The Golden Voice: The Ballad of Cambodian Rock's Lost Queen

by Gregory Cahill, Kat Baumann (Artist)

The true story of beloved Cambodian singer Ros Serey Sothea, whose “Golden Voice” helped define Cambodia’s Golden Age of music until her mysterious disappearance in the killing fields of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. Developed in partnership with Sothea’s family.

There is a saying in Music is the soul of a nation. Perhaps no one embodied that spirit more than Ros Serey Sothea, a young woman who would forever change the landscape of Cambodian music as the Queen with the Golden Voice.

From a humble rice farmer to nationally recognized singer, Sothea’s success captured the hearts of the Khmer people. Throughout her career, she recorded over 500 songs, her signature angelic voice soaring over genres from traditional ballads to psychedelic rock and beyond.

As the Cambodian civil war raged, Sothea's singing career continued to flourish, even when she served in the army as one of the country's first female paratroopers. After years of bloody conflict, the communist Khmer Rouge seized control, murdering artists and destroying their music, bringing Cambodia's golden age into a dark era of silence. Sothea’s fate is unknown.

Ros Serey Sothea's golden voice lives on in the popular music of Cambodia to this very day. Gone but not forgotten, her legacy continues to inspire. The Golden Voice tells the story of Sothea’s life, developed alongside the surviving family who knew her, and accompanied by an interactive soundtrack.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Music, Biography, Comics, Nonfiction, History, Biography Memoir

200 pages, Paperback

Published October 10, 2023

Reviews

[Tawfek · Rating 4 out of 5]

You didn't choose music, Music chose you.
Music surges through your veins, it fills your heart.
And when you sing, you gift music to the world.

I have received this Graphic Novel ARC in exchange for an honest review, Thanks to Gregory, Kat, And Humanoids for the opportunity.
Humanoids Life drawn imprint, After this Graphic novel, i feel way more appreciation for Life drawn Graphic novels, but at the same time, i can't call it my favorite, i love Legends of the Pierced Veil way too much.

This is A graphic novel that's all explained in the title, The Epic story of The Queen of Cambodia's Music, Ros Serey Sothea, Heartbreaking story, Wanna get introduced to another country's music?
Wanna read about a life full of success and turbulent misfortunes? The strength of one woman to change her life, And the corruption of the world of men and their wars that eventually ruins her life dying at the age of 30? Want to get an insight into the civil war in Cambodia, Vietnam's war with USA, and USA's part in Cambodia's politics? If yes then this is for you, But this was super depressing i am not sure i was making a good case to read this really, But there is people who love that, Also the Music will calm your soul each few pages, So be ready for a rollercoaster of emotions.
This will come out October 10, 2023, Tune in, and as usual i ll share on the promised day, for those who forget like me, my calendar reminds me "most" of the time, From here on out, This review will be spoiler city!

When you were a baby we called you little cricket, because you always sang.

Man her voice is so beautiful, I didn't like all songs, I didn't like her voice in all songs, But most of the songs really showed her voice great, and she was by far the best singer in the included 47 songs, that we listen to during this Graphic novel.
That playlist is an amazing idea, but at the same time i felt it was overkill, 47 songs is probably more than 2 hours, But you know i am a sucker for new experiences, and i hope others can enjoy this as much as me if not more, You won't understand shit if you don't speak Khmer or whatever the language was, but that never stopped me from enjoying different language music.

He looks like a snake, and talks like a snake.

Dramatization, Gregory did an amazing job in that regard, this was like a drama movie of the best quality, you got so invested emotionally in everything that was happening.
After becoming a singer, Ros ends up marrying another singer, who was portrayed as being so jealous of her and her success, The Artist really doesn't hide the emotions though, we can see his jealousy through every panel, except the panels where she sees him, Snake is out, Dude was a charmer, fucking hated his guts.

Let him be the white cloth, and I'll be the gold.

Man she was awesome, i fucking love her, she really showed incredible strength throughout, only issue is, in the midst of all this corruption you can't just force your way out of problems all the time, and she then fell with an army general, who was portrayed as having had coerced her to be his lover, it's fucking nasty, I felt the despair and oppression through the pages, i hated that someone had to go through this, i hated that nothing could be done to stop things like this from happening.

What if there's more to life than cooking snails?

