Children of the River

Rating:
Summary: Children of the River
Review: A New Life? Actual title: Children of the River

By: Linda Crew

This book is about a girl named Sundra Sovaan. She fled with her aunt and uncle, without her family, to escape the Khmer Rouge Army. They left form Cambodia to the United States and live in Oregon. She's not supposed to date boys and her parents are supposed to arrange her marriage to a nice Cambodian boy. She worries about her grades and always studies because she wants a scholarship to become a doctor. She wants to go back to Cambodia and help the sick and dying people there. She is always taking care of the household because her aunt doesn't want to do it. She always worries about money and anything going on in the family. She hasn't even ever been to a football game before. Everything changes when she meets Jonathan. Jonathan is smart, athletic, popular, rich, and most of all he befriends her. Her family says it's absolutely impossible for her to be friends with him. He's American and not Cambodian. She is torn between old traditions and the new American ways.
The beginning was a little hard to understand and to grasp, but by the second chapter you're hooked. The author does an excellent job in the middle and the end. The end kind of leaves you hanging. Overall this book is great!
If you like books if a little romance with a clash of culture and other things you will definitely love this book! Other books in comparison are A Girl Named Disaster, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and many other books.

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Summary: Children of the River - Letter to the author
Review: Dear Ms. Crew:I just finished reading your book, Children of the River, and I thought it was a magnificent book. We were supposed to pick a free reading book to read in class a few minutes before class started, and I chose your book because it sounded like an interesting book to read. After reading it for a while, I could not put it down. Through reading this book I have learned how different every part of the world from the place I live. After reading about Sundara, a Cambodian girl who was forced to leave Cambodia with her aunt and uncle due to the Khmer Rouge, who then went to Oregon and started a new life, I started thinking. I agree with you when you state that when a person is in another country, they do not have to follow the old ways in which they used to live. When Sundara went to school in Oregon and she started liking Jonathan, an American boy, she should have had the right to go on a date with Jonathan if she wanted to or should have had the right to be seen with him because they were in America now, and they were not in Cambodia. In Cambodia, the parents choose whom their daughter is to marry, but in America they have the right to choose their future mate. This is an issue that is really important to someone who might be in the same situation as Sundara and it is a really good thing that you brought it up in your book. On the other hand, I disagree with children working at a young age. For example, Ravy should not have had to work on the fields, or he shouldn't have had to collect the golf balls that people hit over to their house and sold them just so his family could have money. At the age of ten, Ravy should be like other kids his age, running around outside or playing video games. When kids are at a young age, that is the point in their life in which they should be having fun and not worrying about work or bills. Even though Sundara was thirteen when she was sent over to her aunts and uncles house to tend to their newborn daughter, she should not have had all of the responsibilities for taking care of the baby because when she could not provide all of the things that the baby needed, she took the blame of the baby's death into her heart and every time she thought of it, she could not take the pain. For that reason, she started crying excessively and could not stop until the baby's spirit was out of her body. For these main points, I agree with your story and also disagree with your story. After reading this story I walked away from it thinking that I am living in California with loving parents, enough money for them to provide for us with, and basically living the good life, while children are dying of starvation in other countries and they are working just because they are not as wealthy. Therefore, I thought this book was a magnificent one because it really had an impact on my life. Thank you for your time.

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Summary: Christina ...
Review: This what happens in the book. Sundara fled Cambodia with her aunt's family to escape the Khmer Rouge army when she was thirteen leaving behind her parents, her brother, and her sister, and the boy she had loved ever since she was a child. Now, four years later , she struggles to fit in at her Oregon High School and to be "a good Cambodian girl"at home. A good Cambodian girl never dates; she wants her family to arrange her marriage to a Cambodian boy. Yet Sundara and Jonathan, an extraordinay American boy, are powerfully drawn to each other. Haunted by grief for her lost family and for the life she had lift behind, Sundara longs to be with him. At the same time she wonders, are her hopes for happiness and a new life in America disloyal to her past and her people? Well of course Jonathan asked her to marry him two times the frist time she ran away and the second time she said yes. This book to me is very good and if you ever get the chance to read the book read it because it is very very good.

