Tolog Review: Never Fall Down

Never Fall Down
by Patricia McCormick
reviewed by Elizabeth Stone

A story testing endurance and hope, Patricia McCormick’s novel, Never Fall Down, is a fiction novel based on the true life story of Arn Chorn-Pond. The novel begins in Battambang, Cambodia where the main character, Arn, leads a happy life filled with family, ice cream, and freedom. However, his life is turned upside down when soldiers, the Khmer Rouge, arrive in his small village. Under the guise of fighting for the people, the Khmer Rouge massacre all who have wealth  or fight against their communist teachings. Arn is marched for miles, separated from his family, and sent to a labor camp where he is forced to work around the clock with little food. His health deteriorating from the work, Arn makes a rash decision and tells the leaders that he plays the khim. His decision saves his life. Arn is respected and rewarded for his talent and survives by playing for the glory of Angka. The remainder of the book follows Arn and his journey as a khim player for high-ranking officials, a soldier for the Khmer Rouge, and eventually an American citizen. 

Patricia McCormick does not shy away from including an ample amount of detail about the work camps and treatment of the workers. She stresses the brutality of the Khmer Rouge regime and its mindless killing. Additionally, McCormick writes about the emotionless state Arn enters. After watching several gruesome killings, Arn says, “...But I don’t feel anything. If you feel, you go crazy”(McCormick 77). McCormick describes not only Arn’s physical state, but also his mental state as he endures near death experiences and processes grim events. McCormick describes both the successful events and failures that take place in Arn’s life. She describes the hopes that keep Arn alive and the setbacks he has on his fight for survival. It would be an understatement to say the reader is lead on an emotional roller coaster. Furthermore, McCormick demonstrates an inspiring kindness in humanity through several characters who help Arn survive. Arn creates friendships with another prisoner named Mek and eventually with an American man, Peter. Moreover, Arn even discovers kindness within a Khmer Rouge soldier. 

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an informative, yet heartbreaking, novel. The reader should be prepared to shed tears of both joy and sadness. I would suggest an age range of eleven or older because of the violent and graphic description of the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields. I would add the book not only to personal reading lists, but to history and English curricula. Personally, I found the novel entertaining and inspiring yet stunning. I found myself shocked at what humans did to one another and could not believe that in fifteen years of life I have never heard of the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields. I fear the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields are an example of society forgetting millions of lives, and I am grateful to Patricia McCormick for writing about an atrocity society seems to have lost.