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A review by louiza_read2live
Under the Naga Tail: A True Story of Survival, Bravery, and Escape from the Cambodian Genocide by Mae Bunseng Taing
5.0
Wow! This is unbelievable! It should be unacceptable! And yet time and time again, we are at the same place--with humans worse than the most ferocious animals, with humans the incarnation of evil.
Under the Naga Tail (published Jan. 24, 2023) is a memoir of surviving and escaping (finally arriving to the U.S.A) the Cambodian genocide first from the Khmer Rouge (the red party), the communists of Cambodia, and then from the government of Thailand who took the refugees in buses and dropped them off at the bottom of a mountain filled with landmines and left them without food and water to die from the exploding bombs and from starvation; anyone who tried to escape the bottom of the mountain or was found scavenging for any remnants of food at the top of the mountain was instantly shot down by the Thai soldiers. People were left with unthinkable choices and impossible dilemmas.
Anyone of you who have read The Road by Cormac McArthur or some other apocalyptic novel, after this memoir, you might come to the sobering and horrifying realization that the dystopian worlds of fictional works are not too far from reality. In fact, these fictional worlds are based on reality, a reality that we haven't experienced (yet), but millions of other people have--Some lived, but many more are those who didn't.
The history from before Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia, how Vietnam got involved in the conflict trying to liberate Cambodia and fighting against the Khmer Rouge, and the seemingly long lasting hatred of Thailand against the Chinese are not explored here in detail, but only in passing. This is justifiable as this is not a history book, but a memoir, a one man's true experience during mid 1970's - early1980s Cambodian genocide. We do get small bits of history, but if one is intrigued by this memoir and wants to know more about the Cambodian conflict must read an extra history book.
Having said that, I highly recommend this memoir as a must read for everyone: For those who know nothing or near nothing about the history of Cambodia and for those who know a lot.
In this memoir you'll see the worst of humanity and the best of humanity--Sadly, the worst is more prominent than the best. This book ends with the hope of the people who survived to speak for themselves and for those who were silenced forever. At this time, however, my soul is too heavy from the human atrocities that seem never ending in our world that I find it difficult to see hope in this world as something sustainable. Where is the hope for those who didn't make it? This is where my heart is at this moment of reaching the end of this book. We do have hope in Christ. That is an eternal hope I can put my faith in and continue to appreciate the freedom and peace we have (at least for now) here in the U.S.A and at other countries where human evil is evident at smaller scale, but not rampaging out of control yet.
I will leave you with a quote by the survivor's son, James Taing, who helped with the publication of this memoir giving a voice to the story of his father and to the people of Cambodia:
"These memories are living things, because the dark side of human nature behind them has not changed. Any look at your daily news will confirm that. The common thread between everyone in this story and the rest of us is our shared human nature, in both its light and dark forms" (Taing, Preface ix).
Under the Naga Tail (published Jan. 24, 2023) is a memoir of surviving and escaping (finally arriving to the U.S.A) the Cambodian genocide first from the Khmer Rouge (the red party), the communists of Cambodia, and then from the government of Thailand who took the refugees in buses and dropped them off at the bottom of a mountain filled with landmines and left them without food and water to die from the exploding bombs and from starvation; anyone who tried to escape the bottom of the mountain or was found scavenging for any remnants of food at the top of the mountain was instantly shot down by the Thai soldiers. People were left with unthinkable choices and impossible dilemmas.
Anyone of you who have read The Road by Cormac McArthur or some other apocalyptic novel, after this memoir, you might come to the sobering and horrifying realization that the dystopian worlds of fictional works are not too far from reality. In fact, these fictional worlds are based on reality, a reality that we haven't experienced (yet), but millions of other people have--Some lived, but many more are those who didn't.
The history from before Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia, how Vietnam got involved in the conflict trying to liberate Cambodia and fighting against the Khmer Rouge, and the seemingly long lasting hatred of Thailand against the Chinese are not explored here in detail, but only in passing. This is justifiable as this is not a history book, but a memoir, a one man's true experience during mid 1970's - early1980s Cambodian genocide. We do get small bits of history, but if one is intrigued by this memoir and wants to know more about the Cambodian conflict must read an extra history book.
Having said that, I highly recommend this memoir as a must read for everyone: For those who know nothing or near nothing about the history of Cambodia and for those who know a lot.
In this memoir you'll see the worst of humanity and the best of humanity--Sadly, the worst is more prominent than the best. This book ends with the hope of the people who survived to speak for themselves and for those who were silenced forever. At this time, however, my soul is too heavy from the human atrocities that seem never ending in our world that I find it difficult to see hope in this world as something sustainable. Where is the hope for those who didn't make it? This is where my heart is at this moment of reaching the end of this book. We do have hope in Christ. That is an eternal hope I can put my faith in and continue to appreciate the freedom and peace we have (at least for now) here in the U.S.A and at other countries where human evil is evident at smaller scale, but not rampaging out of control yet.
I will leave you with a quote by the survivor's son, James Taing, who helped with the publication of this memoir giving a voice to the story of his father and to the people of Cambodia:
"These memories are living things, because the dark side of human nature behind them has not changed. Any look at your daily news will confirm that. The common thread between everyone in this story and the rest of us is our shared human nature, in both its light and dark forms" (Taing, Preface ix).