Fuck, What if she remained a girl who farmed rice and sold cooked snails? Would she have lived a fuller life? longer? sang more but without the fame the money? (Also speaking of money, she was eerily not showing wealth throughout this Graphic novel, i truly hope she was getting paid what she deserved, Because Sin Sisamouth, and the rest of her friend singers were living the fucking life, she wasn't though)
Could she have been with her sisters to this day? Would it have saved her mother and brother and son who were executed with her?
Should we try to reach our full potential even though it might lead to our doom?
I got no answers i bring questions only today.

They want us to insult Prince Sihanouki, That's bad Karma.

What do you have in common with these phonies?

Nothing she had nothing in common with them...
She was super sweet throughout, she was simple, but she was good, she played ball to survive, but she didn't harm others, being forced to sing for the Coup government, and then being forced to sing for the Khmer Rouge, Imagine to have that much Coercion in your life, Her life wasn't her own after she started her singing career, and this truly sucked so bad, Pulling Artists by force into politics, that's a glaring sign of every Dictatorship regime, and it actually happened in Egypt recently with the current Dictator regime, They either drove every artist against them into immigration by threats of imprisoning them, Or forced Guys like Mo Salah into doing advertises for them, or they revoke his membership and harasse his family.

With friends like uncle Sam, Who needs enemies?

USA intervention in Cambodian policy to use them to fight Vietnam from a different front, proved like this guy said in the end, to be putting fuel on fire, The Cambodian army was so corrupt they were glad that guys went AWOL, to pocket their salaries, they weren't good at fighting at all it seems, USA provided them with all the weapons, and Cambodia's army lost them to the Khmer Rouge who were fighting them, so they were basically supplying weapons to their enemies, a complete and utter shit show, I really don't know how that war started or why, but i saw so many movies, that USA shouldn't have been there, and Vietnam was a graveyard for their soldiers, Fucking politics man, People sitting in Cushy chairs, and sending our Children, Our brothers, Our friends to die in wars they shouldn't be at in the first place.

Singing always singing, So long as I'm not too old, and so long as my voice doesn't betray me.

My favorite part in all this? The singing was good, But my favorite was This Cutie!

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Golden Voice: The Ballad of Cambodian Rock's Lost Queen is a fascinating fictionalised account of the life of iconic Cambodian singer Ros Serey Sothea. It covers many biographical details of her career as a singer, her personal life, her time as a paratrooper, and more. I was under the impression when I grabbed it that it was a biography, so I was a touch disappointed that it wasn't (especially since I felt like a biography would have given a better chance to contextualise her life further within the troubles in Cambodia, especially the overall music scene early on and the takeover by the Khmer Rouge later), but it does a good job of mostly sticking to the truth and telling a good story while its at it. I appreciated that it had a fact vs fiction section at the end and didn't leave you wondering about details or being misinformed because you haven't learned anything about her outside of the book. The art was absolutely lovely, and really captured how she looked in photographs. The accompanying playlist was a great touch, and I've enjoyed further exploring the music of 60s and 70s Cambodia. I wish her name was in the title. Regardless, it's a pretty good read all around, and helps shed light on the life of a woman who absolutely should be better known internationally.

[Julesy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a young teenager when the U.S. was present during the Southeast Asia conflict and the ultimate fall of Saigon. Very very sad time in U.S. history. I didn't really understand any of it but it's a treasure to read about a singer who was famous in Cambodia.

The illustrations alone was unbelievable, deserving 5 and more stars.

I cannot get over the uncanny resembles of Ros Serey Sothea to the actress Zendaya. Am I right or am I right?!

[Lalaa #ThisBlackGirlReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Talk about the strength of a woman! This graphic novel was not what I expected but it was still a great experience reading it. First of all, I loved the graphics completely, they were beautiful and compelling and truly brought the story to life. I really loved her voice and appreciated the experience of being able to listen to her songs while reading the story, that was a great touch.

Her story and her life were incredible and although I knew nothing about her before I read this book, I walked away from it mesmerized by her story. I thought it was very well-told and easy to follow. This book is powerful.

[christinac_reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual Rating 3.5 ☆

The Golden Voice: The Ballad of Cambodian Rock's Lost Queen by Gregory Cahill and illustrated by Kat Baumann is a biographical memoir of Ros Serey Sothea, a famous Cambodian songstress created developed in partnership with Sothea’s family.

