Hi everyone. I'm Rincey and this is Rincey
Reads. Today I'm going to be doing a book
review on in the shadow of the banyan by
Vaddey Radner. This is a book that I feel
like I saw a lot of people reading a
while back, like legitimately four-ish
years maybe more back, and really, really
enjoying. And I remember coming across
this at a used bookstore and being like,
"oh, everyone really loved this book.
I should pick it up." Picked it up, it sat on
my shelves for a really long time. But
now that I'm at home significantly more
I decided I'm going to try to try to
tackle some of the books that have been
sitting on my shelves for a while and
this is one of them. And I'm glad that I
did because this is a really great book.
So this is a historical fiction book set
in Cambodia during the 1970s during the
Khmer Rouge, I believe that's how you say it,
uprising or like the civil war that
happened in Cambodia during that time
period. You are following this little
girl named Raami who at the beginning of
the story is around seven years old. She
is part of the royal family that is in
Cambodia. And her father returns home
basically telling their family that
there is a civil war erupting in
Cambodia's capital where they are
located. So they have to basically grab
their things and run. So this group of
rebels or revolutionaries or however you
want to describe them are marxist
in their ideals. And so they don't
believe in things like arts and sort of
these class divisions. They're basically
going through and trying to force
everyone to be basically exactly the
same or on the same level, etc. etc.
Even though that's not really what's
happening. And so Raami and her family
have to run away to a small village area
and hide their identity from other
people around them because if it's found
out that they are part of the royal
family, obviously the rebels will you
know take advantage of that and use that
to either hurt them more or possibly
kill them, things like that. And so you
follow this family for about four years
and the really just brutal things that
they're forced to go through in the
middle of a civil war. So one of the
really amazing things about this book is
that this is like partially inspired by
the author's own life. She herself was
born in Cambodia and fled the country
during the civil war and her family line
is from the royal family. And like as
you're reading the story, I didn't know
any of that but there is an author's
note that is like at the end of the book
that describes her own experiences or
like kind of briefly talks about her own
experiences. And it's really amazing to
view this book through that lens,
knowing that this has some real
implications to it. Like obviously there
is an aspect of truth to all of this
because this is an actual event that
happened. But just that extra layer of
this is a thing that the author herself
actually went through really just adds
another layer of both beauty and
brutality to everything that happens in
here. This is a really beautifully
written book. I will say that at times it
feels a little bit overwritten
potentially. But in general I really like
fell in love with this story and this
family and Raami as a character. It's a
really brutal book, again,
really difficult to read at times but
there's also a lot of hope in here in
terms of like how to continue on with
your life when it feels like everything
in your life is being stripped away from
you. It's a story about family and
survival. It's a story about maintaining
your identity and remembering like who
you are and where you came from. But it's
also a really great book to read if you
are the type of person who enjoys
historical fiction that teaches you
about things that happened in the world
in the past. Because the author does a
really great job of talking about this
war that occurred in Cambodia that I
think a lot of people are less aware
with or less aware of. And the author
doesn't get into like all the
nitty-gritty of the politics and things
like that because again this story is
told from a little girl's perspective or
a girl who's growing up in the middle of
this. So you're not really getting like
the political ramifications or the
things the government did or didn't do
or anything along those lines. It's more
about the individual level and sort of
how these things impacted a significant
portion of the population during this
time period. It's estimated that around
like two million people lost their lives
 over the course of the Civil War.
And a lot of it had to do at the
brutality of the rebels who are
basically trying to stop anyone who had
any sort of opposition against them.
I think this book is kind of like the
epitome of like the power of fiction
because it really places you in Cambodia
during this time period. Like you can see
and feel all of the events that are occurring
all around them. You feel like you're in
the country with them. It causes you to
really understand, you know, some of the
tragedies that happened over these years.
And the story itself also talks about
like the importance of stories and
mythology and things like that.
The main character Raami's father is a
poet and he's always like telling Raami
these stories and things like that and
that helps her through this entire thing
and even like helps her connect with
other people and I think that anyone
who's a book lover, which assuming you're
watching this video you are, can really
relate to a lot of the ideas and topics
that are talked about in here in terms
of like stories and the importance of
stories and using that to pass along you
know information and things like that in
a really you know amazing way. So yeah,
I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars.
I highly recommend it. You might be like,
hey, that doesn't sound like a book I
would want to read right now, which
completely makes sense. But again, I do
feel like this book is full of so much
more hope an stories of like
resilience and stuff like that. So even
though there are parts of it that are
really difficult to read, there are parts
of it that I found just really, really
hopeful and was really encouraging you
know in the midst of our world feeling
very dark. So yeah, those are my quick
thoughts on in the shadow of the Banyan.
Feel free to leave me a comment
down below if you've read this book with
your thoughts on it. Like I said, I feel
like a lot of people were reading it a
couple of years ago and really enjoyed
it. Or if you have any questions or
anything like that, feel free to leave
that down in the comment section below.
So yeah that's all I have for now and
thanks for watching.
