Customer Reviews

A Cambodian Odyssey

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This is an outstanding portrait of a man who survived the barbaric reign of terror of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Anyone who has seen the movie "The Killing Fields" has a cursory understanding of the Khmer Rouge and their attempt to transform Cambodian society during their control of the country from 1975 to 1979. However, this film omitted most of the astounding atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge as anyone who has visited Tuol Sleng S-21 in Phnom Penh (as I have) can tell you. In this book Dr. Ngor relates his horrifying experiences of life under the Khmer Rouge in detail and in the process educates the reader as to just how horrible an existence it really was.

This book is remarkable because of the detail related by Dr. Ngor and the personal nature of its content. Many Cambodians to this day will not talk about his period in their lives. For many, the mental and physical abuse they suffered during this period was too painful to re-live ever again. As I read this book, I could not help but wonder how Dr. Ngor was able to keep himself together.

Dr. Ngor effectively puts the period of Khmer Rouge rule in historical context by explaining the historical events and forces which led to their capture of the country. These events and forces included the People's Republic of China, North Vietnam, the Vietnam War, the United States, and of course, the C.I.A.

I admire Dr. Ngor for his extraordinary courage, and I regret that I did not have the opportunity to meet him during his lifetime. May he rest in peace.

I found this book in the DISCOUNT BOOKS section of a local book store. I had seen "THE KILLING FIELDS" and was familiar with the events in Cambodia and Vietnam. But the tale of Haing Ngor's life in that place and time did more than put a human face to the agony that was Cambodia then. As i read, it became clear to me that sometimes we are powerless to do more than endure the insufferable. To be silent when screaming is the only way to keep your sanity, to deny your past, despite torture, so that you may have a future. To endure. The book moved me, much the same way that "THE LONG WALK" by Slav Rawicz and "TOUCHING THE VOID" by Joe Simpson did. These people are my heroes, and I try to learn from their life experiences so that I can better face the stresses of a more ordinary life. To find "A CAMBODIAN ODYSSEY" in the "discount" pile was to find a Picasso original at a yard sale. It saddens me to think that more of us have not read it, have not taken the time to know this man and his story. Haig Ngor is gone now. He died in a small alleyway in Hollywood, shot by a gang of youths eerily similar to the young Kmer Rouge that he faced in Cambodia. He would not surrender the locket with his wife's picture in it, the one thing he had left to remind him of her and their life together. Don't let his story end there... Read the book and share it with a freind!

Haing S.Ngor truly led a charmed life. To have survived such harrowing brutality year after year is a testament to the man's grace. He was roasted over an open fire. He survived many tortures and untold hardships. Dith Pran, the man he portrayed in THE KILLING FIELDS, had a cakewalk by comparison. That film should have had as its center Dr.Ngor's exploits, as his horrific journey was ten times more intense. If you like to read true life stories of those who've really suffered, then this book is an excellent starter. What a tragedy to have survived Cambodia's terror...only to be murdered in Los Angeles!

This book started off with a bang. The events of 1975 Cambodia are covered well with a lot of interesting observations. The enforcers of the Khmer Rouge, it seems, were mainly children with automatic weapons.

The atrocities, lies and horrible conditions that the people of Cambodia faced at the hands of the "liberators" are described in detail, sometimes lurid.

However, the author went on a little too far spending many pages talking about life after scooting out of the troubled country.

I was drawn into this book after first viewings of the film "The Killing Fields." At the time, I was unaware of a lot of the background to many of the events depicted onscreen, and was looking for something a bit more detailed.

As it turned out, this book was something far greater than that, on a par with the writings of Primo Levi, or Elie Wiesel as a depiction of survival amid the most grotesque extremes in ideological depravity humanity could conjure up. Through survival, later stardom and human rights work, Dr. Ngor became (and posthumously remains) one of the great human rights educators of our time.

In this eloquent autobiography, he also accomplishes something else - vivid and affectionate portrayals of Cambodian culture (pre-revolution), and a detailed description of the slide into civil war and the anarchic chaos of Phnom Penh immediately before the fall.

And he also crafts a love story; a memorable and majestic one, of a romance that he attempted to nourish in spite of the societal upheaval occuring around him and his wife. The detail in his descriptions of family are affectionate, and also written with a rare clarity - for this, among many other reasons, this book is a classic.

-David Alston

What a great story of determination and power. The irony of it all was, that, after all the suffering he went through, he died because of someone trying to steal his watch.

The Khmer Rouge seemed to be illeterates governing a country, and the result wasn't good. I cannot believe they inflicted the pain they did on their very own race. In the 20th century, creating an equal society was UNREAL. The Khmer Rouge, some men, most of them teenagers with guns, did not realise this. Even more surprisingly, as strict as the Khmer Rouge were, the Khmer officials got as much food and commodities as they wanted, while they fed the rest of cambodia a watery rice.

The ending left me thinking, especially about his niece Sophia. Haing Ngor, had lost everything by then, but gained fame. Which really at the time, wasn't much to him. I recommend the reader to buy this book as not only is it interesting and very hard to put the book down once you start, but its historical accuracy and the amazing events described are unbelievable. Anyone over the age of 16 who reads this book will love it, and for a variety of reasons.

This book can make you see the reality of life. It is my handbook about life. Learn from it. Learn from Dr. Ngor.

I cannot believe that this title is currently out of print. I just listened to an unabridged audio version of the book and was rivited. Ngor is truly a hero to have survived such almost unimaginable horror. His continual honesty about his own shortcomings throughout the narrative - his compulsive temper for example - was impressive and refreshing. If you can find a copy, read it - you wont be able to put it down.

Dr.Ngor appeared as an actor in THE KILLING FIELDS playing Dith Pran, a man who sufferred greatly at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. Ngor's own true life story, though, was much more horrific. He was starved and tortured repeatedly during the dreadful Cambodian "Year Zero," while confined in a Khmer Rouge concentration camp. If you think that you have troubles, read this book and be humbled.

To read this book is to understand how lucky we are to have simple freedoms,to be able to take walks, hold hands with a loved one, to be nourished. Haing Ngor was a brilliant man who eloquently and painfully describes his life in the Killing Fields, his lost wife and unborn child, and finally, life in America. This book will put so much in perspective for its reader, you will be affected for the rest of your life. To think that Haing Ngor was murdered in a botched robbery attempt after all he has been through is too overwhelming to think about. A truly amazing read...