Ros Serey Sothea helped define Cambodia’s Golden Age of music until her mysterious disappearance in the killing fields of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. This graphic novel is wonderfully interactive with an accompanying soundtrack that you can play while reading the novel. It truly immersed me in the reading experience and I've truly never experienced anything like it.

The Golden Voice tells an extremely powerful story of an incredibly brave woman who lived in the middle of the Cambodian civil war that lasted 8 years from the late 60s to mid 70s. The war was between two factions, a communist party, and the government which was supported by US troops under the Nixon presidency.

Sothea's story is both heartbreaking and inspiring. She grew up in poverty in the rural areas of the country and was discovered at a regional singing competition. The book illustrates her journey through life, her musical journey, and her multiple high profile relationships, and ultimately her legacy.

While the story is beautiful, as a reader who isn't familiar with Sothea and her legacy, I had trouble understanding a lot of the time jumps and transitions. The overall arc of the story was jarring as I never knew how much further into the future the next flip of the page was. Additionally, the various men in her life and the switch between those men were very confusing because I sometimes didn't realize the next scene already transitioned to a different person so I got confused on why the man she was with acted so differently.

I think they needed to describe more through words who these characters were, where we were located, and how much further we found ourselves in the future because as someone who was unfamiliar with the story, I was quite confused. I also do wonder why a biographical novel for a very important historical figure doesn't have Ros Serey Sothea's name in the title.

Nonetheless, I do think this was a great, informative read for a South East Asian culture that I've seen very few internationally published books about. I quite enjoyed with and will be sure to look for more books by Cambodian writers.

Thank you to Humanoids Inc, Life Drawn, and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review

[Dasha Slepenkina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A big thank-you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for giving me a copy of this book for an unbiased review.

3.5/5 - Really liked it.

This was a story that I normally would never have been exposed to - the shooting star narrative of Cambodia’s beloved national treasure, Ros Serey Sothea, the “Golden Voice” of Cambodia’s Golden Age of music. This is an era I know little about - I’ve read a few narratives around the Khmer Rouge, but nothing about Cambodia outside of those tragic years. This book was fascinating and enlightening, and gave a full and thought-provoking sense of context around the tragedy of the Khmer Rouge genocide.

I especially loved the fact that the book came with several songs which were meant to be played throughout the narrative, which not only gave me a deeper understanding of Sothea’s musical contributions but also allowed me to fully immerse myself in the story.

My only two complaints are: 1) It was often difficult for me as an outsider to this historical narrative to follow along. I had to look up individuals constantly and read their biographies in Wiki pages to understand their relevance to the story and I struggled to keep a sense of the events as they occurred, especially due to several flashback and dream scenes. 2) Some of the music did not link up well with the scenes (although when it did, it was absolutely magical). However, some songs were much longer than the frames they were meant to occupy, which was a bit awkward - maybe it would have been better to include snippets of the songs and have the full song available for those who wanted to listen in a separate playlist. I’d often stop to listen to the songs, which broke up my reading.

However, the book overall was beautifully illustrated, extremely interesting, and thought provoking. Towards the end, I was deeply attached to the characters. I am very appreciative of the fact that I’ve been exposed to a culture and a musical heritage that otherwise would have been entirely foreign to me, and to get another piece of context into Cambodian history.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Humanoids Inc. for an advance copy of this graphic biography detailing the life of one of Cambodia's most gifted singers, along with a listing and playlist for many of her most important songs.

The human voice has a power that really can't be matched. A mother can halt a troublesome tyke, a teen can make a grown man cry in embarrassment, a loved one could break a heart with a simple word. And a singer could make an entire nation feel better, and united, with a song. Those in power and the people they hire as oppressors hate voices, voices of dissent, voices of resistance, voices with a dream, and do everything to make people voiceless, including violence. For sometimes the most beautiful of voices can be the biggest enemy a state can have. Ros Serey Sothea was the sound of Cambodia, called the Queen with the Golden Voice, Sothea could sing classic songs, ballads, and rocks songs that make people feel better, and stronger. This graphic biography, The Golden Voice: The Ballad of Cambodian Rock's Lost Queen written by Gregory Cahill and illustrated by Kat Baumann, tells the story of this unique singer, her songs, her loves, and her mysterious disappearance.

