A beautifully written, emotion filled book that will stay with you long after reading.
A powerful memoir that is heartbreaking and raw but equally beautifully and inspiring.

A wonderfully written book, heart breaking and page turning at the same time, such a strong story. A recommended read.

On the one hand, the book's story itself- of Cambodian history, seeking refuge from war, personal struggles with health and the desire to survive- is incredibly important, vivid and well portrayed. The author's last attempt to tell her story before she passes away is moving and heartbreaking.

However, I found that I struggled with the way this book approaches storytelling itself- towards the beginning of the book, the author talks about having had this book rejected by publishers for moving too quickly from one point to the next, and this, unfortunately, was my experience of the book in many places, where I felt as if it moved too quickly away from the very powerful realities of what was being discussed.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.


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Landbridge: Life in Fragments is a memoir written by Y-Dang Troeung and tells the story of her story from being born in a Thailand Refugee camp after her family escaped from Cambodia.

Through her life in Canada as a refugee as well as stories of her family before during and after the Pol Pot Regime in Cambodia and her attempt to deal with its aftermath,

There are times when as a reader where a book appeals to you that is outside of your normal genre because of its subject manner then it drops out of your reading plans then space for the book opens up and you start reading.

This was the case with Y-Dang Troeung Landbridge: Life in Fragments and the book becomes a pleasure to read, not because it discusses an enjoyable subject, but in the way it deals with a memoir that will have an affect on you emotionally.

As a reader who remembers the events at the start of the memoir this filled in a lot of gaps as well as personalising those events, in such a way that brought the reader into the events, depicted both those that the writer lived through and those from her family.

What Landbridge: Life in Fragments by Y-Dang did for me really well was talk about how being a refugee has affected her life with the events that caused this status, how she survived the early years of living in a country with a totally different country.

With a lot of discussion of dealing with going back to the country of your family and how the country has dealt with those events since,

All this makes Landbridge: Life in Fragments by Y-Dang a must read for people who are interest in both Cambodia and its history from the 70’s and how it has affected the country and its refugees.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and everyone that contributed to the existence of this book for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

5⭐

This was a shattering book that brought tears to my eyes multiple times. It was also a beautifully written account of a tragic story that many refugees have to go through. The journal-like structure, build upon entries represented by fragments of history, sayings and stories, letters to her son and images, creates a complete perspective on the life of the author blending with the horrors of the past. I liked how the book started with explaining the title through a definition, while towards the end it came back to it again through a story, like a cycle. I also felt that the poetic style brought even more depth to it.

I felt that going through a terrible illness and writing something like this for the close ones is an emotional, but wholesome and brave gift to leave behind, a chance to pour everything out. Really sad about the death of this author, she seemed to have amazing book ideas that I would have liked to check out if she got to write them.

I would like to wrap up the review with a quote from the book that I really appreciated because of its meaning. I feel that it is a beautiful manner to describe the way in which different people can connect and provide help and support in times of need, teaching us to always be considerate to each other:
"With only our bodies and our hearts, we build a bridge."

"Landbridge" is a powerful memoir detailing the life of author, Y-Dang Troeung, and her family who were the last Cambodian refugees admitted to Canada escaping the genocide of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime.

The story is told in little vignettes piecing together her family history detailing aspects of lives in Canada including photos and newspaper articles, stories retold by her parents of life before and during Pol Pot's regime and her life as an adult, motherhood, living in Hong Kong, travelling back to Cambodia looking for answers on missing family members and trying to learn more about her identity and her illness following a fatal cancer diagnosis. She has interspersed letters to her son Kai throughout the book so he can learn who his mothee really was.

For me, the most impactful sections were the personal family stories of the refugee experience that Troeung shares and bow these impacted her life. Despite her family having been seen as "good" refugees and there are newspaper photos of Trudeau senior holding her as a baby on their arrival to Canada the family had so little and were digging in graveyards at night looking for worms to sell as bait to fishermen as a way to make ends meet.

