stories as a form of escape. The child narrator is also the only drawback: she often exhibits wisdom and language beyond her years.

Themes include the power of storytelling, family relationships, memories, guilt, grief, and love. Vaddey Ratner’s writing style is simply beautiful. Heart-wrenching but ultimately hopeful, this story illustrates the desire to live even in the most horrific conditions.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
Castlelass | outras 67 resenhas | Oct 30, 2022 |
Raami tiene siete años. Su vida, como miembro de la familia real camboyana, es muy placentera. Vive en un palacio en Phnom Penh, su padre se dedica a la poesía y junto a él, su madre y su hermana disfrutan de todas las comodidades. Pero un día sus vidas se truncan abruptamente. Los Khmeres rojos obligan a la población camboyana a abandonar sus hogares, sus ciudades y trasladarse al campo. Allí serán internados en campos de trabajo para ser reeducados en la doctrina comunista. La familia de Raami se hace pasar por campesina ya que, si llegaran a conocerse sus orígenes nobles, serían ejecutados. A pesar de la terrible experiencia, Raami se mantiene fuerte. La esperanza no la ha abandonado porque ha constatado que, incluso en los momentos más extremos, ha habido un lugar para la lealtad y la solidaridad.… (mais)
 
Marcado
Natt90 | outras 67 resenhas | Oct 26, 2022 |

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Estatísticas

Obras
2
Membros
1,162
Popularidade
#22,117
Avaliação
4.1
Resenhas
79
ISBNs
33
Idiomas
6

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