The Years of Zero: Coming of Age Under the Khmer Rouge

by Seng Ty

The Years of Zero-Coming of Age Under the Khmer Rouge is a survivor's account of the Cambodian genocide carried out by Pol Pot's sadistic and terrifying Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s. It follows the author, Seng Ty, from the age of seven as he is plucked from his comfortable, middle-class home in a Phnom Penh suburb, marched along a blistering, black strip of highway into the jungle, and thrust headlong into the unspeakable barbarities of an agricultural labor camp. Seng's mother was worked to death while his siblings succumbed to starvation. His oldest brother was brought back from France and tortured in the secret prison of Tuol Sleng. His family's only survivor and a mere child, Seng was forced to fend for himself, navigating the brainwashing campaigns and random depravities of the Khmer Rouge, determined to survive so he could bear witness to what happened in the camp. The Years of Zero guides the reader through the author's long, desperate periods of harrowing darkness, each chapter a painting of cruelty, caprice, and courage. It follows Seng as he sneaks mice and other living food from the rice paddies where he labors, knowing that the penalty for such defiance is death. It tracks him as he tries to escape into the jungle, only to be dragged back to his camp and severely beaten. Through it all, Seng finds a way to remain whole both in body and in mind. He rallies past torture, betrayal, disease and despair, refusing at every juncture to surrender to the murderers who have stolen everything he had. As The Years of Zero concludes, the reader will have lived what Seng lived, risked what he risked, endured what he endured, and finally celebrate with him his unlikeliest of triumphs.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, History, Asia, War, Autobiography

222 pages, Paperback

First published February 14, 2014

About the author

SENG TY was born in the Kampong Speu province of Cambodia, the son of a respected physician who taught him to value life, aspire to humility, and seek the good in people. He was thirteen when he made his way alone to a refugee camp in Thailand in 1981. His story was featured in TIME Magazine’s article “Children of War”, and was read by an American family in Amherst, Massachusetts, who adopted him a year later. Now he is a citizen of the United States, a husband, a father and an educator in the Lowell, MA School System.

Seng will never rid himself of his ghosts, nor will he forget the blood-chilling atrocities he has witnessed and experienced. However, he doesn’t crave revenge against those who carried out these atrocities. He desires to share his story of survival and courage only in order to give hope to others. He was one of the children of war tour in the US cities in early 1984, he shared his story through 
Phil Donahue Show, many major newspapers and CBS 60 Minutes in 1999.

Seng’s wish is that The Years of Zero will give him a platform to expand his message beyond the circle of his students in Lowell, to people all over the world who are in need of a little hope.

Reviews

[Dorcas · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I remember seeing young boys returning home on the backs of their water buffaloes and hearing the music of cowbells in the evening. Frogs croaked and crickets chirped. It was pure innocence on our big land..."
Thus begins the story of Seng Ty, youngest child of 11, the son of a doctor and kindly mother in Cambodia on the brink of civil war.

This is an AMAZING book. No, it's not always easy to read, some parts are disturbing, and what the author and others experienced during those "Zero years" will break any feeling person's heart in two. But what a beautiful storyteller! While I was reading this I couldn't help but bookmark passages that especially spoke to me. When the Khmer Rouge took over, the author was just a boy. These are his words,

""What are the Khmer Krahom, Mother? " "They are revolutionaries, " she said. The word "revolutionaries " sounded strange. I knew that krahom meant red, so I thought maybe they were red skinned Khmer, like the farmers who worked in the sun all day."

His descriptions: "One of my sisters and I went around gathering scraps of wood and leaves for a fire. We noticed that some people had hanged themselves in the trees because they couldn't take it anymore. Their dead bodies hung like some strange fruit from poisonwood trees. I can still see them in my sleep."

""Mother, look there!" I said, pointing. The Khmer Rouge were coming like crows and ravens, all black with their red beaks (they wore red hats) pecking into our fearful hearts. Their dark eyes pierced us."

By now we were so used to seeing dead people that we weren't afraid. There were skulls and bones everywhere. Beyond the bodies there was rice in abundance, enough to bring all those dead people back to life."