Ros Serey Sothea was born in the countryside of Cambodia and grew up as a rice farmer, with no real plans for the future. Sothea, had a gift, a voice for music that brought the world to a stop, and won her various prizes at local events. Sothea was approached to perform for the National Radio, taking her to capital and far from her home, something that was looked at with derision. After some missteps Sothea made it to the radio and a career was born. Teaming with Sinn Sisemouth, a almost Cambodian Frank Sinatra, Sothea was soon selling albums and making a life for herself. However,American intervention in Southeast Asia was causing lots of destabilization, and Cambodia was not immune. Soon the brewing Civil War was getting hotter and hotter, and as Sothea's career in music continued, she became the first female paratrooper in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge soon seized power, leading to the death of millions of people, rich, poor, intelligent, artistic, even people with glasses, and into this chaos the artist and the music soon disappeared. But not the memory people had of Ros Serey Sothea.

A fascinating story about an artist I knew nothing about, but have playing now as I type. Even without understanding the lyrics, the power, the depth, the feeling behind Sothea's music is amazing. What a story, what a life, and what a loss. The story is very well told, nicely laid out and plotted. Americans probably now little about the situation in Cambodia, nor the troubles the people had for so long, but this graphic novel does a very good job of showing and telling, without lecturing or being difficult to follow. The story is wonderful, the characters seem real, and though one has an idea the outcome, readers still feel for the character and still feel hurt at the end. The art is very good, a mix of realism and European color and style, with the characters clear and consistent, with excellent backgrounds. A work that really uses the aspect of graphic storytelling to its full advantage.

There is also a music list that is available on line, and works as a soundtrack to the reading, one that I listened to while reading. A very good graphic novel, one that I hope does well, and brings this singer back into the spotlight Sothea so rightfully deserves.

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

What do you mean, you know nothing of Cambodian radio-friendly pop from the 1960s and 1970s?! I knew less than nothing, either, but in the end felt reading this was a bit of a privilege, especially alongside a healthy playlist of tracks from the subject and her peers. We're looking at Ros Serey Sothea, who here is shown blasting all competition from the stage at a municipal talent show, and being invited to become one of the chief singers and recording artists on the state radio. Success, and many dodgy marriages and relationships were to follow – mostly, however, imbued with the politics of the time, as the Khmer Rouge were going to take over, and force many changes of direction in many lives.

The book proves the story suitably interesting, even for those never expecting themselves to be reading such things, while the archive photos show one classy, stylish performer. The songs on the playlist may be a little shrill, but have very interesting instrumentation, considering the country they come from, and show a great range, from the toe-tapping number (any of hers on the list with the word 'dance' in the title is a winner) to swooping and pining ballads.

Visually this is pretty standard stuff, and I don't think the story completely novel – dodgy svengalis in the music world, dodgy wide boys in the military – but I certainly felt my time here was well spent. It respects the subject without being a hagiography, and it respects the reader at the end by showing the historical detail changed for the purpose of the graphic novel pages. Many of the precise details are conjecture, especially at the close, but this seemed very suitable. You don't really see many Ros-ettes protesting their liking of the singer here, although some people do pop up just to show her renown, but it must have been a wonderful time to have her and her fellows belting these hits out willy-nilly, and providing smash cinema title song after smash cinema title song. Without that opportunity, this seems the next best thing. Four and a half stars.

[Miss Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This non-fiction graphic novel would be a great curriculum connection for history and music.

The story of Ros Serey Sothea was completely unfamiliar to me, and after reading her story, I feel far more enriched. This is exactly why story is so important. This book fully communicated to me her troubles, her joys, her pain, her challenges, her HUMANITY. And it also gave a fully rounded picture of the world around her, the war, how it affected music, her family... it was just a fully engaging book and I am thrilled to know it exists, and greatly affected by her life.

The book uses three different colors in speech bubbles to indicate three different languages, which is an effective way of communicating to the reader how those people and languages interact through the story. The art is more realistic and less cartoony, adding to the feeling of immediacy and truth.

The book also has a wonderful selection of music that you can listen to, with indications on page where the music should play adding an amazing interactive element.

Additionally, the end notes of Fact vs Fiction would lead to some wonderful discoveries and discussions in a class setting.

There is some light swearing, non-gory on page violence, depictions of spousal abuse and adultery, so I'd place this in Middle Grade collections.

