Chanrithy Him: When Broken Glass Floats
When Broken Glass Floats Author Study The author of When Broken Glass Floats is Chanrithy Him. Him was born in Cambodia in 1965 so she is currently forty-seven years old. She has only written one book, which is her autobiography about her struggles as a young child living through the Khmer Rouge. Her book has won the 2001 Oregon Book Award in Literary Nonfiction. Her book has also inspired a film which is called “The Will to Live”. Ms. Him is currently a public speaker sharing her story to children. She has lost her parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles in the killing fields of Cambodia so she wants others to learn about Cambodia’s history. She “decided that her duty as a survivor was to tell her story and give voice ‘to children, … to my deceased parents, sisters, brothers and family members, and to those whose remains are in unmarked mass graves scattered throughout Cambodia.” The research that Him has used for her book is purely from memory. She didn’t have to do any research whatsoever because it was just from personal experience. I liked her writing technique because she used words that I could understand. It wasn’t hard to understand what she was going through because she described everything so perfectly. Sometimes it was hard for me to keep along with the story because some parts were just ongoing, like she gave too much information about something that wasn’t so important. Overall, I enjoyed her book and her writing technique. She described all of her struggles that I have heard stories about and she kept the book alive and interesting. She truly explained the difficulties of surviving the Khmer Rouge and how lucky anyone is to be able to survive wars and tough