"Suddenly we were caught up in a flood of people on this destroyed highway littered with bomb craters. No cars had been seen driving on it for four years. Now [people] came looking for their missing relatives. It was as if everyone was emerging from a grave, like zombies in search of daylight."

I felt like I was there, holding the author's hand while I read his words. This isn't a book about atrocities. yes, there are atrocities described but primarily it is a message of hope. Although bad things happen, we don't have to let those things change our own humanity and compassion. We can turn the tables so to speak on our enemies. Listen to this interview between Seng and a Time Life correspondent:

""Do you believe in revenge? " "Yes," I told him. "Do you want to kill those who killed your parents and siblings?" "No, " I told him. "My only revenge is to be the best person possible, and to be as good a man as I can be.""

What else can I say? I would like everyone to read this! Don't dismiss it as just another book about war, it's not. It's a book about a person. A little boy and an even more amazing survivor.

On a side note, I also liked that the author gave the reader a solid peek into his life once he arrived safely in the States with his adopted family. His first impressions were of incredulity. The wealth. The beauty. The food available in one's cupboards. But things weren't always fair sailing. There were misunderstandings, the food tasted nasty, there was culture shock (his toilet stories were hilarious!) and flashbacks (especially when his adopted family decides to take him on their annual camping trip).

Wonderful book! 5 Stars easy!

CONTENT:

SEX: None. Rape is mentioned but not described
VIOLENCE: Strong. Civil War is ugly and the author doesn't spare us from all the sights.
PROFANITY: Pretty Mild. Some "potty profanity" at end while discussing toilets.
PARANORMAL ELEMENTS: A woman reads tarot cards and Seng's "future" is told.

MY RATING:
SUITABLE FOR HIGHSCHOOLERS AND UP

*I received a free signed book from the author in exchanged for my honest opinion

[Megan Michaud · Rating 5 out of 5]

9.5/10 - Amazing story! I have to read this as a part of my Cambodian Ceramics and Culture class - it is an autobiography about a boy named Seng Ty and his experiences growing up under the Khmer Rouge. Before this book, I had no idea about any of this, but I am now more educated about a genocide that took place in Cambodia not too long ago. Living and working in the Lowell Public Schools district, one of the largest districts with a Cambodian population, it gives more perspective of the trauma that my students and their family’s very well could have experienced. EVERYONE needs to read this book and educate themselves on these atrocities that are taking place to this day and how the trauma carries with these families through generations.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

Stories of atrocities committed during war are never easy reads. When the victims of the atrocities are children, it is even more difficult to process the evils that human beings can inflict on one another. That said, this memoir of the killing fields of Cambodia under the reign of terror of the Khmer Rouge is actually an uplifting tribute to the power of love and dedication to the values of peace.

Seng Ty was a young boy living a comfortable, middle-class life in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge seized control of Cambodia and instituted a program of "cleansing" the population of intellectuals, professionals, and all Western influences in an attempt to create an egalitarian, agrarian nation of conformists to their Mao-inspired doctrine. His father, a physician, had seen firsthand the bloody nature of this program, and was forced to lie about his background while his family was being forced into the countryside to work in the rice paddies. Eventually, the Khmer rebels discovered the truth, and Seng's father was executed. The family was separated, with Seng's older siblings moved to other villages, leaving young Seng with just his mother and one brother. Forced labor, poor sanitary conditions, and lack of food led to disease and malnutrition, and Seng watched as those around him weakened and died.

Driven by thoughts of his mother's words, and her commitment to seeing that her sons become educated, Seng finds the strength to survive, eventually travelling through Khmer-infested territory to a refugee camp in Thailand. From there, he was able to gain passage to the United States and freedom.

Seng's memoir is an important addition to the story of Cambodia's tragedy. Told with the voice of a child, the story resonates with a truth unencumbered by ideology. Since, as a child, he lacked an understanding of the political forces at work, Seng relates only what he knew and saw as a child, rendering his words all the more powerful.

