Lafreniere: Music Through/Dark Pa

This is one of the most moving books I have ever read. I happen to know the author but didn't expect the book to be as special as it was. Since reading it I have met the subject of the book, Daran, and he is, in person, just as he was in the book--a very wonderful, warm and loving man. His story is inspirational and courageous. LaFraniere is a superb writer, capable of expressing what Daran experienced in lyrical prose, never sentimentalizing. Daran is still working to make Cambodia a better place and still cries when he remembers that period of his life. But he also cries with joy when he makes presentations and plays his accordion for the people who come to see him and to support his work.

This book is beautifully written! A very touching, even though tragic story. Bree's words are beautiful.

This is by far the most powerful story and inspirational book I have ever read! One word....BEAUTIFUL.

Daran Kravanh survived against all odds and, in this collaborative effort, his story unfolds. There is much more than suffering, though, in this story. Gently, simply, and beautifully, his life is described: in Cambodia before the Khmer Rouge and during nearly unimaginable years of famine and deprivation. National history as well as that of his close large family, their culture, religion - including food, festivals, personalities, and a panoply of observations about nature and the animal (and spirit) world. Kravanh's deep attachment to music, specifically (and to this reader, surprisingly) the accordion, is a theme, and a source of sustenance in the years of his suffering. There are countless themes that are reinforced in this story. His parents, especially the personality of his remarkable father are described rivetingly and memorably. Lafreniere, Daran's collaborator in this work, describes their method in a prefatory note. "It is not," she writes, "a translation, an oral history, or an autobiography." Lafreniere goes on to write that it is the result of "the interplay of opposites," presumably those of herself and Daran. In my view, this is disconcertingly vague and isn't an adequate discussion of methodology. There was extensive collaboration, (no tape recorder), and the reader deserves a clear description of the method that produced such an amazing account. It's a shortcoming of this otherwise amazing, eye-opening, and soulful story.