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Summary: A Cultural Conscious Read
Review: Linda Crew's novel "Children of the River" is a book I would definitely recommend to young adult readers because it is very much a historical novel that focus on the Vietnam War from the perspective of a Cambodian family who comes to the United States to escape the War in order to better themselves.
It contains and focuses on various universal concerns such as the importance of giving and receiving love, injustice, personal identity, cultural customs and traditions, the importance of family, fitting in, and prejudice, which is one of the the prevalent themes throughout the novel.
Throughout the novel, Crew shows it from the Cambodian perspective in many ways in terms of how they view American customs and traditions. For example, one of the characters Aunt Soka criticizes her young niece and the main of the story, Sundara for compromising her Cambodian heritage by wearing a pair of jeans and was told that only loose American girls wear jeans since they are perceived (at least in this novel) to have no morals and no respect for themselves.
Prejudice is also shown when Sundara, the main character and a Cambodian girl goes out with and falls in love with Jonathan, an American boy, which is heavily against Cambodian (Khmer) tradition because it was thought of as the parent's job to choose their children's mate, but in Sundara's case whe was living with her Aunt Soka, Uncle Naro, and cousin Pon, since her parents were unable to come to the U.S. due to situations occuring in Cambodia and Vietnam at this time, such as people dying from being killed by soldiers and bombs both on the American and Vietnamese side, children dying from illnesses such as diarhhea and malnutrition.
Also, it talks about inter-cultural prejudice that Aunt Soka encounters in the super-market from the wife of Pok Sary, who was the military general in Cambodia before they came to America, because Sundara was seen with Jonathan and like I stated previously it was not politically correct for a young Cambodian girl to date an American boy since it was believed that he could ruin her in terms of her education and he served as a threat to one's ability to maintain Cambodian cultural traditions.
Overall, this book deals with a variety of issues, but for me prejudice was the one that stood out most because sometimes we who live in the United States sometimes fail to understand and see things from another person's or country's perspective. This book challenges one to accept people as they are without any biases and to look inside themselves as a person and think and re-evaluate what they have or have not to ignite or extinguish the flames of prejudice that has run rampant in this society for too long, causing many people to be disillusioned by their beliefs.

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Summary: A worthwhile read
Review: Today's teenagers may know little about the war in Cambodia, its relationship to the Vietnam War, and the rise of the Khmer Rouge. In that sense, this novel is a work of historical fiction, teaching young adults about that history and the resulting wave of immigration from Cambodia that the United States faced in the 1970's. However, the story of Sundara, a Cambodian teenager who escapes the Khmer Rouge with her aunt's family and settles in Oregon, also has contemporary relevance, as Sundara attempts to navigate mainstream American culture while still remaining true to the culture of her homeland. The conflict between these two cultures plays out in the relationship Sundara develops with Jonathan, an American boy in her class at school. Although Cambodian culture forbids Sundara to date anyone, much less an American, she finds herself increasingly drawn to Jonathan and begins questioning some of the Cambodian values which her aunt strives to maintain in America. However, Sundara is also uncomfortable with many American views and beliefs, and takes comfort in the strength of the Cambodian community, with which she shares a history, culture, and language. The depiction of Sundara's struggle to accommodate both Cambodian and American culture in her life is the strength of the book, and a theme that many teenagers will recognize from their own lives. Although teens in today's post-September 11 world may find it difficult to identify with Jonathan's naiveté about international events, they will understand Jonathan's discomfort at not fitting in with what everyone expects of him. A subplot explores the effect that Sundara and the tragedy in Cambodia have on Jonathan's parents, whose desire to aid the Cambodian community reconnects them with the idealism of their youth. Unfortunately, the American characters, with the exception of Jonathan and his parents, are undeveloped and the students at Sundara's school, especially Jonathan's girlfriend, are little more than stereotypes of American teens. However, the authenticity of Sundara's character and the complexity of her relationships with her family and Jonathan make this book a worthwhile read.