It's hard to do justice to a book that so tragic giving such a personal window into the history of Cambodia but it also widens in scope to capture the heartbreaking reality of refugee experiences in warzones worldover and questions what does it take for societies who have experienced collective trauma to heal?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A beautifully written book, full of emotion and empathy and words that will stay with you for many years. Stunning.

Firstly, I loved the formatting of this book. Interspaced with artwork, photography and letters from the author to her son, the narrative of the author's life is captured in very short chapters, segmenting the reflections on her life into brief snapshots. It's an incredibly tragic book, that leaves you with an ache in your chest, but it's an enjoyable read.

Well, if you wanna cry, or just need to let the tears fall, give this book a go.

This story of Y-Dang Troeung’s life, her family and all of the other parts woven into it, brings so much emotion on the pages of this book.

I don’t know much about Cambodia, but I felt pretty immersed in her biography and more about the war that happened during her growing up years.

There was equal balance of non-fiction and memoir, which I also enjoyed.

I hated the ending because it made me cry... and I mean hate in the absolute best way possible.

A truly amazing, moving, and devastating piece of nonfiction. I'll remember this reading experience for the rest of my life. Y-Dang's work has a powerful emotional impact that draws you into both her own lifeworld and the stories and worlds of the Cambodian refugees about whom she writes ferociously and passionately.

This book explores both her past and the history of the genocide in Cambodia. It also seeks to recover and rewrite the myths that were created about her when she and her family were resettled in Canada. You are acutely aware of the pain that has permeated the lives of those who have been forced to from their homes because of horrific and inconceivable sorrow, brutality, and genocide.

I kept thinking that I might be able to review this book, but there is no need. Unbelievably stunning, heartbreaking, and tender. Y-Dang's tale continues. For years to come, I shall continue to hear her voice in my bones.

This will be painful to read if you have been affected by cancer in any way. It repeatedly broke me to my core.

I’m speechless at this memoir! Simply fantastically written and one of the most emotional stories I have ever read!

"Landbridge" is an incredible book which feels so personal and narrow in some ways and yet it also tells the history of a nation and links it to wider issues around migration.

The author, Y-Dang Troeung, and her family were among the last Cambodian refugees to be admitted to Canada. They fled their homeland in the aftermath of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime.

This is not a linear memoir. It is told in fragments which the author has pieced together throughout her whole life, and it includes stories told by her parents and brothers, the experiences she had living in Canada, Hong Kong and visiting Cambodia, and the mental struggles she has had in coping with the past and the way she and other migrants are viewed. She also tells parts of her story and her hopes in letters to her young son Kai.

Whether or not you know anything about the history of Cambodia (and I suspect most people don't know enough, myself included) this is an incredibly powerful book. Some of the most impactful sections were the personal family stories that the author tells and the way those experiences have impacted her life and her way of thinking. But the author also sees parallels with current conflicts in Syria and other places which widens the scope of the book.

I don't feel that my review does justice to this book and the emotional impact it had on me. It also feels wrong to rate and review a book of this nature. It might not be perfect and it might be a difficult read on so many levels but I would highly recommend it nonetheless.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

This was so sad and sweet. Y-Dang Troeung and her family were refugees from Cambodia. This tells the story of what terrible times her parents, her 2 brothers and she went through. Was fascinating. Highly recommended. Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC copy.

A powerful memoir from a writer who came to Canada as a baby, escaping war in Cambodia. It’s about the effects of war, trauma and genocide.
The story is written in short chapters, fragments with photography.
I enjoyed reading and learning about the history of Cambodia and the reality of life as an immigrant.
My favourite part was the letters Troeung wrote for her son.
The story is heartbreaking but written in a lyrical way.
A truly beautiful read.
Thanks to #NetGallery @PenguinPressUk @AllenLane @Y-DangTroeung for an arc of #Landbridge in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.
Book publishes 12th October 2023.

Thank you to Penguin Books and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This gorgeous memoir felt like far more than a memoir. Born in, and named after, Thailand's Khao-I-Dang refugee camp, Y-Dang Troeung was just one when she fled her homeland and was admitted to Canada. There, she became the poster child for the Canadian refugee project and the horrors of Pol Pot’s brutal, senseless brutal Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.