It is almost impossible to review this book without a comparison to In the Shadow of the Banyan, the beautiful historical novel by Vaddey Ratner based on her own experiences in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. While Ratner's prose soars to near poetic levels, and weaves her own story into the fabric of Cambodian Buddhist thought, Seng Ty's narrative is far more down to earth and accessible, making it a more direct telling of the facts of the terror endured by his people. His survival is a testament to the strength of not just this one brave man, but of his nation.

For anyone who wants to know the truth about Cambodia's national tragedy, this is a must read.

[Samuel Hawley · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a misguided attempt to build a socialist utopia where everyone would be equal, the Khmer Rouge destroyed the old society of Cambodia in the 1970s and created the closest thing to hell on earth this side of the Holocaust. "The Years of Zero" is the true story of one boy’s odyssey through this time of murderous madness, in which half his family was killed, along with a quarter of Cambodia’s population. It’s a gut-wrenching, enthralling read from start to finish that had me constantly asking myself, "How could anyone have endured all this?"

"The Years of Zero" is a testament to the strength and resilience of the human spirit. I highly recommend it.

[Ashlyn O · Rating 5 out of 5]

This month, I decided to read something that I normally wouldn’t read. Instead of the medical-themed memoirs and fictional stories, I wanted to learn more about other people’s history from around the world. This book, written by Seng Ty, stuck out to me immediately. His inspirational story was intriguing, eye-opening, and humbling. Immediately, I knew this book and his story would bring light to our lives today by showing that we live in a dream-like world compared to the trauma that others have endured.

Having lived through the unthinkable, Seng Ty relives his childhood during the rule of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia from 1975-1979 in the book The Years of Zero. In his early years, Seng grew up in a semi-privileged family. His father was a doctor, he had many brothers and sisters, and everybody lived peacefully—eating rice and their mother’s signature meals. But one day, the unthinkable happened. The Khmer Rouge, a communist group led by Pol Pot, raided neighborhoods filled with innocent children and parents, including the Ty family when Seng was just seven years old. They were ordered to march for days on end, constantly watched by the regime’s malicious leaders who ranged in age from young teen to adult. Seng and his family members were forced to fake their family ranking and class because of the constant threat of being punished for being part of the educated upper class. Everyday, all ages and genders were put to work in labor camps, no matter how sick and close to death they were. Being surrounded by rotting, dead corpses—some of which being Seng’s closest family members—the young boy fought for his life. Moving from one camp to another… witnessing death after death, loss after loss, punishment after punishment, never losing hope. Fighting the brainwashing and constant threat of being killed, Seng was left to fend for himself until the Vietnamese invaded in 1978. After traveling to different houses and orphanages, Seng found himself being interviewed by a journalist from Time Magazine. This is a key turning point in Seng’s life that leads him to his forever family in America.

I enjoyed this book from cover to cover. Its humbling story brings forth other people’s hardships and struggles that we usually overlook because of our daily securities and privileges. Seng’s ambition and courage throughout his life is a trait acquired through struggle. He had to fight to get where he is today. We often take advantage of our lives, our opportunities, our safety. It is difficult to put into perspective how much we have and how lucky we are, and that is exactly what this book is able to accomplish.

There was nothing I did not enjoy about this story. It is written very well as it encapsulates the heart-wrenching story of victims and survivors. It is able to teach valuable lessons of bravery and the strength of love and passion that all people can benefit from hearing.

[Sandra Stiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Zero Years were the years 1975 – 1979 in Cambodia’s history. This is when the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh the capital. The author lived those years. He was one of eleven children in his family. Most of his siblings did not survive. His father was a professor. When the Khmer Rouge came in, Seng’s father had already heard rumors of what was happening to professionals and those considered the upper crust of society. The first group of soldiers came into their village with white flags claiming to bring peace. The next group came in bringing death. They were taken out of their homes and forced to walk for days with little rest or food. They were loaded on trains where they were packed so tight many died. Through all of this I kept thinking it reminded me of the holocaust trains. Seng had seen so many dead bodies that he eventually became numb to it. Seeing a body hung from a tree was just an everyday occurrence. This was just the beginning of the horror he would live.

