Plot: Based on interviews with Arn Chorn-Pond. Growing up in Cambodia, Arn remembers the day the soldiers marched everyone out into the countryside. For the next several years, he struggled to survive in the forced labor camp under the harsh government of the soldiers. This is his story of horrors, loss, survival, and courage.
Comments: Never Fall Down, while written in a somewhat subdued tone, is a harrowing, true tale of the Killing Fields and Chorn-Pond's experiences as a child soldier. The things that he saw and went through will stay with you for a long time.
Initially I didn't like the way in which McCormick chose to write the story. It's written from Chorn-Pond's point of view, as if someone with bad English is speaking. I thought this was unnecessary and an unfair way of representing this boy's memories and experiences. However, McCormick says this: "Trying to capture that voice was like trying to bottle a lightning bug. Every time I imposed the rules of grammar or syntax on it, the light went out. And so, in telling Arn's story I chose to use his own distinct and beautiful voice."
Chorn-Pond's courage and determination to survive throughout this story is astounding. There are so many situations that he was lucky to survive. It's hard to read but I think a good way to learn more about this awful truth in history.
Rating: I rate Never Fall Down a seven out of ten. An amazing story, written a little detached from the emotions.
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