Audiobook8 hours
Dogs at the Perimeter
Written by Madeleine Thien
Narrated by Michi Barall
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
One starless night Janie's childhood was swept away by the terrors of the Khmer Rouge. Exiled from Phnom Penh, Janie and her family were forced to live out in the open: cold, hungry and under constant surveillance. Caught up in a political storm which brought starvation to millions, tore families apart and changed the world forever, Janie lost everyone she loved. Now, three decades later, Janie's life in Montreal is unraveling. Weaving together the threads of Janie's life, Dogs at the Perimeter evokes totalitarianism through the eyes of a little girl, and draws a remarkable map of the minds battle with memory, loss and the horrors of war.
Related to Dogs at the Perimeter
Related audiobooks
Hunger: A Novella and Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBarcelona Dreaming: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ti Amo Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThis Wide Terraqueous World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll the Sad Young Men Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Girl: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thalia Book Club: Claire Messud: The Woman Upstairs Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Inheritance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kings of Sark: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Empire of Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lover Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMan Walks Into a Room Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Fates Will Find Their Way: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tante Eva Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lonesome Lies Before Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Voyager: Travel Writings Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Darling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sister Carrie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Disappeared Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fall of the House of Usher and other stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Savage Feast: Three Generations, Two Continents, and a Dinner Table (a Memoir with Recipes) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tribe: Portraits of Cuba Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat I Lived For Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jennie Gerhardt Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Marquise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Septembers of Shiraz Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prelude Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoison Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5All Aunt Hagar's Children: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Heart Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Literary Fiction For You
Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tom Lake: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yellowface: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisonwood Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Covenant of Water Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Picture of Dorian Gray: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Measure: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lady Tan's Circle of Women Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beneath a Scarlet Sky: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anxious People: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing to See Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Keeper of Lost Things: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Dogs at the Perimeter
Rating: 3.6999999733333335 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
45 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Janie is a researcher at the Montreal Neroulogical Center, but she was once known by different names in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She once came from a middle class family, had a father, mother, brother, until War came, and Cambodia became the killing fields. Made to leave their home by the Khmer Rouge, her life and family will never be the same.Haunted by the memories of the past, and the atrocities committed at the hand of the Khmer Rouge, Janie falls apart. Leaving her husband and young son, she seeks shelter at the home of a friend, he too has ghosts haunting him from the past. We learn of Janie's backstory, what happened to her family, and what life was like under the Khmer Rouge. Where nothing is ever the same, loyalties shift, and there is no firm ground. Eventually the two stories will combine, Heroji, searching for his brother and Janie trying to come to terms with her past.Such a devastating time period for so many, separations, the uncertainty, the brutality, all hallmarks of this horrendous time. The writing is sometimes repetitive and fragmented, but I found it very effective. We do get a clear understanding of what these people went through, and even what Phnom Penh, looked like after the Khmer Rouge were driven out. A difficult book to read, these type of stories always are, but not told dramatically nor overly emotional. I thought this was quite well done, combining memories, trauma, with the two leading characters studying the brain in the present, but realizing that the past is never quite gone.ARC from Edelweiss.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Janie recalls her childhood while she is looking for a good friend. It is the childhood at the end of the war in Cambodia as families were torn apart as brainwashing took place as one could only survive with an illusory spark to see his loved ones again. For those concerned it was about the naked survival, even if one for others has betrayed.The language is strong and nevertheless the feelings are very sensitive. Even if it is a fiction, many people have experienced this and have great difficulties that this sad destiny does not hinder them in today's everyday life.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is beautifully written and completely engrossing. It is not a typical book about war, nor was the war in Cambodia typical in any respect. It is an analysis on "identity" both personal and national and how people can move intentionally or unintentionally between those identities. As a student of many cultures, I found it fascinating to have some light shed on this tragic wound of Cambodian history which is too deep and too fresh to heal.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I found i couldn't follow this book at all, wasnt sure if she was in the past or the present and who she was relating to at times. The description of the genocide was horrifying spoken from a child's point of view , and this was probably the most engaging thing about this book, I was a bit dissapointed in myself as I thought I would get more from this author's story.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Amazon summary: One starless night, a girl’s childhood was swept away by the terrors of the Khmer Rouge. Exiled from the city, she and her family were forced to live out in the open under constant surveillance. Each night, people were taken away. Caught up in a political storm which brought starvation to millions, tore families apart, and changed the world forever, she lost everyone she loved. Three decades later, Janie’s life in Montreal is unravelling. Haunted by her past, she has abandoned her husband and son and taken refuge in the home of her friend, the brilliant, troubled scientist, Hiroji Matsui. In 1970, Hiroji’s brother, James, travelled to Cambodia and fell in love. Five years later, the Khmer Rouge came to power, and James vanished. Brought together by the losses they endured, Janie and Hiroji had found solace in each another. And then, one strange day, Hiroji disappeared. Engulfed by the memories she thought she had fled, Janie must struggle to find grace in a world overshadowed by the sorrows of her past.