All of Burma is suffering under its brutal military regime, but ethnic minorities, including the once powerful Buddhist Mon, have long been singled out for the cruelest of injustices and the most barbaric violence. Armour-Hileman, a Catholic lay missioner, found herself working with Mon refugees, most of them grievously injured and ill as the result of unspeakable torture and deprivation, at a Buddhist temple in Bangkok, where the monks themselves live in constant danger. A person of faith, she is dedicated to working for global justice and peace, an undertaking her harrowing experiences have taught her is a matter of blocking out the ceaseless tsunami of blood and red tape and holding one hand at a time. Armour-Hileman chronicles her unforgettable interlude with the enduring Mon with striking candor, confessing her sense of inadequacy in the face of so much pain and evil, her despair over the stark reality that indigenous people all around the world have been forced to the brink of extinction, and her inability to fathom the motives of those who commit atrocities. Observant, sweetly funny, modest, and compassionate, Armour-Hileman is a thought-provoking storyteller and an invaluable witness to what is both "hideous and holy" in human nature.
Donna SeamanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"With writing that is clear and urgent, Victoria Armour-Hileman makes us feel the Mon refugees' precarious existence. I laughed and cried over this stunning memoir and will remain forever haunted by its humanity."--Sue William Silverman, author of Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You
"Armour-Hileman chronicles her unforgettable interlude with the enduring Mon with striking candor, confessing her sense of inadequacy in the face of so much pain and evil, her despair over the stark reality that indigenous people all around the world have been forced to the brink of extinction, and her inability to fathom the motives of those who commit atrocities. Observant, sweetly funny, modest, and compassionate, Armour-Hileman is a thought-provoking storyteller and an invaluable witness to what is both 'hideous and holy' in human nature."--Booklist (starred review)
"Her book is a poignant, often funny, intensely moving chronicle of big frustrations and small victories."--Wall Street Journal
"Hileman, who never loses her sense of humor, is strikingly successful in introducing the reader to those whom she served."--Pacific Rim Voices—Kiriyama Prize Finalists
"Armour-Hileman has a gentle sensibility and an attention to detail and nuance that makes this a touching and sometimes gripping memoir. The convergence of her faith and that of the monks is a motif that runs gracefully through her account."--Shambhala Sun
"The involvement of Victoria Armour-Hileman with the Mon shows the importance of inter-religious collaboration. She describes very forthrightly the pain, the joy, even the adventure of her work . . . This type of cooperation between Buddhists and Catholics really promotes mutual understanding and builds bridges between people of very different ethnic, religious, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds. Our world sorely needs these bridge-builders—those who in their own way live the beatitudes."--Bibliographia Missionaria
"A story of profound human connectedness . . . Through her skillful storytelling, Armour-Hileman raises thought-provoking questions about human motives, pain and suffering, and work of global justice and peace and divine inaction in our world. . . . Singing to the Dead puts a face on a terrible tragedy half a world away, and its message is compelling. Armour-Hileman’s vivid, eye-opening account, though written with humor and compassion, is a story that demands a personal response from each of us."--America
"The book opens a new world on the suffering that we are capable of inflicting on one another; it shows the dangers of a globalization in which the legitimate aspirations of people are subjugated to economic pragmatism."--MultiCultural Review