This was the first I had ever really heard of the Khmer Rouge atrocities. It is sad to say this considering my age now. However, at the time this was starting I was 17 and really sheltered from all of this. We know of all of the people killed by Hitler. How is it that we don’t teach about the millions of Cambodians exterminated? How many more stories like this will we need to read before we finally learn to value life?

The book was well written. I felt like I was on that walk with him. There is so much more to this story. Some of it happy and some of it not. If you want to find out what happened to him and his family you will need to read this book. You definitely won’t regret it. You might even learn quite a bit.

I received a copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tried to start this but then my back exploded, and I just couldn't handle heavy. For the record, I read this really in a day. Impossible to put down.

[Lisa Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating account of a child's survival under the rule of the Khmer Rouge.

[Hak PhengAng · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never predicted my country had plunged into the kind of killing field like this. When the KR came to power, everything was fully in control of the Central Committee, who lead the country mercilessly with its own people to gain the totalism to be the world rich in agriculture. People had to work very hard and in exchange, they ate with only a porridge with a few grains or with salt in it. The ideology of the cold war affected small countries in the world by the use of its misconception.

His account and his life were very upsetting that his mother passes away of starvation. Hunger claim many people's life amidst the KR grip power. His effort to work to dwell and to take care of his mother made me feel shocked. He was bully and forced to work without pursuing an education. Only high-ranking official's children had gotten the education. That is an unfair justification that had had in the equality of the communist conception. This was an exact tyranny.

Democratic Khmer holds the communist ideology that was very far different from the originated communism in the USSR, had genocided its own inhabitant more than 3 million people alive including my grandfather who lost life in charge of KGB or CIA that he was originally from China. My grandmother died of hunger while breastfeeding her child. Most Khmer people died of starvation and overwork and kill in red-handed if caught eating something that means you betrayed your Organization( that is still unknown who is that until now). As I was told, during the DK, there were three main groups mainly Khmerism, Vietnamism, and Chinaism, who control firmly Khmer and forced to work until death. Some said the group that forces Khmer to work unabated was Vietnamism that their will to take over all the Cambodia territory. Politically, this VN groups make random defamation to another group to disorder the internal affair and take over the control.

The 4 years of the dark era made thousand of people ran to the third country for political asylum. Khmer people fail to trust each other after this regime end and suffer much more when the VN defeat KR and installed a government that took power and kill Khmer persistently. This government had no seats in the UN because of the illegal desperate for power.

Cambodia in year zero showed everyone the reverse course of the inch toward the developed country until now. It deteriorated all factors in the country, only power remained, whereas people hardly dwell on it. This year zero is lingering on Khmer people who barely escape from the door of hells.

[Tracy Cutter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Seng Ty’s book, The Years of Zero: Coming of Age under the Khmer Rouge, in a weekend because I was simply unable to put it down. This gripping memoir is told from the heart, in chilling detail. It is a close-up look at Ty’s experiences during the Khmer Rouge’s take-over of Cambodia during the 1970s, when he was a child. Though I was aware of the genocide, I was unfamiliar with the details. Ty’s ability to capture and organize his experiences, thoughts, and feelings about this horrific period in his life is remarkable. Readers have a bird’s-eye view into Cambodian family and social life as he shares memories of his mom, dad, siblings, and neighbors. It is a story of survival. Ty is a talented thinker and writer, which makes this book a treasure and an important read for our current unsettling times.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was chosen as our campus-wide read for next year so I wanted to be sure to read it as soon as possible. I learned so much about the Khmer Rouge from the perspective of the young boy who survived it. The fact that a person can live through such atrocities and come out on the other side with continued resilience, adaptability, and compassion is quite incredible.

[AJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing. It is heartbreaking to see what he goes through, even afterwards when he moves to the U.S with his new family.

Reading about Seng Ty's adjustment to a new culture with a language barrier reminded me of my mother's experiences when she first moved to Lowell, MA from Puerto Rico.

[Austin Corcoran · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that should be worked into curriculums whenever possible.