Rating:
Summary: Children of the River
Review: A New Life? Actual title: Children of the River

By: Linda Crew

This book is about a girl named Sundra Sovaan. She fled with her aunt and uncle, without her family, to escape the Khmer Rouge Army. They left form Cambodia to the United States and live in Oregon. She's not supposed to date boys and her parents are supposed to arrange her marriage to a nice Cambodian boy. She worries about her grades and always studies because she wants a scholarship to become a doctor. She wants to go back to Cambodia and help the sick and dying people there. She is always taking care of the household because her aunt doesn't want to do it. She always worries about money and anything going on in the family. She hasn't even ever been to a football game before. Everything changes when she meets Jonathan. Jonathan is smart, athletic, popular, rich, and most of all he befriends her. Her family says it's absolutely impossible for her to be friends with him. He's American and not Cambodian. She is torn between old traditions and the new American ways.
The beginning was a little hard to understand and to grasp, but by the second chapter you're hooked. The author does an excellent job in the middle and the end. The end kind of leaves you hanging. Overall this book is great!
If you like books if a little romance with a clash of culture and other things you will definitely love this book! Other books in comparison are A Girl Named Disaster, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and many other books.

Rating:
Summary: A must read!
Review: Children of the River is a wonderful book on the Vietnam War, Cambodian life, and a romance.

Sundara escaped from Cambodia in 1975, at age 13, with her aunt and uncle, going to Oregon. However, her parents, siblings, and the boy she loved were left behind, in the midst of a terrible war.

Now, four years later, she tries to fit in at her American school, and at the same time obey the wishes of her aunt, being a "good Cambodian girl". Sundara is already told that she is too bold in her walking and speaking, so when her aunt finds out that she is seeing an American boy, she is very upset. But Jonathan is special to Sundara, and most of all, he understands her feelings and sadness like no one else. What path will she choose: Cambodian or American? Will she ever see her family and loved ones again?

I loved this book, and it was very powerfully written! I'd recommend it for anyone aged 12 and up. If you like this book, I'd also recommend "Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind", about another girl trying to obey her family's wishes.

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Summary: Cute love story, kinda boring at times
Review: This book was a great book, and had realism in the conflicts. Sundara's love for Jonathan was definately not a fairy tale; because many things held her back; her family, her culture, Chameroun, and her past. Yet theyre so drawn to eachother that she develops a love for this white boy. I think its a super cute story and its one of those books that make u all fuzzy inside. I loved the character Jonathan, hes depicted as one of the cutest and sweetest guys ever.

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Summary: Help, I'm Trapped In My Life.
Review: I chose this book because it was different from the rest. If I had to tell you about it I would say. It was the best book i have ever read. It was about a girl named Sundra, fleeing to America and her life gets turned upside down when she meets a boy named Jonathan. My favorite character was Sundra because she never gave up, and kept on going places with Jonathan. My favorite part was when Sundra asked Jonatan if he likes Cathy, but he said give me a question I can answer like, Do I love you?, is the question. I cried when that happened. I think that young readers should read it.

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Summary: sundara and jonathan
Review: this is a tremendous book to read. it has the hook in the first chapter and that's good. sundara was loved and been asked out by the american boy, Jonathan. she is not even suppose to see him or talk to him, but as time goes on, she grew to love the american boy that loved her. this book in very unpredictable, first thing her aunt had a baby, the next thing you would have never guessed what's going to happen, they had to escape their loving country, Cambodia. my favorite part was when Sundara asked Jonathan if he loves Cathy, but Jonathan told Sundara to ask him if he loves HER! this is a very sad story because she had left all her family and the boy she had loved behind. i give this book 5 stars because it just became one of my favorite books of all time!