#chanrithy him

[purpleoceanrock]

Feast of Failure and Broken Glass Floats

“Christmas it seems to me is a necessary festival; we require a season when we can regret all the flaws in our human relationships: it is the feast of failure, sad but consoling.” ― Graham Greene, Travels with My Aunt

“Psychologically, they are parasites, like tapeworms that slumber within you, living passively until something stirs them to life.”

-Chanrithy Him, When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge

[hippietownsandflowercrowns]

The cost of war is a lifelong legacy borne by children.

When Broken Glass Floats, Chanrithy Him

[brendaoconnell-blog]

When Broken Glass Floats

This is the very moving and powerful story Chanrithy Him and her family. She was 9 years old in April 1975 when the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh. It is a heartbreaking account of the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. 

I read this book right before I visited Cambodia and although it was a hard book to read I was very glad that I did. The knowledge that it gave me about the recent past of this very ancient land made my experience all the richer.  

[tiger-in-the-flightdeck]

4, 14, 27? :)

4- Bad Book Habit- I read in the bath (whenever I’m near a bath, that is) and I tend to drop them in. All of my books look like they were recently salvaged from an old ship wreck. They have mould forming around the edges, the coating has long since peeled off the covers, and the ink has run on most of them. That’s how you know they are loved. Never trust a book someone tells you is great, if it isn’t significantly damaged.

14- Other than the bath, I love to read curled up in my chair. It is the perfect reading chair. It’s so cozy, and plush, and there are usually snacks shoved down under the cushion.

27- When Broken Glass Floats, by Chanrithy Him. It is about how she grew up under the regime of the Khmer Rouge. It is a painful book, but I think it is worth the effort you put into it. I had the privilege of speaking to Ms. Him once over tea. She is just as inspiring as her book.

Thanks for asking!