[Biancha Alves · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the book read it for school. I got to meet the author. It was eyes opening to Me

[nini · Rating 5 out of 5]

first nonfiction book i’ve ever read and it was really good. made me so sad and mad about cambodia’s history with the khmer rouge regime. fuck y’all horrible animals!

[Johanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I remember the beauty and peace of Cambodia before the Khmer Rouge. Her people were generous and free-spirited. Her land was fertile, carpeted with rice fields, and her every monsoon a blessing… At night, the frogs croaked and crickets chirped. It was pure innocence in our big land.”

So begins the heart-rending tale of Seng Ty, and his experiences growing up in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge uprising. The youngest of 11 children, his life would be forever changed by the ruthless armies of the communist regime which sought to create an agrarian utopia through Maoist principles, mercilessly slaughtering and starving millions of Cambodians along the way.

Appearing under the guise of peace with claims of “saving” the people, the Khmer Rouge forced families from their homes in the cities into the countryside to cultivate the rice fields. But it doesn’t take long for the new government to reveal its true colors, and for the people to witness the brutal nature of their captors.

In this chilling first hand account, Seng Ty describes the inconceivable horrors that were thrust upon him at an early age at the hand of the Khmer Rouge, including forced labor, extreme starvation, the witnessing of brutal and violent executions, and the loss of his loved ones. Through it all, he shows superhuman courage, drawing strength from the memory and enduring words of his mother. Driven by his parents desire for a better future for him, he manages to withstand, again and again, the most harrowing of experiences and fights against all odds to survive.

Yet the fall of the Khmer Rouge did not mark the end of his struggles, as he goes from a life of self-reliance living on the streets of Cambodia, to making a harrowing journey across the Thai border to a refugee camp, where he is eventually adopted by a family and brought to live in America. Living in a foreign country, with its strange customs and challenging language, Seng uses his remarkable skills of survival which he learned in Cambodia to adapt and to flourish into the inspirational person he is today.

The Years of Zero offers a frighteningly up-close glimpse at this dark period in Cambodian history. I won’t lie- I found much of this book difficult to read due to the sheer amount of suffering and horror that the author witnessed and experienced. I found myself having to take breaks and distance myself from it from time to time. I also did a lot of crying as I read. But I also found this story deeply inspirational, through Seng’s steadfast love for his family and his perseverance, and that through all this darkness and tragedy, his story is proof that light always overcomes the darkness.

The beginning of the book includes a brief Cambodian history timeline, which I found extremely fascinating. I was taken aback by most of the things mentioned, including the secret bombing of Cambodia by the USA for harboring communist forces of Vietnam. The fact that “the United States eventually dropped more bombs on neutral Cambodia than had been dropped by all parties on both fronts in all of World War II” was another incredible shock, and I have to wonder why this is something we have never heard or been taught in our history classes. This book, in its entirety, offers a valuable lesson in history that we all would do well to learn, lest we ever repeat it.

“I tell my story with the hope that others can learn from it. For me, revenge means forgiveness, education, and positive actions. It means moral courage, based on wisdom acquired over time. Every part of our life’s experience needs to be reflected upon.”


I have received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Check out this review on my blog: EpicBookQuest.com

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A vital account of one boy's experiences throughout the Khmer Rouge era in Cambodia. His writing is frequently scattered and repetitive, but most of the time it does not detract from the truly jarring story itself. Ty's impressions on adapting to life in America also accurately depicts the wide gap between American and Cambodian culture that still exists today.

[Kace Khim · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5: Beautifully written piece on the tragic genocide that happened nearly 50 years ago. A government fighting against its own people wanting to create a “better” society at the cost of other’s sufferings and the loss of our (Cambodians) culture. A story of Seng Ty’s survival and childhood after the war, learning to live and readjust to life outside of betrayal from within his own country.

[Reading For Sanity · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://readingforsanity.blogspot.com/...

[John Chiesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing and to think that I worked with this man for 5 years and never knew his story. Such an inspiration!!

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolutely horrifying memoir about growing up during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. Very engaging, very interesting.