Year of the rabbit

The U.S.'s April, 1975, withdrawal from Vietnam enabled the so-called Vietnam War to spread into Laos and Cambodia, where Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime stormed Phnom Penh and dispersed its inhabitants--mostly to brutal labor camps--eliminating 1.7 to 2 million Cambodians. Veasna was born into that hell, miraculously escaping to France in 1980 with his parents. His extended family tree appears in the opening pages and is duplicated at the end with chilling modifications: 9 of the 21 faces are greyed out to denote their deaths. In between, bolstered by years of interviews with remaining family, Veasna reveals starvation, betrayal, torture, imprisonment, and death. Unexpected kindness and uncanny coincidences help keep (some of) the family alive. On the back of every chapter's frontispiece, Veasna embeds single-page capsules of survival, from annotated maps to pithy advice ("To avoid trouble with the Khmer Rouge, avoid carrying the following . . .", including eyeglasses!) to surprising humor ("Khim's tips and tricks," featuring coal for teeth-brushing, accompanied by a comical commentator, "I'm not sure it works, but everybody does it"). First published in France, Veasna's debut is notably graphic--yes, because he's a visual artist but also because words alone couldn't capture the magnitude of this (in)human tragic history. Prodigious Francophone translator Dascher enables English-language reading; award-winning filmmaker Rithy Panh provides introductory context.

The Khmer Rouge killed 26% of the population of Cambodia; while it would be impossible to reflect all the individual stories contained within that statistic, Veasna's saga of his family's survival is a moving addition to a growing body of diaspora work about the war years. It's 1975 and Khim, a Phnom Penh doctor; his pregnant wife, Lina; and their extended family are caught in the middle of a conflict between American-backed forces and the Communist Khmer Rouge. Confusion reigns over who's in power and who can be trusted. Veasna sets the regime's boasts about restored dignity and equality against a backdrop of destroyed villages. Khim and his family make a winding, years-long escape, punctuated by tragedy, great kindness, and moments of joy. Charts of things such as the barter value of various goods (rice, aspirin, cigarettes), coupled with impressionistic drawings of the villages where exiled city folk are forced to farm rice, serve as a reminder that daily life marches on. Although Veasna's epic could have benefited from a family tree, he does an admirable job of keeping a clear narrative within the chaos. This memorable memoir is a stirring depiction of how both trauma and healing take place over the course of generations. (Nov.)

DEBUT Veasna depicts his family's years of suffering under the Khmer Rouge in this harrowing story, based on firsthand accounts by survivors. As the Khmer Republic falls in April 1975, the citizens of Phnom Penh hardly have time to consider the possibility of a peaceful future before the victorious Khmer Rouge order a mass evacuation. Veasna focuses on doctor Khim, his wife, Lina (who gives birth to their firstborn son immediately after evacuating Phnom Penh), and members of their extended families as they travel across Cambodia. Caught trying to sneak through a checkpoint, Khim's family is sent to a reeducation camp, where they spend several years forced to perform backbreaking work in squalid conditions. Repeated images of speakers blaring the party line--an end to corruption and inequality, the glorious beginning of a new society--as workers toil near starvation, terrified that any infraction or implied criticism of the regime might lead to their execution, emphasize the disorientation and dread that permeate their lives. They also make even more astonishing several scenes in which people take incredible risks to help one another. VERDICT A powerful portrayal of one of the most sorrowful events of the 20th century.