Highly recommended. Grade 7+.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a digital advance copy of this book.

[Alanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this historical story about Ros Serey Sothea, and the turbulent times she lived in. I knew very little about the history of Cambodia other than they suffered several regime changes and uprisings around the time of the Vietnam conflict, and that the Khmer rouge takeover lead to mass killings of people. This story, although there were many aspects that were fictional, has given me more information about this countries history. In reading the fact vs fiction part of the book I did think that there were some things that were changed that might not have needed to be, but on the whole I don't believe that they had a huge impact on the overall story.

The graphic novel format was very well used in this case, I appreciated that I could see the story unfold in a way that I might not have been able to from just reading it. I also really liked the immersive music experience. I didn't listen to all the songs through from beginning to end as some were quite a but longer than the frames they were set to coincide with, but they added to the story, both to provide some tone, but also to provide the opportunity to hear the voices and music that is being described in this story.

Overall I appreciate this book and the way it opened up a different aspect of history that we don't hear talked about as often.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

[Antonio Moreno Pini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sorey fue una de las cantantes mas populares de Camboya antes de la llegada de los Khmers rojos al poder y la desarticulación casi completa del estado. La radio publica y la musica paso a estar controlado por los Khmers rojos y fue prohibida casi en su totalidad excepto himnos revolucionarios. Los cantantes famosos que habían actuado anteriormente fueron llevados a campos de adoctrinamiento y en muchos casoas, como pasó com sorey desaparecieron con el genocidio de los Khmers rojos.
La novela gráfica es larga y muestra todas las etapas de la vida de Sorey desde la asistencia a un concurso de canto que gana sin problemas gracias a su voz, la reticencia de su madre a ser cantante, su huida a la capital, su vida de éxito, cantar delante del rey, la caída del régimen monárquico, la supuesta relación obligada con un general y su estancia en los campos de la muerte.

El dibujo recrea perfectamente el ambiente y la luz del pais y sabe sumergirte en un entorno tropical de forma perfecta, Al final del libro hay una breve biografia y una relación de los hechos reales y donde se ha novelizado alguna parte.

Un detalel interesante es que desde la pagina web https://www.thegoldenvoicemovie.com/ se pueden escuhar canciones de aquella época y en muchas paginas hay un numero de la canción a escuchar, lo que nos mete más en la historia y hace de banda sonora de cada página del comic.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating look into the life of an artist who wanted only to practice her craft, along with all the personal and political events that got in her way. I don’t want to say too much about the storyline (which was told with respect and genuine care), but I was deeply impressed with the formatting of this particular biographical graphic novel.

I’d never heard of Ros Serey Sothea before stumbling across this graphic novel, and as intrigued as I was I had also resigned myself to hunting down some potential-obscure music. But lo!

It. Has. A. PLAYLIST.

As someone who compulsively researches things alongside whatever I’m reading, this is a huge boon because it let me dive right in. Also, there are cue throughout the book to show you when to play certain songs. They aren’t disruptive to the overall flow (I did not actually notice them until the flag for song #8), and you can certainly read the book and enjoy the narrative without listening alone.

I also appreciate the backmatter included. There’s photos of the major players beside their image from the book, and I particularly like that Cahill has a few pages to explain where he deviated or simplified historical fact for the sake of the narrative.

[PhantasticReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating look into the life of an artist who wanted only to practice her craft, along with all the personal and political events that got in her way. I don’t want to say too much about the storyline (which was told with respect and genuine care), but I was deeply impressed with the formatting of this particular biographical graphic novel.

I’d never heard of Ros Serey Sothea before stumbling across this graphic novel, and as intrigued as I was I had also resigned myself to hunting down some potential-obscure music. But lo!

It. Has. A. PLAYLIST.

As someone who compulsively researches things alongside whatever I’m reading, this is a huge boon because it let me dive right in. Also, there are cue throughout the book to show you when to play certain songs. They aren’t disruptive to the overall flow (I did not actually notice them until the flag for song #8), and you can certainly read the book and enjoy the narrative without listening alone.

I also appreciate the backmatter included. There’s photos of the major players beside their image from the book, and I particularly like that Cahill has a few pages to explain where he deviated or simplified historical fact for the sake of the narrative.

