"A Srei is an absorbing account of the trauma of life under the Khmer Rouge, provided us by a sensitive and perceptive survivor. It adds considerably to our knowledge of the details of daily existence in a region of Cambodia from which news was simply not flowing into the outside world during that gruesome period.

"Academics will appreciate the many ingsights it provides into the difficult dynamic of interaction among KR cadres and the "base people" from whose midst they largely hailed, on the one hand, and those suddenly and unwillingly thrust among them, the "new people", on the other.

"Themes such as distrust, vindictiveness, vengeance, capriciousness, and anger are used to describe the actions of the KR, while their innocent victims, without understanding what was happening, simply tried to stay alive.

"The author portrays events as she and her family lived them during the KR period and its chaotic aftermath with accuracy and insight. A Srei is a valuable contribution to the growing volume of information concerning a terrible time in one small but lovely country's recent, tragic history."