To Destroy You is No Loss
The Odyssey of a Cambodian Family

The title, as explained in the opening pages, is taken from a Khmer Rouge slogan, “To keep you is no benefit; to destroy you is no loss,” used to keep the Cambodian people in submission (see 93, 104, 153). Although this is not a literary masterpiece, it is an emotional one. I am grateful to come fro......more

This was a thoroughly fascinating book and by far the best personal account of survival during the Pol Pot regime that I have read. Of the other 12 first-person stories that I've finished in the past year, only this book really attempted to put the survivor's experience into historical and cultural......more

A book along the lines of Three Swans, this told the story of a Cambodian family suffering under the Communist regime instituted by Pol Pot. Over and over again, I see the same pattern of despots destroying family, religion, and education to control and demoralize people. The family's perseverance a......more

This is a harrowing and amazing story, made only that much more incredible to know that it is a true story. It is not a book you can read lightly, and you may not smile for a day or two when you put it down, but it is still an absolute must read. We live in such an insulated and fortunate state that......more

This book was intense. And really good. And mind-blowing. Its not the most well-written thing you'll read this year, but it is straightforward in its retelling of the true story of a young woman and her family who lived through the rise and fall of Pol Pot's Cambodian regime (Khmer Rouge) in the 197......more