![]() The story is told a little like a fable and very much like the stories that Sopeap teaches Sang Ly to read. Who was she? How did she end up in a dump if she was an educated woman and why did she drink heavily? What had happened to her to make her such a mess? I was most fascinated by the mystery of Sopeap. Gradually, Sopeap's former life (before the Khmer Rouge slaughtered the educated) comes out through her teaching. She asks Sopeap to teach her, so that she can better their lives. But, something remarkable happens to Sopeap when she sees the book and Sang Ly realizes the rent collector knows how to read. When Ki Lim finds a children's book in the garbage, Sang Ly is excited. Sopeap is a drunken woman who collects the rent monthly. ![]() Even when they occasionally manage to get treatment, once the antibiotics run out he goes right back to being sick. Their baby, Nisay, has been sick all his life. ![]() ![]() Sang Ly and Ki Lim live in a literal dump and pick through trash to find items they can sell. The Rent Collector is the story of a little family in Cambodia (based on real characters but heavily fictionalized). Apart from the occasional book about the Vietnam War, I've seldom read much about or even mention of Cambodia. There were things about it that felt a little off to me (more on that in a minute) but in general it's a fascinating story from which I learned about a place that's escaped much notice from me. ![]() I had to ponder The Rent Collector for a bit before even considering writing a review. ![]()
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