Reading First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung, really changes your mind of how lucky we are in this world to have everything that we have. This book is a great book to read to learn about the Cambodia’s war with leader Pol Pot. With images that will makes shiver and stories that will make you cry. After reading this you won’t treat things for granted.

First They Killed My Father is about a girl named Loung Ung. She lives in a city named Phnom Penh, having fun at everything she does. She has a big family of three sisters and three brothers, life is great for Loung. Her father works as an officer for the government, which making the family very wealthy. Living in a big house, the mother did not have to work nor clean the house or cook because they have maids to do everything. All the kids in the family also could afford to go to school, which is rare in that time in Cambodia. Then everything changes in the family, they have to move out because their government was taken over. Now having to lie that the father did not work for the former government, the family struggles. They are moved into a camp with very little food rations and with fear at all times they will get caught being that the father is from the former government. The journey now beings for the Ung family.

This story of Loung Ung, really puts a perspective of how our lives now, how we are so lucky to have all things we have. Loung Ung wrote this book from her perspective, first person. This book really describes the struggles and pains of the whole family. Loung Ung does a very good job putting an image in your head, of the camp, the family and how scares the food was during that time. During parts in the book I was almost in tears of what this five year old girl had to face.

The theme of this book is the struggles of many people during the Cambodia’s Pol Pot government.

In summary, this book is great to read for anybody interested in any books with war or war camps or wanting to learn about Pol Pot’s government and how he ruled his people. It has a great description of everything that happened, even from the when they are eating soup. There are many details in this book that make it a great book to read. I recommended reading this book.