[Marie Lisette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in its Khmer version, and I couldn't feel more blessed that it exists. It offers me a unique perspective on the life of a famous singer from that era. I grew up in Cambodia listening to Ms. Serey Sothea's music; it was the one thing that deeply connected me, my mom, and my sister. We shared our love for her songs while Mama cooked or during car rides to our village home.

This book allowed me to get to know her better, imagining the life she lived, the challenges she overcame, and what it took for her to achieve all that she did. And that final scene, describing how she was gone or might have been, I kept seeing it in my dreams for days. As for the playlist with the QR code, pure gold.

[Kendra · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the things that keeps this book from being particularly good is that the authors take too many liberties with the timeline, and that characters aren't introduced well, their motives and relationships aren't clearly delineated, and their stories aren't clearly told. At the end of the book, the authors offer a Fact Vs Fiction list of what they changed to supposedly give the book more drama, but all it does is dilute the story of Ros Serey Sothea; on that note, why isn't her name in the title? Anyway, the book fails her and its readers on multiple levels.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A biography of one of Cambodia's most popular singers before the Khmer Rouge took over the country. It details her life from early adulthood until her untimely end. It mainly stays more personal instead of delving too much into the Khmer Rouge itself. One of the things I liked best if that it comes with a QR code and you can listen to her music as you read along. There are queue along the way to click to the next track but I decided to just let it play in the background as I read along as to not interrupt the flow.

[Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in an hour or two. I never knew about Ros Serey Sothea until I saw this graphic novel in the library. One thing I didn't understand was whether or not the general was keeping Ros hostage or not? Why didn't her second husband ever come back or take the son with him? Why didn't the characters leave Cambodia? I guess the questions I have are similar to the ones I had reading "Night", but just like that book, I know hindsight is 20/20. After I finish this review, I'm going to listen to one of her songs for the first time. RIP Ros Serey Sothea

[Marissa C · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are important stories to tell, and I'm glad this one was told. The art is beautiful, the story is fascinating, and the addition of suggested songs to listen to throughout the book is a unique and powerful way to connect to the story. I had issues with the layout though: jumps in the plot and timeline were confusing and lost some continuity. I realize there's only so much space for text in a graphic novel, but there was a general lack of depth; I didn't get to know the characters very well. Again though, I'm so glad this story wasn't lost to history like so many others during that time.

[Missy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely tribute to Ros Serey Sothea and other musicians who shared their talents during the final years of the Kingdom of Cambodia. The art and story are captivating! The inclusion of a playlist is a wonderful bonus, and I appreciate the explanations of fact vs fictionalized shortcuts that added to the narrative. I love the music from this time and place, and I encourage everyone to listen to these artists and learn more about those who were disappeared and massacred during the Cambodian genocide. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

[Lizzie (Dizzy Lizzie’s Book Emporium)]

NetGalley license expired when I was 25% of the way through. It was shaping up to be 5 stars. I didn’t listen along to the playlist that accompanies the book, but I can imagine that it would be a powerful immersive experience. The artwork and colors were absolutely wonderful. So glad this story is being told so a western audience can learn about an importance cultural figure from Cambodian history.

[Coco Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art alone is beyond beautiful and gives the story a soft serious pallet for this tragedy. The story is based on true events of a Cambodian farm girl to famous singer, to soldier during war, a side chick with baby daddy issues and more. I will definitely be looking into her story, hopefully there's a movie or documentary.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

This makes me want to learn more about Ros Serey Sothea, but I had a hard time following the relationships and timeline. The fact vs fiction at the end helped a bit, but not while reading the novel. She had a fascinating life, and the illustrations were gorgeous.

[Matthew Noe]

Booklist review pending

[Manolis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

[Katrinadohn Dohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a powerful book about a piece of history I knew little about. The graphic novel format captures both the story and the emotions of this tumultous time. Great read!

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love that it came with its own playlist.

[Patrick Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

She looks a lot like my neighbor!

[Madalene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, but confusingly presented. The postscript explains which parts were real and which were fiction, which would be helpful to read first.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extra star for the music playlist that is intended to play along with the book. I personally love Cambodian rock from this era, so it made the experience much better

[LuckyBao · Rating 5 out of 5]

I plan to re-read this with the accompanying music. But from a first read - this was exceptional. Rarely does something move me like so.