Admittedly, I didn’t know a whole lot about this part of history, which made this book all the more special to read. It’s written in a beautifully lyrical way that transcends prose, dialogue and memory. The chapters are fairly short, which moves the memoir quickly and simultaneously absorbs you into the ‘story’, and some of them are letters from Troeung to her son, offering a scrapbook effect. A truly beautiful read.

A brave book to write. The author wrote part of it for her son Kai following her cancer diagnosis, so that he could read about her life in Cambodia and his cultural heritage once he was old enough. Troeung's story is traumatic. She and her family suffered much under the Pol Pot genocide and because of US bombing, but she managed to flee Cambodia, first to Thailand then to Canada. Very educational but hard to read because of the content but also due to the fragmentary nature of the writing. Also, letters were frequently missing from the beginning of some words, though perhaps this will be corrected before publication. A tragic story in many ways but worth a try.

When writing about war it is so easy to get it wrong, and end up with something that feels overly sentimental in a cheap way, or as though experiences of war are being mined for story and used to draw out a reflection on the present day that somehow makes the past all worth it. But Y-Dang Troeung's writing is that rare example of someone who can investigate and reflect on war, trace its impact to the present and highlight the strength and resilience (but also luck) that was needed to survive, while still condemning the trauma that continues to reverberate from it.

Her writing is fractured into small pieces, moving between various points in the past and the present, and allows for the failure of memory and record-keeping to always provide dates and times and numbers of people, instead relying on lived experiences and the conflicting memories that do remain to tell a story that feels more human and more realistic. The Cambodian Genocide is not a part of history I was familiar with, but she was able to convey nuances of politics, contradict accepted retellings of the Genocide with more honest ones and share intimate stories from the time that were far more impactful and informative than a textbook ever could be. Her meditations on refugees and the performance of gratitude that is expected of them in host countries that are less than welcoming, was another strand of her writing that moved beyond the expected and the presumed to pose questions about the greatest crisis of our generation and ask why we still aren't treating immigrants and refugees as real people.

This was both a larger story of the Genocide, and the story of one family's survival of it. Her family carried a burden of pain that was still harming their lives decades later, both emotional and physical. Her love for her son and her imagining of his future was filled with the hope of freedom from historical and familial trauma, but when we as societies are so bad at reckoning with history and taking responsibility for it, is liberation for those who are considered collateral damage ever possible?

'Landbridge' is such as incredible piece of writing, born from a lifetime of questioning and thoughtfulness. It is another book that I think everyone should read, or at the very least anyone working in our governments.

Landbridge is a powerful memoir of refugee experience by Y-Dang Troeung, whose family were 'the last' Cambodian refugees granted asylum into Canada.

This creative, non-linear personal history is split into fragments, interspersed with art, photography and newspaper cuttings. As well as recounting her own life and experience - including her academic career, her son's birth and illness and her own, fatal cancer diagnosis - Troeung explores the wider Cambodian and East Asian history, questioning who has the agency to tell stories of collective trauma, genocide and conflict? Troeung raises thought-provoking questions and relates the stories of her birth country with care and sensitivity.

Landbridge is a brave and beautiful memoir that captures the heartbreaking reality of refugee experience in all its complexity.

This is a very moving memoir.
The writer is the daughter of a Cambodian family displaced by the many wars, and they migrate to Canada under a refugee welcome scheme sponsored by a local community. The story covers all the atrocities committed in Cambodia in the 1970's and '80's, her family history and the difficulties they faced, and a life lived as a "grateful refugee". The chapters are interspersed with letters to her son Kai, as she is dying from terminal cancer. Despite this, she has a happy life, with a successful career and a lot of love.
I learned a lot from this book. Recommended.

Beautifully written an absolutely heart wrenching memoir.A raw intimate look at what life is like for refugees.The author and her family lived through horrible times and situations their bravery and love for each other is inspiring.#netgalley #landbridge