Beautiful Hero

How We Survived the Khmer Rouge

By: Jennifer Lau

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Winner of 5 Awards: 2017 IPPY GOLD Award 2017 BookLife Award 2017 Writer’s Digest’s Self-Published E-Book Award 2018 National Indie Excellence Award 2018 Next Generation Indie Book Finalist Award PLOT SYNOPSIS: With only half a canteen of water and one baby bottle, a family of eight fought for their lives in the killing fields and land mines of Cambodia. Surrounded by unimaginable adverse forces, one strong woman would ultimately lead her entire family to survive. Beautiful Hero is an autobiographical narrative told from a daughter’s perspective. The story centers around Meiyeng, the eponymous Beautiful Hero, and her innate ability to sustain everyone in her family. Meiyeng’s acumen in solving problems under extreme circumstances is thought-provoking and awe-inspiring. She shepherded her entire family through starvation, diseases, slavery and massacres in war-torn Cambodia to forge a new life in America. Over two million people—a third of the country’s population—fell victim to a devastating genocide in Cambodia. The rise of the Khmer Rouge posed not merely a single challenge to survival, but rather a series of nightmarish obstacles that required constant circumvention, outmaneuvering, and exceptional fortitude from those few who would survive the regime intact. The story eerily unravels the layers of atrocity and evil unleashed upon the people, providing a clear view of this horrific and violent time of the Cambodian revolution. The book highlights the most basic impulses of man: good vs. evil, individual vs. group, democracy vs. tyranny, and life vs. death. It is the ultimate story of love, sacrifice, survival, and redemption. It reaffirms the good in humanity by showing how one family lived and survived with grace and dignity despite being pushed to the limits. (No details were spared from the narrative, but the language of the text and all of its most graphic scenes have been filtered for all audiences.) If you like to read informative and inspirational memoirs and biographies, religion, or spirituality books, survival stories such as Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung, The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo, and I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai, then you’ll love this book.

Heartfelt

Stars: 3.5

My appreciating Lau's storytelling feels disrespectful. However, it is said with sincerity. She writes from a young age the trials of war, being taken advantage of, and surviving.

I would classify this as middle grade to young adult. There are things spoken but not described.

My one question is my usual, why do people keep having kids and can't take care of those born preturmoil? She has more respect for her parents than I do.

I recommend for all ages.

This is a Goodreads Giveaway Kindle Win for me from December 2024). Read as part of the Read What I Own Challenge x100.