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A Novel
by Vaddey Ratner
Book Reviewed by:Displaying the author's extraordinary gift for language, In the Shadow of the Banyan is testament to the transcendent power of narrative and a brilliantly wrought tale of human resilience.
For seven-year-old Raami, the shattering end of childhood begins with the footsteps of her father returning home in the early dawn hours bringing details of the civil war that has overwhelmed the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. Soon the family's world of carefully guarded royal privilege is swept up in the chaos of revolution and forced exodus.
Over the next four years, as she endures the deaths of family members, starvation, and brutal forced labor, Raami clings to the only remaining vestige of childhood - the mythical legends and poems told to her by her father. In a climate of systematic violence where memory is sickness and justification for execution, Raami fights for her improbable survival. Displaying the author's extraordinary gift for language, In the Shadow of the Banyan is testament to the transcendent power of narrative and a brilliantly wrought tale of human resilience.
One
War entered my childhood world not with the blasts of rockets and bombs but with my father's footsteps as he walked through the hallway, passing my bedroom toward his. I heard the door open and shut with a soft click. I slid off my bed, careful not to wake Radana in her crib, and snuck out of my room. I pressed my ear to the door and listened.
"Are you all right?" Mama sounded concerned.
Each day before dawn, Papa would go out for a solitary stroll, and returning an hour or so later, he would bring back with him the sights and sounds of the city, from which would emerge the poems he read aloud to me. This morning, though, it seemed he came back as soon as he'd stepped out, for dawn had just arrived and the feel of night had yet to dissipate. Silence trailed his every step like the remnant of a dream long after waking. I imagined him lying next to Mama now, his eyes closed as he listened to her voice, the comfort it gave him amidst the clamor of his own thoughts.
"...
Here are some of the comments posted about In the Shadow of the Banyan.
You can see the full discussion here.
Books about the Cambodian Genocide
I have never read a novel about Cambodia's genocide but I am of an age that I remember the news saying that Cambodia would fall when we left Vietnam. - sallyg
How did everyone like the ending??
I liked the ending and I'm glad they made the choice to leave by crossing the border into Thailand, not Vietnam. I thought the helicopter part was a nice touch since the Khmer Rouge was anti machine and it was a machine that brought them to safety. - booksnob
How do Raami and her family's Buddhist faith help them endure life under the Khmer Rouge?
I found the belief in Buddhism through out the book but more a culture belief than a religious belief. - sallyg
How do the Organization’s policies and strategies evolve over the course of the novel?
The people in the organization seemed untrained and without much leadership, and since they were given a little power, it went to their heads and they felt they could do whatever it is they wished. - terri
How does Raami's belief in the prophecy change by the end of the novel?
My interpretation of it is there is only so much room, only so many people can enjoy the shadow of the Banyan. Not every soul will continue to survive which was how Raami felt toward the end of the book. - terri
Raami is the perfect vehicle for telling the horrific tale of Cambodia's genocide. Through her voice, Rattner is able to whittle down a complex multi-layered story to its basic essence. This is not an epic Killing Fields kind of a story. But in detailing the effects of the genocide on one family and by narrating it through one child's perspective, the effect is just as searing. Largely autobiographical in nature, the novel must have served as a cathartic release for Rattner who has said she painted over only some of the details in the story. Like Raami, Rattner too suffered the after-effects of polio, although unlike Raami, she was five when the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh. Rattner has said she "wanted to articulate something more universal, more indicative... of the human experience - our struggle to hang on to life, our desire to live, even in the most awful circumstances." That Raami triumphs above such horrific tragedy, spirit largely intact, is proof that humanity wins in the end...continued
Full Review
(609 words)
(Reviewed by Poornima Apte).
Chris Cleave, author of Little Bee
This is a masterpiece that takes us to the highs and lows of what human beings can do in this life, and it leaves us, correspondingly, both humbled and ennobled. Naomi Benaron, author of Running the Rift
In a book rich with Buddhist teachings, the mythology of Cambodia, and the natural beauty of her world, Ratner weaves a moving tribute not only to her father and family but to victims of all genocides - past, present, and future.Before the Khmer Rouge (pronounced ki-mer roouze, effectively translating as Red Cambodians) wreaked havoc all over Cambodia and killed approximately one quarter of the country's seven million people, they were mostly a fringe communist guerrilla group operating in the jungles in the north of the country. Early in the 70s, then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk was deposed in a coup and, to retain support, he decided to seek the Khmer Rouge's help. This one move granted the group legitimacy and soon the Khmer Rouge, under the leadership of Pol Pot, became fairly popular in the villages and then slowly made their way into the cities.
Pol Pot had grand plans - he decided that Cambodians didn't require education or religion. All the country ...
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