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Reprisals
ABOUT REPRISALS
In the teeming market of a Cambodian village, Rina runs into the officer who murdered her father thirty-five years ago during the Khmer Rouge regime.
What follows is the deeply moving portrait of how she seeks revenge, against the backdrop of a nation still coming to terms with this tragic era of its history.
As Rina spends months watching Touch Pheng, a broken relic of the arrogant young camp commander she knew, haggling over mangoes and resting in the shade, memory and grief twist in unexpected ways, transforming her in the process. Her husband, her best friend, and her best friend’s husband all have their ideas of how Rina should deal with this killer. But Rina must make up her own mind, leading to a final scene that is likely to haunt you with its ambiguity and beauty for years to come.
Bestselling novelist and National Book Award finalist Alan Lightman (Einstein’s Dreams, The Diagnosis) has always been known for his lyrical gifts and his knowledge of the human heart. But rarely has his mastery come quite so close to showing us our human core. Stunning in the simplicity of its prose, this is a story about the conflict between family and self, compassion and revenge, national and personal identity.
PRAISE FOR ALAN LIGHTMAN
“A gem of a novel that is strange witty erudite and alive with Lightman's playful genius.” -- Junot Díaz, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, on Mr. g
"By turns whimsical and meditative, playful and provocative, Einstein's Dreams pulls the reader into a dream world like a powerful magnet.“ -- The New York Times
"A profoundly human story, rich in depth and nuance . . . Lightman writes with a lightness, a lyrical understatedness that belies the underlying depths and complexities of the novel . . . Reunion is the work of a great writer." -- The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
ABOUT ALAN LIGHTMAN
Alan Lightman is the author of six novels including the international bestseller Einstein’s Dreams, The Diagnosis, which was a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction, and the forthcoming The Accidental Universe (Pantheon, Jan.'14). His essays and stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, and Story, among other places. In 2003, Lightman founded the Harpswell Foundation, a nonprofit organization empowering a new generation of women leaders in Cambodia through housing, education, and leadership training. The government of Cambodia has awarded Lightman the Gold Medal for humanitarian service to Cambodia for this work. He is professor of the Practice of the Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In the teeming market of a Cambodian village, Rina runs into the officer who murdered her father thirty-five years ago during the Khmer Rouge regime.
What follows is the deeply moving portrait of how she seeks revenge, against the backdrop of a nation still coming to terms with this tragic era of its history.
As Rina spends months watching Touch Pheng, a broken relic of the arrogant young camp commander she knew, haggling over mangoes and resting in the shade, memory and grief twist in unexpected ways, transforming her in the process. Her husband, her best friend, and her best friend’s husband all have their ideas of how Rina should deal with this killer. But Rina must make up her own mind, leading to a final scene that is likely to haunt you with its ambiguity and beauty for years to come.
Bestselling novelist and National Book Award finalist Alan Lightman (Einstein’s Dreams, The Diagnosis) has always been known for his lyrical gifts and his knowledge of the human heart. But rarely has his mastery come quite so close to showing us our human core. Stunning in the simplicity of its prose, this is a story about the conflict between family and self, compassion and revenge, national and personal identity.
PRAISE FOR ALAN LIGHTMAN
“A gem of a novel that is strange witty erudite and alive with Lightman's playful genius.” -- Junot Díaz, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, on Mr. g
"By turns whimsical and meditative, playful and provocative, Einstein's Dreams pulls the reader into a dream world like a powerful magnet.“ -- The New York Times
"A profoundly human story, rich in depth and nuance . . . Lightman writes with a lightness, a lyrical understatedness that belies the underlying depths and complexities of the novel . . . Reunion is the work of a great writer." -- The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
ABOUT ALAN LIGHTMAN
Alan Lightman is the author of six novels including the international bestseller Einstein’s Dreams, The Diagnosis, which was a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction, and the forthcoming The Accidental Universe (Pantheon, Jan.'14). His essays and stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, and Story, among other places. In 2003, Lightman founded the Harpswell Foundation, a nonprofit organization empowering a new generation of women leaders in Cambodia through housing, education, and leadership training. The government of Cambodia has awarded Lightman the Gold Medal for humanitarian service to Cambodia for this work. He is professor of the Practice of the Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
20 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 2, 2013
3 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
Alan Lightman
50 books1,313 followersAlan Lightman is an American writer, physicist, and social entrepreneur. Born in 1948, he was educated at Princeton and at the California Institute of Technology, where he received a PhD in theoretical physics. He has received five honorary doctoral degrees. Lightman has served on the faculties of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was the first person at MIT to receive dual faculty appointments in science and in the humanities. He is currently professor of the practice of the humanities at MIT. His scientific research in astrophysics has concerned
black holes, relativity theory, radiative processes, and the dynamics of systems of stars. His essays and articles have appeared in the Atlantic, Granta, Harper’s, the New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, Salon, and many other publications. His essays are often chosen by the New York Times as among the best essays of the year. He is the author of 6 novels, several collections of essays, a memoir, and a book-length narrative poem, as well as several books on science. His novel Einstein’s Dreams was an international bestseller and has been the basis for dozens of independent theatrical and musical adaptations around the world. His novel The Diagnosis was a finalist for the National Book Award. His most recent books are The Accidental Universe, which was chosen by Brain Pickings as one of the 10 best books of 2014, his memoir Screening Room, which was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the best books of the year for 2016,
and Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine (2018), an extended meditation on science and religion – which was the basis for an essay
on PBS Newshour. Lightman is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also the founder of the Harpswell Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to advance a new generation of women leaders in Southeast Asia.” He has received the gold medal for humanitarian service from the government of Cambodia.
black holes, relativity theory, radiative processes, and the dynamics of systems of stars. His essays and articles have appeared in the Atlantic, Granta, Harper’s, the New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, Salon, and many other publications. His essays are often chosen by the New York Times as among the best essays of the year. He is the author of 6 novels, several collections of essays, a memoir, and a book-length narrative poem, as well as several books on science. His novel Einstein’s Dreams was an international bestseller and has been the basis for dozens of independent theatrical and musical adaptations around the world. His novel The Diagnosis was a finalist for the National Book Award. His most recent books are The Accidental Universe, which was chosen by Brain Pickings as one of the 10 best books of 2014, his memoir Screening Room, which was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the best books of the year for 2016,
and Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine (2018), an extended meditation on science and religion – which was the basis for an essay
on PBS Newshour. Lightman is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also the founder of the Harpswell Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to advance a new generation of women leaders in Southeast Asia.” He has received the gold medal for humanitarian service from the government of Cambodia.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 11, 2017
Utterly immersed me into this woman’s world as she deals with the ramifications of the Khmer Rouge war crimes. Then turns into a bit of a thriller as you wait to see what she’ll do next. Had me guessing and empathizing until the very end. Well written and highly recommended.
December 30, 2016
Decent
It's a good short novel to read when you're bored. I like how it ended. She's come to terms with the events that happened when she was a child. She makes friends with her greatest enemy. The character development in such a short amount of time is incredible.
It's a good short novel to read when you're bored. I like how it ended. She's come to terms with the events that happened when she was a child. She makes friends with her greatest enemy. The character development in such a short amount of time is incredible.
January 2, 2017
I haven't read much by Alan Lightman, but I've enjoyed everything of his that I have read. For a physicist, he has such a beautiful and poetic way of writing. I don't know much about the historical context of this book, but I enjoyed the story of forgiveness.
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October 13, 2016Sigh
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews