Stay Alive, My Son [Paperback]

Pin Yathay (Author), Pin (Author), David Chandler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2000

Gripping and powerful, Stay Alive, My Son is an unforgettable testament of cruelty, courage, sacrifice and survival as a young Cambodian must decide whether or not to abandon his sole surviving child in order to escape the sadistic purges of the Khmer Rouge. 16 pages of black-and-white photographs.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801486998
• ISBN-13: 978-0801486999
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #490,628 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #67 in Books > History > Asia > Cambodia

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary, July 22, 2001

By 

Monty Flambe (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stay Alive, My Son (Paperback)

I am rarely moved to tears when reading a book, yet Pin Kathy's recounting of his horrendous experiences and ultimate survival is an exception. The agony of his having to abandon his son and losing his wife in the forest while trying to escape from Cambodia are the worst of numerous agonizing events. The book is a very personal account of one man and the destruction of his family however, Pin Yathay's narration also achieves his primary goal of allowing the reader to understand what life or more often death was like for all under Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge rule. This reign of terror is an extreme example of what happens when a nation's political structure so weakens that unbridled ignorance destroys all enlightenment. It is also a warning that progress can never be taken for granted. Few who read this book will ever forget it.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing memoir, April 11, 2007

By 

Anyechka (Rensselaer, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stay Alive, My Son (Paperback)

Pin Yathay's amazing account of his ordeal under the Khmer Rouge is truly unforgettable and deeply moving. He was a successful engineer who had gone to college in Montreal and had a big happy family in April of 1975 when everything about his world changed forever. At first he and other members of the family didn't believe that anything was going to happen with the new rulers in power (after all, he had supported the Khmer Rouge against the opposition leader Lon Nol and believed they would give Cambodians a better life). Even when they were forced to evacuate Phnom Penh soon after the takeover of power, he didn't believe that anything horrible would happen to them. Most of the people forced onto the road believed that this would merely be a temporary evacuation and that before long, once the political situation became stable, they would be allowed to return home and be put to good use working for the new regime.

It wasn't long before the true intentions of the Khmer Rouge became known. In their ruthless fanatical quest to purgue the nation of anything smacking of the old regime, they took away anything deemed to be "imperialist," even something like the registration for a car, a pair of glasses, or certain types of clothing. Their hatred of all things "imperialist" was so irrational and fanatical that they would even throw away or destroy things like cars or foreign money, things that could have been very useful to them in their position of power or quest to supposedly reform the country. Although Thay hid his true background from them, fearing execution or imprisonment if they knew how high-ranking he'd really been, he and his family were still deemed "New People" (as opposed to the "Ancients," or peasants, who were left alone because they hadn't lived or worked like "imperialists"), and therefore sent from work camp to work camp in the forests and jungles, made to work the land and do other backbreaking hard labor. Hunger, disease, and fatigue soon began to take their toll on the people in these work camps, and before long only he, his wife Any, and one of his sons were left. He and his wife made the incredibly difficult decision to leave their surviving child Nawath behind in a hospital, in the care of an older woman who promised to look after him, so that they might escape and live, and then one day be able to return to Cambodia to look for him.

The account of Thay's arduous trek through the jungle and into Thailand is incredibly powerful and compelling, a true testament to the will to survive. After he was left alone, he knew he had an obligation to all of his lost loved ones to live, to testify to the world about what was happening in Cambodia, so that their deaths would not have been in vain. It gave him the courage and strength to live even after he ran out of lighter fluid and food supplies and had to resort to eating the raw meat of animals such as tortoises and bats, and to escape again after being recaptured by some Khmer Rouge near the border. And all along the way, the dying words of his father, ordering him to stay alive, urged him on even when succumbing to the elements or his hunger and fatigue might have been a welcome relief. This book is both excellent history and a moving story of survival against the odds, and, when it comes to books about this era in Cambodian history and this particular genocide of the 20th century, is as good a place to start as any.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unforgettable story of human courage, December 31, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Stay Alive, My Son (Hardcover)

Pin Yathay has so much to be angry about, yet his account of his suffering, and those of his family,during the years the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia, is a true testimony to his undeniable courage. No bitterness or fury emanates from these pages; rather we are made aware of the incredible spirit of this man. A man who has lost everything and everyone he cared about, and who determined that through his survival,they would all live once more. Be glad he lived to tell his story. You will so much more appreciate your own.